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March 31, 2006

Send Currency By Wells Fargo

Marianne

In an earlier post, the writer Gertrude Atherton wrote of the inconvenience of being cashless. She was luckier than most, as she had a New York banker to help her out of a desperate situation. Unfortunately, not everyone had her resources, not even someone as affluent as Eleanor Watkins Click here to learn about third-party website links, wife of prominent San Francisco physician James T. Watkins. She wrote a lengthy letter to relatives in Virginia a week after the quake:

Anglo California Bank Two telegrams came today – one from Aunt Virginia for $500 and one from the Bank of Marion telling me to draw on the Bank of California for $300. You are all very generous. We do not want to tax your generosity any more than we must, and we simply cannot say what we shall need. Neither of these telegrams is available in cash just now. In the first place, all the banks are burned, and the vaults may not be opened for weeks, lest their contents burst into a blaze. This happened to one vault which was opened today. In the second place, the Governor has declared legal holiday for a month, at least, and no California Bank can pay out any money. This is to prevent a run of the Banks, protesting of notes, and other legal complications, until a little order is brought out of our chaos. This lack of ready money is one of the people’s chief troubles. The others are lack of water, and lack of the necessities of life which cannot be bought here...

London-Paris American Bank at Sansome and Sutter The only way to transmit money, as yet, is to send currency by Wells Fargo, or to send post-office order, which the post-office authorities will pay. This, I believe is different from a postal note, which is limited to twenty dollars... This is an unprecedented situation, and there are no rules to go by. Each day has new developments, and no day is like the last.


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Archives Q&A

Keri

There are probably not many banks that have an historical archive. We're fortunate to have one. Here are a few things you may want to know about ours.

Q: So what’s in the Archives?

A: The Archives is an amazing collection of records, books, journals, art, photographs and artifacts. Everything that you see in our historical exhibits and history museums comes from our vast collection.

Our collection of materials documents the origins, development, operations of Wells Fargo and all its subsidiaries, affiliates and merger partners since 1852, all of which are of enduring historical value. Our Special Collections include materials relating to the history of San Francisco, banking and express businesses, and stagecoach operations in the 19th century.

cap Q: Who uses the Archives? Is it open to the public?

A: The Archives is a central resource for those seeking information about Wells Fargo’s history. The Archives primarily serves internal business departments across the company, but we also assist those performing scholarly research.

Q: So what’s the connection between the quake and the Archives?

A: Obviously, Wells Fargo was in business during the time of the 1906 Earthquake. Not all of those records were destroyed in the fire. Some of them did survive and we carefully store them in the Archives. Right now, you can see original documents from the 1906 Earthquake on display in our History Museum.

Q: How old is the oldest document in the Archives?

fireman A: The Archives has the original records of Wells Fargo from when it was established in 1852.

Q: What’s the coolest thing about the place?

A: The Archives is cool—literally. We keep the records in a temperature and humidity controlled vault. The temperature never gets higher than 65 degrees.

Q: What's with the white gloves? Fashion accessory?

A: Archivists always wear gloves. We never really touch things in the archives with our bare hands. Everything we have here is fragile.

Q: What’s the coolest thing about your job?

A: I work with cool people, cool stuff, and for a cool company like Wells Fargo.

March 30, 2006

Blogging, c.1906

Ed Terpening

SF MOMAAs a working artist Click here to learn about third-party website links, I love art museums. The range of perspective, creativity and just daring innovation is inspirational. Yesterday I attended a show at our fair city's Museum of Modern Art Click here to learn about third-party website links (SF MOMA) where—like in most galleries at the museum—I heard comments like "amazing," "shocking," "incredible" and "unbelieveable" to describe the works hanging on the walls. Were these works the latest retrospective of a world-renowned artist? No. The "artist" was an event: the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.

When I heard SF MOMA was having a show highlighting photographs from the quake, I have to admit I was puzzled. Are these works of art? Some are, but most are snapshots by everyday people, such as insurance adjusters, who had just been introduced to home photography with the release of the first Kodak Brownie Click here to learn about third-party website links camera in 1900. These folks were early bloggers of a sort! "Citizen reporters," if you will. My bet is SF MOMA hosted this show because it generates the same awe, inspiration and discussion that any great collection would.

