A History of the Early Anti-vaccine Movement in America, 1776–1919

The history of the modern anti-vaccine movement starting in approximately the mid-1980s and continuing to the present has been well documented by both medical professionals such as Paul Offit and historians of science such as Elena Conis and Mark Largent.  While the history of the anti-vaccine movement in 19th century Britain was detailed by Nadja Durbach, no such history exists of the early anti-vaccine movement in the United States. Although Mark Largent claims that no link exists between anti-vaccine thought of the 19th century and today's vaccine opponents, Conis' recent work suggests similarities in both early and modern anti-vaccine arguments. However, she does not go into detail about the early anti-vaccine movement in the United States.  This poster presents my research conducted at the National Institutes of Health and the National Archives as well as research conducted online using primary source documents made available by other archives.  The anti-vaccine movement is traced from the birth of the nation, through its revival inspired by 19th century British anti-vaxxers, and culminating in its opposition to compulsory local and state government immunization programs taking place in the early 20th century, during WWI, and during the Spanish Influenza epidemic.  The inspiration for this poster came from my participation in a NEH summer seminar on the Spanish Influenza of 1918.