1913 Dayton Flood Relief Fund photograph   Save
Ohio Guide Photographs
Description: Collected for use in the Ohio Guide, this photograph shows the large crowd gathered at the Dayton Flood Prevention fundraiser. To the left of the Old Courthouse façade is a giant cash register with a sign above that reads “Flood Fund $2,000,000” and a sign below which reads “I am a policy holder in the Flood Prevention Fund.” A note on the back of the photograph documents the Flood Prevention Fund donations totaling $2,150,000. Dayton, Ohio, was one of the many Ohio cities impacted by the Great Flood of 1913, a result of several major rivers throughout central and eastern United States overflowing due to heavy rainfall from March 23-26. Once the levee failed, the Great Miami River flowed across Dayton, killing nearly 430 people statewide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F06_015_001
Subjects: Dayton (Ohio)--History--Pictorial works; Floods; Natural disasters; Great Miami River (Ohio); Ohio Federal Writers' Project; Works Progress Administration
Places: Dayton (Ohio); Montgomery County (Ohio)