Drugs, Sex, & Games: Party Like It's 1918!

The popular historical imagination has led most of us to believe that, one hundred years ago, people were stuffy, repressed, and much too concerned with propriety to be any fun. Indeed, how has our idea of "fun" changed in the last century and how much so given different cultural contexts?

Take, for instance, this uncited photograph that has been making the rounds on the web – ambiguously labeled "French Opium Party, 1918."

^{Courtesy of Historical Pics on Twitter}

Does this scene call to mind a group of stoned young people from the twenty-first century? Or will you also note the "exotic" aesthetic – the presence of the servers and their costuming alluding to issues of Orientalism, colorism and classism? Can we use these modern parallels as an entry point for encouraging our audiences to critically engage (irresponsibly circulated) historical materials and media? After all, the period drama fad is rife with anachronism and can often lead people to take the narratives they consume at face value – trusting the epistemic authority of big producers rather than relying on themselves to treat history as an ongoing interpretive project in which everyone should share.

Note this post's scandalous title, meant to draw your attention. After all, what's so fun and sexy about people who could have been your great-great-grandparents? A lot, actually! After all, history is always more interesting than fiction.

Did you know that, in 1918, over one hundred women had affairs with English soldiers and were subsequently convicted of infecting them with STDs?

Did you know that, in 1918, they played table football?

Lastly, check out these fun costumes from the video below (starts at 00:13). Something to wear to your next shindig, perhaps?

What else do you want to learn about human life in 1918?

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^{100% of the SBD rewards from this #explore1918 post will support the Philadelphia History Initiative @phillyhistory. This crypto-experiment conducted by graduate courses at Temple University's Center for Public History and MLA Program, is exploring history and empowering education. Click here to learn more.}