Just in time to mark the 100th anniversary of the SS Eastland disaster on the Chicago River, a doctoral student has found the first known film footage of the event, which took 884 lives.
The tragedy occurred in July 1915. The ship was carrying 2,500 people to a company picnic when it capsized, notes The Chicago Tribune. Jeff Nichols, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, discovered the footage last week while working on his dissertation on Chicago-related World War I propaganda.
His search took him to a European Union-sponsored site called Europeana, where he found archived Dutch newsreels. Two of the newsreels included brief footage of the Eastland disaster.
Nichols, who has lived in Chicago for 20 years, understood the importance of his discovery, but was surprised about how he stumbled upon it. After all, the title cards in the reels were in Dutch and they were mostly about war scenes.
“If you look at the newsreels, it's mostly war news, trivial news, local news," Nichols told the Tribune. "It's European news, and then you see the title card for the Eastland."
The first clip runs 55 seconds and shows people walking on the ship’s hull. The second clip runs 30 seconds and shows how the ship was righted. Both scenes not only give a fascinating glimpse of the disaster, but also a look at how people responded to such events at the time.
The newsreels are located at the EYE Film Instituut Nederland. Frank Roumen, the museum’s collection manager, confirmed to the Associated Press that they do still exist.
The Eastland Disaster Historical Society was certainly happy about the discovery and shared links of the videos.
You can see some of the footage below. Skip to 9:10.
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