Disaster Citizenship: Survivors, Solidarity, and Power in the Progressive Era (Working Class in American History)

"A century ago, governments buoyed by Progressive Era-beliefs began to assume greater responsibility for protecting and rescuing citizens. Yet the aftermath of two disasters in the United States-Canada borderlands--the Salem Fire of 1914 and the Halifax Explosion of 1917--saw working class survivors instead turn to friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members for succor and aid. Both official and unofficial responses, meanwhile, showed how the United States and Canada were linked by experts, workers, and money. In Disaster Citizenship, Jacob A.C. Remes draws on histories of the Salem and Halifax events to explore the institutions--both formal and informal--that ordinary people relied upon in times of crisis. He explores patterns and traditions of self-help, informal order, and solidarity and details how people adapted these traditions when necessary. Yet, as he shows, these methods--though often quick and effective--remained illegible to reformers. Indeed, soldiers, social workers, and reformers wielding extraordinary emergency powers challenged these grassroots practices to impose progressive 'solutions' on what they wrongly imagined to be a fractured social landscape. Innovative and engaging, Disaster Citizenship excavates the forgotten networks of solidarity and obligation in an earlier time while simultaneously suggesting new frameworks in the emerging field of critical disaster studies"-- Provided by publisher A century ago, governments buoyed by Progressive Era–beliefs began to assume greater responsibility for protecting and rescuing citizens. Yet the aftermath of two disasters in the United States–Canada borderlands—the Salem Fire of 1914 and the Halifax Explosion of 1917—saw working class survivors instead turn to friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members for succor and aid. Both official and unofficial responses, meanwhile, showed how the United States and Canada were linked by experts, workers, and money. In Disaster Citizenship , Jacob A. C. Remes draws on histories of the Salem and Halifax events to explore the institutions—both formal and informal—that ordinary people relied upon in times of crisis. He explores patterns and traditions of self-help, informal order, and solidarity and details how people adapted these traditions when necessary. Yet, as he shows, these methods—though often quick and effective—remained illegible to reformers. Indeed, soldiers, social workers, and reformers wielding extraordinary emergency powers challenged these grassroots practices to impose progressive "solutions" on what they wrongly imagined to be a fractured social landscape. | Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1. "Organization without Any Organization": Order and Disorder in Exploded Halifax 2. "A Great Power Had Swept Over It": Politics and Power after the Salem Fire 3. "It Is Easy Enough to Establish Camps": Geographies of Community and Resistance in Burned Salem 4. "The Relief Would Have Had to Pay Someone": Halifax Families and the Work of Relief in Halifax 5. "A Desirable Measure of Responsibility": Halifax's Churches and Unions Respond to the Progressive 6. "The Sufferings of This Time Are Not Worthy to Be Compared with the Glory That Is to Come": Sale Conclusion: Cities of Comrades Notes Bibliography Index | Herbert G. Gutman Prize, Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA), 2011 — Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA) | Jacob A. C. Remes is an assistant professor of public affairs and history at the Metropolitan Center of SUNY Empire State College. He is a winner of the Herbert G. Gutman prize from the Labor and Working-Class History Association and the Eugene A. Forsey Prize from the Canadian Committee on Labour History. A century ago, governments buoyed by Progressive Era beliefs began to assume greater responsibility for protecting and rescuing citizens. Yet the aftermath of two disasters in the United States–Canada borderlands—the Salem fire of 1914 and the Halifax explosion of 1917—saw working-class survivors instead turn to friends, neighbors, coworkers, and family members for succor and aid. This book draws on histories of the Salem and Halifax events to explore the institutions—both formal and informal—that ordinary people relied upon in times of crisis. It explores patterns and traditions of self-help, informal order, and solidarity and details how people adapted these traditions when necessary. Yet, as the book shows, these methods—though often quick and effective—remained illegible to reformers. Indeed, soldiers, social workers, and reformers wielding extraordinary emergency powers challenged these grassroots practices to impose progressive “solutions” on what they wrongly imagined to be a fractured social landscape. Jacob A.C. Remes draws on histories of the Salem Fire of 1914 and the Halifax Explosion of 1917 to explore the institutions, both formal and informal, that ordinary people in the US-Canada borderlands relied upon in times of crisis. He explores patterns and traditions of self-help, informal order, and solidarity and details how people adapted these traditions when necessary. Yet, as he shows, these methods, though often quick and effective, remained illegible to progressive era reformers. Indeed, soldiers, social workers, and reformers wielding extraordinary emergency powers challenged grassroots practices in order to impose progressive 'solutions' on what they wrongly imagined to be a fractured social landscape. This study excavates the forgotten networks of solidarity and obligation in an earlier time while simultaneously suggesting new frameworks in the emerging field of critical disaster studies Cover 1 Title Page 4 Copyright 5 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 14 1 “Organization without Any Organization”: Order and Disorder in Exploded Halifax 34 2 “A Great Power Had Swept Over It”: Politics and Power after the Salem Fire 66 3 “It Is Easy Enough to Establish Camps”: Geographies of Community and Resistance in Burned Salem 91 4 “The Relief Would Have Had to Pay Someone”: Halifax Families and the Work of Relief in Halifax 118 5 “A Desirable Measure of Responsibility”: Halifax’s Churches and Unions Respond to the Progressive 145 6 “The Sufferings of This Time Are Not Worthy to Be Compared with the Glory That Is to Come”: Sale 178 Conclusion: Cities of Comrades 202 Notes 214 Bibliography 258 Index 290