The “Account of the San Francisco earthquake and fire, with ephemera from the aftermath: San Francisco, Calif., 1906” is an archival collection made up of roughly 14,000 images and 7,000 pages of texts detailing the history of the natural disaster in San Francisco and accompanying areas. This compilation of primary data documents the events during the fires, the relief effort, the reconstruction effort, as well as the science behind the earthquake that hit the most populous city on the West coast at the time.
It is important to note that what seems like an overwhelming amount of information still states in the introduction that the materials contained in this archive do not come close to documenting the rich impact of this historical event. However, what is included in this database is the visual evidence of the impact this earthquake had on this major city. Before and after photos of streets, refugee tents, and building ruins help the government take note for reconstruction of fallen buildings as well as emphasize how unprepared infrastructure was for these natural disasters. One picture that stood out to me was an image of police serving flour to refugees highlighting the extreme lack of food for these now homeless residents.
The reason I chose to analyze the San Francisco database was that as a second generation Asian American when I think of the San Francisco fire and earthquake of 1906 I think of the Angel Island Chinese Immigration. During this time, Chinese immigrants were stereotyped as disease-ridden coolies immigrating to steal job opportunities. However, because the great fire burned 90-95% of citizenship papers, prospective merchants and families would falsify documents and illegally claim they were relatives of Chinese American citizens. When we look at this collection, the images of refugees at camps are predominantly white middle-aged men who can afford the pictured coats and top hats. The concept of symbolic annihilation from class parallels the absence of Chinese minorities in these images and texts. Because the impact of the disasters is not present in these archives, we do not see the before and after of the areas of the cities that minorities resided in and the rich background of this major turning point in history.
These gaps in history, in turn, cannot be fully understood through the archives. Instead, we must search for this information through research online in more specific databases and collections. We can also look through other primary sources such as personal records and photos or journal entries specific to those living there at the time.
This is such an interesting blog post. I love that you added your own personal connection to the archive and how you feel that a valuable part of the Asian-American culture was missing during this time. What I found interesting was that the archive went into detail regarding the building structures and how unprepared the society was as a whole. The compilation of photos allows us to never forget the true damage that impacted so many lives. I believe that with archives like these they allow us to learn from the past and create better procedures to deal with natural disasters such as the 1906 earthquake.
Sophia,
This is such a powerful blog post. I agree that these pictures are really moving, and I loved how you tied this collection back to your personal history.