Blackout

Some doctors reported an increase in household accidents, sprains etc., from blacked out rooms and upper respiratory infections that were attributed to "inadequate or often absent ventilation" during the blackout period. Adjustments to wartime conditions, including blackouts, were blamed for "considerable emotional strain? evidenced by loss of weight; loss or increase of appetite?poor sleep with an increase in dreams, particularly of the fear or catastrophic type?which are best described as anxiety symptoms."

The islands endured nearly nineteen months of blackout from 1941 until the summer of 1943 when the orders regulating blackout were modified; all restrictions were finally rescinded on July 21, 1944.

Image courtesy of the Margery Hastert Collection, Queen's Historical Room, The Queen's Medical Center.