 | Saving San Francisco: Relief and Recovery after the 1906 Disaster Subjects: San Francisco Earthquake and Fire Calif. 1906; Disaster relief -- California -- San Francisco -- History -- 20th century; Earthquakes -- California -- San Francisco -- History -- 20th century; Fires -- California -- San Francisco -- History -- 20th cent; Combining the experiences of ordinary people with urban politics and history, Saving San Francisco challenges the long-lived myth that the 1906 disaster erased social differences as it leveled the city. Highlighting new evidence from San Francisco's relief camps, Andrea Rees Davies shows that as policy makers directed various forms of aid to groups and projects that enjoyed high social status before the disaster, the widespread need and dislocation created opportunities for some groups to challenge biased relief policy. Poor and working-class refugees organized successful protests, while Chinatown business leaders and middle-class white women mobilized resources for the less privileged. Ultimately, however, the political and financial elite shaped relief and reconstruction efforts and cemented social differences in San Francisco. Andrea Rees Davies is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at California State University, Northridge. |
