Collection Title: Paducah Flood Papers
Series Number: MS09-01
Processed and Cataloged by: Joseph Suiter
Date Listed: January 22, 2010
Date Span: 1937-1938
Size of Collection: 0.25 linear feet.
Number of Boxes: 1 legal half sized document case.
Type of Material: Correspondence, photographs and newspaper clippings.
Condition of Material: Good.
Arrangement: Alphabetical by surname.
Biographical / Historical Information: From January 10 to January 24, eighteen inches rain fell upon the mid-west and northeast regions of the United States. The Ohio River rose by over fifty feet from January 23 to January 24. The river crested at 60.8 feet at Paducah, Kentucky on February 2, 1937. The disaster left over 27,000 people homeless and caused millions of dollars of damage to residential and business structures in Paducah and surrounding areas.
Scope and Content: Collection consists of over seventy accounts from survivors of the 1937 flood of Paducah, Kentucky that were submitted to Barry Craig of the Paducah Sun newspaper during the 50th anniversary of the flood. Included with the correspondence are photographs of the 1913 flood and photocopied articles of the 50th anniversary of the flood written by Barry Craig in 1987.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Paducah (Ky.) -- Flood, 1937.
Paducah (Ky.) – History – Sources.
McCracken County (Ky.) – History – Sources.
Additional Sources: See Paducah’s super-flood, January-February, 1937: the story of Paducah’s greatest disaster in words and pictures by Fred Gus Neuman.
Box List
Box 1
- Paducah Flood Correspondence A-D 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence E-Ha 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence Ha-La 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence Le-Mu 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence My-Ri 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence Ro-St 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence St-Tu 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence Wa-Wy 1987
- Paducah Flood Correspondence Articles- 50th Anniversary 1987
- McElrath Photos of 1913 Flood 1913