HC White Co. After the EarthquakeIt's certainly worth a visit. My only nit with the show is that the museum doesn't provide a means of enjoying the stereoviews Click here to learn about third-party website links, which when viewed through proper glasses make intriguing 3D images. To get some idea of what stereoviews look like, check out this one of Nob Hill Click here to learn about third-party website links, and the fires down Market Street Click here to learn about third-party website links—both promoting the book "Earthquake Days Click here to learn about third-party website links," by David Burkhart.

1906 Earthquake: A Disaster in Pictures runs through May 30, 2006. The exhibition was organized by Corey Keller, SF MOMA assistant curator of photography. Visit the SF MOMA website Click here to learn about third-party website links to learn more about this show Click here to learn about third-party website links.

Share Your Story

Jane Po

Whittier EarthquakeKnowing that I’ve been on the lookout for accounts of disasters from Wells Fargo Team Members, historian Marianne Babal brought a copy of the Wells Fargo News from October 20, 1987 to my attention. The newsletter contains stories of Team Members who were at work when the Whittier earthquake Click here to learn about third-party website links struck at 7:42 a.m. Thursday, October 1.

Executive Vice President Ron Parker, who was on the 12th Floor of the Los Angeles headquarters, recalls:

We couldn’t get out of our chairs because the building was swaying so badly.

Whittier Main Office branch manager Cecilia Brenes was arriving at work.

The new teller signs were on the floor, the WEBS machine was smashed, ceiling tiles had fallen and the floor was flooded from a broken water pipe.

In addition, the office's safe deposit nest had been moved by the jolt and the cabinet housing the branch’s cash had shifted at least five inches.

More of the Whittier Earthquake Downey Office Manager David Cooley was at the office when the quake struck.

We had a lot of mechanical problems... All eleven of our tellers’ computers had been knocked to the floor. A window had crashed onto a new accounts desk. We had no telephone and no electricity until Friday morning at 9:30. It was a pretty wild scene... (building security) helped us get nine new computers by the next day. We were really lucky to be able to open on time on Friday.

Where were you when Loma Prieta struck? Or Northridge? Or Katrina? Share your stories with us. We’d love to hear from you.

March 29, 2006

Double Exposure

John Poyser

Last Saturday was set aside for a trip to the Legion of Honor's Click here to learn about third-party website links exhibit entitled After the Ruins, 1906 and 2006: Rephotographing the San Francisco Earthquake and Fire. It was a beautiful day. The sky and the bay were so clear, and the grounds of the museum were stunning. The Legion of Honor has got to be, hands down, one of my favorite museums in the city. I always start in the café with a bite to eat and Champagne.

Union Square(click for larger image)The exhibit is in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the SF earthquake. It consists of 46 lucent photographs and four panoramas that pair vintage images of the aftermath of the 1906 quake, photographed by Arnold Genthe Click here to learn about third-party website links, with modern renderings of the same sites by contemporary photographer Mark Klett.

The detail involved in these photographic pairings is amazing, and the setup that went into them painstakingly researched. Klett was able to rephotograph the original sites, determine the time of day the original photos were shot, and highlight whatever structures remain on the sites.

The Palace Hotel(click for larger image)What really brings the photographs together is the multimedia piece that goes with the exhibit. The piece contains an interactive map of the locations of the original photos, a section where Mark Klett discusses the complexities of rephotography and an interactive area that overlays the original image with the modern one. It’s wonderful how the user can experience the shift in time through the use of a slider. Unfortunately the piece isn’t for sale. I asked. It’d make a great souvenir to take home from the exhibit or a nice companion to the book. There are no immediate plans to reproduce it either.

Flood Building(click for larger image)I highly recommend that you go and see the show. There are only two stations and the show is busy, so there might be a line. But it’s worth the wait.


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Deja Vu All Over Again

Jane Po

I live on the northeast side of the East Bay Hills. On October 20, 1991, a fire broke out on the Oakland side of the hills Click here to learn about third-party website links, and it was the worst fire that involved the loss of property and life since the quake of '06. Fortunately, my side of the hills was left unscathed, but I did witness most of the event from beginning to end.

Reading about the fires that leveled San Francisco in 1906 and having seen first hand what happened almost a century after makes me ask: Does history really repeat itself? The similarity between the reasons behind the mass destruction is startling.

In a previous post, Charles Riggs wrote about how a then-technologically advanced fire department failed to save San Francisco from destruction: "…one of the ironies of the disaster—a peninsula surrounded by an ocean and a bay, but no way to get all that water on the flames." One hundred years later, raging flames once again trounced the promise of technology. This report on the Oakland Hills fire Click here to learn about third-party website links has given me food for thought.

