This study uses geographic information systems (GIS) to measure the incidence andtrack the spread of the influenza pandemic of 1918 in Hartford, Connecticut. Thedata for the study are based on the death certificates of individuals who livedin Hartford and died from the disease, digitized maps of Hartford for the periodcirca 1918, and two supplemental random samples of the 1920 U.S. censusschedules. The findings suggest that, instead of viewing the epidemic as asolitary event, one can better understand it as a set of somewhat discreteevents or “mini-epidemics” occurring within the confines of onecity. These mini-epidemics affected various subgroups in the populationdifferently in terms of the timing of the onset, the duration, and the lethalityof the disease. The major point of differentiation of these subgroups wasethnicity, which overlapped with geography.

The belief that the social class position an individual inherits at birth is not itself a prime determinant of subsequent personal achievement is a cherished part of American democratic tradition. Social historians attempting to measure whether the mobility opportunities so eagerly sought by immigrants were in fact realized have looked at the occupations of immigrant men and their sons. Evidence from such diverse areas as Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and New York City indicates that at the turn of the century many men did experience upward occupational mobility; some groups, notably blacks, did not fare as well as did white immigrants, and not all white immigrants experienced the same rates of occupational improvement (Bodnar et al. 1982; Lieberson 1980; Model 1988; Thernstrom 1964, 1973; Zunz 1982). This essay turns to the first decade of the twentieth century to explore some of the factors contributing to socioeconomic mobility.