Nashville PL Leads Effort To Chronicle 2010 Flood
By Michael Kelley Oct 27, 2010In early May, when the Cumberland River rose nearly 12 feet above flood stage (40 feet), to 51.86 feet, the city of Nashville endured all the fury of a "1,000-year flood event," as the Army Corps of Engineers described it.
But as the disaster unfolded, the Nashville Public Library felt a heightened sense of responsibility to chronicle this devastating chapter in the city's history.
Within two weeks of the flood's end, under the direction of Andrea Blackman, the special collections division manager, the library initiated the Nashville Flood Digital History Project.
"Part of our mission is to preserve local history and to share it," Blackman said.
And the city has embraced the library's leadership.
"Six months ago doesn't feel like history to any of us yet, especially as we continue to work on the city's recovery," Mayor Karl Dean said in an October 21 statement. "But it's important that we begin work now to preserve information about the flood, which will no doubt be viewed for decades to come as a historic event that forever changed our city."
"The public library is the absolute right entity to lead this effort," he said. "I look forward to participating in the project and having the opportunity to review the materials when the project is complete."
Library sets best practices for partners
The library is partnering with local organizations, including the mayor's office, and will show volunteers from these groups best practices and methodologies in collecting and digitizing photographs, oral histories, and ephemera (such as flyers and posters that the library began collecting from the streets in May).
"We will develop the framework and manage the content and train the other organizations on how to do oral history projects," Blackman said. "They will be stakeholders, and we will be the lead."
She described the volunteers as "citizen curators."
All this material is being housed at the library and will be digitized using the contentDM content management system. The library is paying for the project through its operating budget.
The project's website will become part of the library's digital collection, and the goal, Blackman said, is to make it the definitive historical record of the flood.
In addition, the library has created a Flickr page and will be launching a blog where residents can upload their photographs and share their recollections.
"We are excited about this project," Blackman said. "Think about the many voices involved, every neighborhood that was affected, and the surrounding counties. There's a need to capture all those voices."
The library already has three active oral history projects, and the expertise gleaned from those ventures will serve the latest undertaking well. The project is expected to be completed by June 2011.