March 28, 2006

Faultlines

Ed Terpening

An account of the political situation Click here to learn about third-party website links in San Francisco in 1906 sheds interesting light on how the city responded in the quake's aftermath. I can't help but see parallels with New Orleans, as the city grapples with the aftermath of Katrina Click here to learn about third-party website links.

It was written by UC Berkeley Alum Kevin Starr Click here to learn about third-party website links, a professor at the University of Southern California and state librarian emeritus. Random House has just published his California, A History.

Leaving The Big Easy

Jane Po

I received this email from a Wells Fargo Team Member the day before we launched our blog. Kathleen Kelley wrote: "After reading the cover story about the new web site regarding blogging, I thought my story would be an appropriate one to share. I relocated here in Minnesota after Hurricane Katrina and just got on board with Wells Fargo 3 weeks ago." Much like Lucy Miller from century ago, she considers herself one of the lucky ones.

cathy kelleyAugust 26th, 2005 was a Friday, the end of the work week. My trainees talked of the hurricane coming to New Orleans. They asked for my cell phone number in case work was cancelled on Monday. I nonchalantly gave it to them, along with the emergency hotline Click here to learn about third-party website links for the bank, and told them good-bye. My co-workers were engrossed in the hurricane news on T.V. I had seen them in such a state during past hurricane warnings. I told them goodnight.

The next day was absolutely beautiful, sunny, in the high 70’s. As my son napped, I enjoyed a few hours by the pool. I glanced at the news and officials were urging people to leave the city.

Early Sunday morning, my friend Miriam called saying it was really blowing in this time. She thought we ought to be together if we were staying through the storm. I panicked, not knowing quite how far away the storm was. I quickly packed a small bag for myself and my son Jorgie, assuming we’d be back within a day.

hurricane katrinaMonday morning, the storm Click here to learn about third-party website links hit hard. Shutters and shingles were blowing off of houses, trees were down everywhere along with power lines. Fortunately, we had a generator from one of the neighbors that allowed us to see some of the devastation on TV. Later that day when we ran out of gas, we resorted to listening to a portable radio. In an effort to get more gas for the generator, we innocently "borrowed" from neighbors gas cans that sat in their backyards. My friends cooked for us on a portable stove and we had candles for the evening time.

By this time, most of the city had evacuated. We were some of the few that stayed behind. Miraculously, one of the neighbors was a fireman and offered to bring us necessities from Walmart which was only allowing city workers in. He brought us 5 packs of diapers for my son.

We heard that the power would be out for approximately 3 months and the officials still urged those who stayed behind to leave. My girlfriend decided to leave her two miniature dogs behind, as many did. A neighbor who refused to leave promised to come everyday and feed the dogs with the little food we had for them. So, as the heat became more intense, making it more unbearable, food and water also becoming scarce, we left in a minivan with half a tank of gas, taking the back way out of New Orleans. Our destination was El Paso, Texas, where my friend had family.

office after katrinaSince the power outage, there was virtually no means of communication with anyone. Cell phones didn’t work and landlines were out. I learned later by text messaging that co-workers and friends were O.K. Now what? They expected the city to be out of commission for some time. Where would we go? I had spent the past 25 years of my life in New Orleans; the last 20 working for a local bank. I was a retail Trainer and absolutely loved my job. No one knew how to advise.

We connected with the Convention Center in El Paso where many folks had been transported by bus for assistance and shelter. We registered with the Red Cross Click here to learn about third-party website links so family and friends would know we were alright. They also assisted us with getting copies of birth certificates and social security cards.

For the next 3 weeks I agonized and contemplated our next move. I had been thinking about my son’s future. My job was really the only thing holding me back from leaving the city, even prior to the storm. My boss encouraged me to come back to work, but I learned that my son’s daycare was destroyed, the part of the city where we resided was not yet open, and the news told us that the bacteria count was unsafe.

My brother invited us to start a new life in Minnesota. I thought about it for a couple days and then scheduled a flight to Minneapolis. En route to Minnesota via Houston, we hit storm Rita head on. Our flight was cancelled. Fortunately, 12 hours later, we were able to get on the only flight out. I was so grateful to arrive safely after such an unpredictable day. My brother and sister-in-law were most accommodating for the next 2 months.

