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WEEKLY NEWS 1: Online Exhibit Recalls 1906 Quake

Top historic libraries from California have put together an incredibly detailed online exhibit that chronicles the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath. The mammoth display took researchers from six institutions five years to compile. Until now, most of the photos and documents were scattered in different locations.

The 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck early on the morning of April 18, 1906. An estimated 3000-5000 people were killed. Fires that followed raged for three days, adding to the city’s damage and death toll. The quake’s epicenter was near San Francisco along the San Andreas Fault, but damage occurred for hundreds of miles along the fault line. Many still consider it the worst urban disaster in U.S. history.

Researchers are fortunate that at the time of the quake, Kodak’s roll film camera had just been invented. Thousands of photos and a few silent films survived. The display includes a 360-degree panoramic view of the city’s destruction taken from the roof of the Fairmont Hotel.

The exhibit contains five “rooms,” each representing a major theme of the earthquake and fire event, such as “The Day Our City Trembled,” “Surviving a City in Ruins,” and others. Audio clips include personal accounts from survivors, and even sounds of an actual earthquake.

Contributing to the online archive were The Bancroft Library, the California Historical Society, the California State Library, Stanford University, The Huntington Library, and the Society of California Pioneers.

--Written by Patricia Daniels

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