In the time of COVID-19, many are turning to the authors of epidemic and pandemic history in the hope that they will do for us what medical historian Henry E. Sigerist did for his generation in the dark days of worldwide depression and World War II, that is, to give us perspective on the present by allowing us to see it through the lenses of time and social evolution.1 With this in mind, AJPH has encouraged historical essays to help place the COVID19 pandemic in perspective. In this issue four such essays, along with five accompanying editorial comments, address the pre-vaccine challenges with which we have already been grappling: attempting to understand the complex epidemiology of the pandemic and hoping to learn important lessons from it, trying to collect data to solidly ground epidemiological analyses, pursuing social mitigation measures in the hope of buy-in and success, and facing head on the implications in terms of national reputation of our country's substantial failures thus far in dealing with COVID-19. Morabia (p. 438) focuses on the US Public Health Service's 1918-1919 house-to-house morbidity and mortality survey to understand how that survey was done and what data were collected for analysis. Because the survey included questions about economic status, race, and crowding, findings indicated that incidence and mortality were higher among the poor and that in many areas Whites were apparently more infected but died less than people of color.