I immediately went to the state assistance center to get help with job placement and living arrangements. After working with Sabathani Community Center, they connected me with a wonderful family and neighborhood in Stillwater where we've settled. They also helped to compose a resume and gave me some connections for a new job. It was through a wonderful neighbor in Stillwater that I was referred to Wells Fargo. I was hired February 27th in the Trust Operations Dept. in downtown Minneapolis.

car in yard after katrinaI was fortunate to be able to get back to New Orleans in November. It was then that I would put closure on the past 25 years of my life. I was one of the 20% who still had belongings that were intact. The city was like a ghost town. 80% of the city was destroyed. What tragedy! Life as we knew it in New Orleans would never be the same. There are still so many people I wonder about. Phone numbers are disconnected. We can only wonder.

For those who chose to go back to New Orleans, they are still unable to live in their homes as usual. They are dealing with insurance companies, builders, and other workers Click here to learn about third-party website links in an effort to return to normalcy.

I am lucky to have been able to relocate and start a new life. I’ll miss the Big Easy, but look forward to a new and better way for us here. Minnesota has been good to us. And now, we want to give back to the community for all the good that I am so grateful for.

Exodus

Marianne

burning buildingThe fire of ’06 burned 28,000 buildings and left over 200,000 San Francisco residents homeless—half the city’s population. Another 70,000-90,000 were without shelter in surrounding communities. People took refuge in any open space, in parks and vacant lots. Episcopal Bishop William E. Nichols witnessed the destruction of Grace Church at California and Stockton Streets Click here to learn about third-party website links, then fled to Lafayette Park which was, in his words, "black with people."
We sat there hour after hour saying little, but awed by the almost incredible panorama before our eyes. . . Over there on the hill a cloud of flame would swoop down with cyclonic force upon a whole block of frame buildings and engulf them as in a furnace.”

Missionary Donaldina Cameron, whose Home for Chinese Girls housed orphans and former "slave girls" of Chinatown took shelter the first night with her charges at the First Presbyterian Church at Van Ness and Sacramento:

At break of day the little band were hurriedly preparing for another march, the shelter of the night being no longer secure. Fire menaced from three directions... Never shall we forget the busy preparations made that Thursday morning for the long march to the Ferry. Many things carried so far must be left behind; much must be carried. Which to take, what to leave, and how to carry what we could not abandon, these and many more were the problems to be solved. Sheets were torn up for ropes and broom handles served for bamboo poles. Laughing in spite of their distress, the girls tried the vegetable peddler’s scheme with their bundles, and it worked well, for two bundles could thus be carried by one person.

Jack London Click here to learn about third-party website links described the retreat for Colliers magazine:

Fleeing Market StreetAll night these tens of thousands fled before the flames. Many of them, the poor people from the labor ghetto, had fled all day as well. They had left their homes burdened with possessions. Now and again they lightened up, flinging out upon the street clothing and treasures they had dragged for miles. They held on longest to their trunks, and over these trunks many a strong man broke his heart that night. The hills of San Francisco are steep, and up these hills, mile after mile, were the trunks dragged.

The scraping sound of dragging trunks remained in the minds of many survivors for years afterward.

Tens of thousands found refuge across the Bay in Oakland, where camps were set up around Lake Merritt, with a separate camp for 20,000 "Chinese, Japanese and other exceptional peoples." The Southern Pacific Railroad and ferry system transported refugees free of charge to any destination.

tentsOfficial camps were constructed in short order in Golden Gate Park Click here to learn about third-party website links, the Presidio, Fort Mason Click here to learn about third-party website links and city squares and parks Click here to learn about third-party website links. Wood structures included barracks, tents on wood platforms Click here to learn about third-party website links, and small frame "earthquake cottages."

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March 27, 2006

New Events Calendar

Ed Terpening

Thanks to our excellent designer/blogger—and "all things San Francisco"John Poyser, we have a great new events calendar in the right-hand side bar of our blog.

Simply mouse-over the calendar dates, and if there are events scheduled that day, the date will highlight. Click to see a list of events for that week, and ongoing events.  Each event is linked to the event organizer, so you can learn more. 

You'll find everything from cultural events like "Chanticleer: Earthquake Mass Click here to learn about third-party website links" to earthquake-related movies in 3-D Click here to learn about third-party website links. The 3D movies are interesting. They take 1906 stereo views and pan them like they're 3D.  BTW, if you have an event to list, let us know.

