One of the most poignant sessions of the annual meeting was about two very different sides of disasters: preserving what happens during a disaster and how to react in the face of disaster.
The first disaster discussed was the Red River Flood of 1997. Speaker Michael Swanson of the University of North Dakota Grand Forks’ Department of Special Collections gave an interesting presentation on how the university documented the flood and the effects on the community. Swanson began by giving a background of the Red River and why the area is prone to flooding. For some general information about the Red River, check out the Wikipedia page. (Yes, yes, I know it’s Wikipedia, but there’s good info in this one!)
Swanson then went on to explain why the flood of 1997 was so significant. Some of the reasons he gave included:
- Wet weather the year before
- 8 blizzards between November and the beginning of April
- A total snow accumulation of over 100 inches
- Sudden warm spell in April
- Inaccurate flood projections
- Power outages
- Non-potable water
- Fire that destroyed 11 buildings in downtown Grand Forks
All of these combined made it very difficult for the people of Grand Forks to handle the extent of the flooding. Because the National Weather Service had predicted a crest of 49 feet, the townspeople had built levies, sandbagged, etc. to handle that level of water. By the time they realized the river was going to crest higher than that, it was too late to do anything but evacuate everyone. If you would like more detailed information relating to the Flood, check out the USGS website.
Because this was such a major event in the city’s history, the university made the decision to collect information about the Red River Flood of 1997. They have been documenting the flood by collecting:
- Manuscripts
- Photos and videos
- Oral histories
- Other audio recordings
- Theses (4 written by UND students)
- Artifacts
- University records
- Books
- Reports and publications
- Newspaper and magazines
In addition to all of these materials, UND was also lucky enough to collect the 9-1-1 calls made the day of the evacuation. At the time they were recorded on a Dictaphone machine and when the Emergency Services Department switched to digital recordings of calls, they donated the Dictaphone along with the recordings from the evacuation in 2007. Currently, the Special Collections has abstracts of each phone call and has been editing (redacting personal information) and converting the calls to Mp3 with Audacity. Swanson’s hope is to have some of those audio clips online with interactive features; however there are still confidentiality issues to deal with before that can occur. Until then, Swanson and the Special Collections are still actively collecting materials relating to the Red River Flood of 1997. Information can be found on their website.
Our second speaker of the session was Colleen McCorkell, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Information Studies. She spoke about her experiences volunteering as a professional to help the Municipal Archives of Cologne cope after their archives building collapsed in March 2009. She and a group of other graduate students went over in July 2009 to help the Archives deal with the materials found at the site of the collapse.
Some background information about the Municipal Archives of Cologne, Germany, and its subsequent collapse may be helpful, so I’ve compiled some resources for you to read (if you want):
- Historisches Archiv Stadt Köln (In German – the last section on the bottom of the page shows a schematic of the collapse.)
- Historical Archive of Cologne Wikipedia
- “The City Without A Memory: Treasures Lost Under Collapsed Cologne Archives” Times Online UK
- “History In Ruins: Archive Collapse Disaster for Historians” Spiegel Online International
McCorkell’s presentation was mostly filled with photos and brief descriptions of her experiences as a volunteer, so it’s kind of difficult to describe without the imagery. I would definitely recommend checking out MAC’s website for her presentation after they have posted it (Rumor has it all PowerPoint presentations will be posted on the website).
She did have some valid advice if you want to manage volunteers or if you wanted to be a volunteer as a professional. If you are managing volunteers, it is good to have a training session of the work to be done, make sound decisions, clearly identify staff, provide advice or recommendations, and clearly communicate your goals and expectations in volunteers. If you are a professional in a volunteer capacity, McCorkells’ advice is to act professional, clarify and possible differences in training, do what is asked of you, communicate any expertise you have, ask questions, and help don’t hinder.
