SURSE DOCUMENTARE PENTRU ISTORIA EPIDEMIILOR DE ALTĂDATĂ. „VIDOMOSTIILE” PRIVITOARE LA BOLNAVII ȘI MORȚII DE CIUMĂ DIN IAȘI (1829)
DOCUMENTARY SOURCES FOR THE HISTORY OF EPIDEMICS OF THE PAST. REPORTS ON THE SICK AND THE DEATH TOLL OF THE PLAGUE IN IAȘI (1829)

Summary/Abstract: This study is based on a certain category of documentary sources, kept in the Iași Archives, compiled in the context of the plague epidemic that affected Moldavia in 1828-1830. Among other anti-epidemic measures, the authorities tried to keep as accurate a record as possible of those affected by the epidemic. Of the reports researched so far, the earliest are those concerning the city of Iași, from the autumn of 1829, when the plague reached its peak in Moldavia and especially in the capital. Then, in the last days of September, the sick and the dead began to be registered for each area of the city. I will focus only on the file in which the lists compiled by Iacovachi Leon were collected, regarding the situation in the third quarter of the city of Iași. The reports include daily lists in which the names of the sick and deceased were recorded, the disease they suffered from, the cause of death, as well as the number of the house they lived in. Embedded in a broader context, these testimonies of the past prove to be more than a simple series of names and dates. They acquire deeper meanings, revealing information about the spread of the epidemic and the anti-epidemic efforts of the authorities, while also suggesting details about the experiences of the people behind the names, about the suffering or fear of the sick and those around them.

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