Guided By   His   Herstory, Day 5

Anne

prepare exhibitOne could compare the creation and installation of an exhibit to many things: redecorating a house (lots of design work and runs to Home Depot), preparing a presentation for the big boss (lots of research and after-hours work)... maybe even giving birth (I’d have to ask some experts to verify this one). San Francisco Is In Ashes came together through the hard work, directly or indirectly, of the entire Historical Services Department. The installation process, lasting a few weeks, gave our Team the chance to find out how many coffee places are open on weekends in the San Francisco Financial District (few on Saturdays; even fewer on Sundays).

Now I am a big proponent of testing and evaluation. It's the only way to really explore and verify how visitors are responding to the exhibit Click here to learn about third-party website links, and the process never truly ends. No matter how much front-end or formative evaluation is undertaken in the design process, once the exhibit is unveiled and fully open, surprises will result (and that’s part of the fun!). Now that San Francisco Is In Ashes has been up a few weeks, I have learned a lot.

In our modern era, it seems people expect an experience to be automated and push-buttoned. The idea of  "making your own quake", as opposed to feeling a pre-choreographed and timed earthquake, was counterintuitive to most visitors at first—but is very engaging.

A floor decal duplicating a seismograph reading (in this case the 1906 earthquake as recorded in Germany) is obvious to most Californians, but looks like a curious, squiggly line to many others.

heavy metalA hefty mass of melted and misshapen “stuff," now cooled and fused together, is awfully fascinating: “What is it?” (coins and other metal objects in the Wells Fargo Express building); “How much would that have been worth?” (impossible to say accurately); “Where is it now?” (unknown, but surely melted down. People of 1906 had no idea how interesting it would be 100 years later).

In a few months, the Museum Click here to learn about third-party website links staff will welcome many international tourists taking in the beautiful, but surprisingly chilly, city of San Francisco on summer holiday. Along with their cameras, thoughtful questions about Wells Fargo, and fun stories to recount of their travels thus far, they will bring us many opportunities for new learning!

Animal Rescue

Beverly Smith

Working with the Wells Fargo Stagecoach Appearance Program and being a pet parent to three dogs, animals are often on my mind. The horses in the Stagecoach Program usually just work weekends and of course, my dogs only work, well, that would actually be never, unless you count occasionally barking at the squirrel in our backyard.

fallen horsesIn looking through our vast collections on the ’06 earthquake, I was surprised and horrified to see one statistic that stood out for me: Over 15,000 horses were estimated to have died in the catastrophe. In a time when horse power drove the economic strength of San Francisco, that was a huge impact on the city and its ability to respond to the emergency and rebuild later.

I wanted to investigate how animals fared back then, and my friend Casey found an enlightening reference Click here to learn about third-party website links:

It was the dogs, wild with fear, that gave me first the measure of our calamity... then came the dogs, couriers of the cataclysm—they had come far, for they ran slowly. Their jaws were dripping. They moaned and whined. All of them panted steadily up the steep hill… We were shaken but safe; below us were nameless horrors, the dogs knew, and knowing, ran to the high places.

My friend’s wise terrier, remote and safe from the shock or fire, began at once on the first day of the tragedy to forage and to conceal. She is still burying supplies in a back yard planted thick with her instinctive provision against the famine, that mankind, proceeding objectively, has averted.

San Francisco Chronicle
May 6, 1906

This was NOT a reference to inspire confidence. I began to recall some of the images from New Orleans in the days after Hurricane Katrina Click here to learn about third-party website links. One image I will not soon forget was of a man, in water waist high, floating along a Tupperware container which held a small white dog who looked out over the lip.

All these images and references made me think of how I should prepare for my animals in case disaster strikes. If you have pets or animals for which you are responsible, check out the American Red Cross Click here to learn about third-party website links or The Humane Society Click here to learn about third-party website links. It's a great time to put together a plan.

Wells Fargo To The Rescue

Marianne

Wagon SF 2An hour after the earthquake, Dr. Edward Topham, chief surgeon of St. Mary’s Hospital at First and Bryant Streets climbed to the hospital’s roof and observed a dozen fires burning all around the downtown. As injured citizens streamed into the hospital, he and another doctor walked north on Second Street to Mission to the headquarters of Wells Fargo & Co.’s Express. They had three hundred horses and nearly as many wagons housed in large stables on Folsom Street.

After observing desperate firefighters vainly trying to pump water from a sewer to fight the fires, Dr. Topham and his staff began a hurried evacuation of the hospital. They enlisted the help of Wells Fargo, who provided horses and large wagons for the evacuation of patients to the waterfront. He wrote:

My detail was to get the transportables to the boat. This was accomplished by contacting the Wells Fargo stables a few blocks down Second Street. The managers willingly dispatched several large horse-drawn trucks to our front door and our task of transferring our patients began and proceeded very smoothly.

Red Cross AmbulancePatients were carried downstairs and hefted on mattresses into the wagons. The Wells Fargo wagons hauled the injured to the foot of Brannan Street, where the captain of the old Sacramento River steamer Modoc had been persuaded to tie up at the Pacific Mail Dock. By 5 pm, about the time the overladen Modoc landed the refugees in Oakland, St. Mary’s Hospital and surrounding blocks had been obliterated by fire.

Wells Fargo’s stables burned after nightfall. All of the horses and wagons were saved.

March 24, 2006

Determined Expressions

John Poyser

I’m amazed by the relatedness of the 1906 survivors' faces to those of people today. Working on the incredible amount of vintage images for this blog and poring over them hour by hour has been a trip. The modernity of the expressions, the accessibility of the eyes—it’s like looking at one’s own teenage photo, taken at the local mall, in vintage costume with your current crush. ;-) I miss junior high.

It’s really easy for me to look at these images and imagine what the people in them were going through. Being descended from '06 survivors, I grew up looking at similar family photos and hearing first-hand stories from family members. However, I’m still struck by the expressions of intelligence and honesty found in these pictures.faces

Nerdy, I know, but I’ve really been spending a lot of quality time with these old characters which by now have become familiar to me. And as I walk to work down Montgomery Street every morning, I can’t help but think about them. I wonder about their lives before April 18th, 1906, the routine, and then I imagine, the total chaos and destruction they lived through after. The same busy Financial District street I’m walking down was destroyed. It was a ruin, all buildings lost to earthquake or fire. Survivors had no idea where to go or what to do, and as I study these images I see determined people ready to live through what was needed to move on. They had to continue residing in the refugee camps or strive to get out of them, rebuild homes, businesses, and their lives while at the same time helping the others around them who were trying to do the same thing.

All of these pictures were taken after the quake. Most of them were taken in the ruins and some of them were taken in refugee camps or hospitals. I’ve run across no pictures of suffering, though I’m sure most were, and none with tears.

Campfire Cooking

Jane Po

While viewing the Bancroft Museum’s online exhibit on the Quake of ’06 Click here to learn about third-party website links, my eyes were drawn to a copy of The Refugees Cookbook Click here to learn about third-party website links, a slim volume of 18 pages compiled by "one of us," (later identified inside the book as Hattie Bowman). The entire cookbook is reproduced on the museum’s website. It’s an amusing read. It covered everything from soup to nuts—literally—and was "compiled for the benefit of those who have lost their cook books in our great disaster." There were dessert recipes, too, a few featuring prunes as an ingredient (prune pie, anyone?).

Did these recipes ever get realized in the minimal cooking facilities of the refugee camps? How did refugees deal with the lack of refrigeration? Food poisoning? Where did the fresh meats called for in these recipes come from? Inquiring cooks want to know.

cookingSharing a stove must have also been a problem for the refugee cook. Take, for example, a dish called Refugee Stew Click here to learn about third-party website links. The recipe calls for three pounds of beef to be cooked very slowly for three hours. I don’t know about you but I’d make my voice heard if someone commandeered the only stove in my camp just so he or she can make a boeuf bourguignon. What’s a recipe for Clam Cocktails Served in Green Pepper Cups Click here to learn about third-party website links doing in this collection? It’s got too many steps, too impractical. And Fricassee of Oysters Click here to learn about third-party website links? Would you actually have the sanity to shuck oysters, knowing that your old kitchen is now a pile of rubble? The cookbook does feature a practical tip on how to fashion a water filter out of a tomato can but really, why would you even need a cookbook in a refugee camp?

But then I thought, maybe the cookbook wasn’t really meant to be a gourmet guide for refugee living. After all, the camps were a temporary thing. Rather, the cookbook was a testament to survival, reminding the reader of good times past and ahead. In a few months the Green Pepper Cups would look lovely on the brand new dining table.

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March 23, 2006

Guided By   His   Herstory, Day 4

Anne

rebuilding the cityAn interesting but sometimes unexpected feature of the Wells Fargo Museum's Click here to learn about third-party website links San Francisco Is In Ashes exhibit focuses on the rebuilding of the destroyed city. This feature sits on the Mezzanine level. Most Museum visitors eventually do make their way upstairs as they explore the facility. So, after crawling in the reproduction stagecoach body to feel what a stagecoach trip would be like or—for our 100lbs and less guest—enjoying a restored stagecoach “kiddie ride” from the 1950’s (like you see out front of supermarkets), they come across the issue of rebuilding San Francisco.

Burhnam Telegraph HillNow that things have been settled for over 90 decades, thinking about what San Francisco could have been Click here to learn about third-party website links feels wistful and benign. Proposal drawings of a tiered and heavily landscaped Telegraph Hill, or a plaza of walkways and boulevards around City Hall, are musings to think about for a moment.

This harmless and pleasant Museum activity is in stark contrast to much the same process being applied now to New Orleans and the other areas hit by hurricanes last fall. A while ago, I read about the announcement of the rebuilding proposal for New Orleans Click here to learn about third-party website links, and could feel the anguish and heated emotions Click here to learn about third-party website links—understandably so—around the topic. There are no easy answers, and we are seeing the drama unfold day by day.

Despite drastic and dynamic changes proposed around the rebuilding of San Francisco, the priority was recovery and getting back to business Click here to learn about third-party website links, and therefore rebuilding to how things had been before. This portion of the Museum exhibit also highlights the 1909 Portola Festival Click here to learn about third-party website links and 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition Click here to learn about third-party website links as events that physically and mentally marked a city rising from the ashes. It makes me wonder if in a few years (decades?) we will see Mardi Gras Click here to learn about third-party website links or Jazzfest or the Essence Music Festival as the same touchstones marking the recovery of New Orleans.



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Cooking The Books

Jane Po

No, this isn’t a tale about corporate corruption. Back in the day, Wells Fargo and other banks tracked accounts using large leatherbound books called Boston Ledgers. These books contained a bank customer’s daily transactions, with names and dates recorded at the foot of the page.

Frederick LipmanFor weeks after the quake, guards watched over the sealed cash and record vaults of Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank on Montgomery Street. Finally, when it was determined that the vaults were cool enough to handle, workers were brought in to open them and retrieve their contents. Frederick Lipman, the cashier, had been waiting anxiously for this. Previously, he was told by the bank’s vice-president that all the books were destroyed:

The vaults had been opened... it was the worst half-hour that I ever have lived. I pictured all my future being devoted to what could be done to restore the records in our books...

... I went downtown. It was the longest trip I ever took in my life. It happened that when we put the books away hastily into the vault on the 18th that some of them were just thrown in on the floor. And this book vault was built on the bank floor which was one story above the basement and it was built on [iron] framework.

As it turned out, luck was on Lipman’s side:

... It didn’t go down to the ground. So the fire in the basement had run along and it had just cooked the vault. What was on the floor was a floury ash. That was the worst part, but after that it began to be better... we found that only one ledger was destroyed. That was but one out of fifteen or sixteen. Then we found at the bottom of the vault the lower part of each book where it was found and that gave us the footing on each page. By that footing we had proof of what the limit was on that page. We felt better when we saw that. We had the footing of each page and the statements and we proved to within $100...

ledger.jpgLedgers that had been stacked tightly merely charred around the edges, their pages so dense and so heavy that the superheated air could not penetrate them. The books and about $3,000,000 in gold and silver were carried out of the vaults and transferred to the new operating quarters a few blocks down Montgomery in the Union Trust Building.

Ninety-five years later, a similar event would take place, this time in New York City. The Bank of Nova Scotia’s offices were destroyed during the attack on the World Trade Center. Read the account of Richard Garlock Click here to learn about third-party website links, a structural engineer who led construction workers during recovery efforts at the ruins, as he beheld the contents of the Bank of Nova Scotia’s vaults (from the PBS series America Rebuilds: A Year at Ground Zero):

The vault was huge — two levels, 3,000 square feet each. When they opened the door, I realized why it was so big: there was a lot of gold and silver. The silver bars were like large loaves of bread, only they weighed about 70 pounds. The gold was smaller, but also very heavy, about 28 pounds each.

Cooked books? Loaves of bread? In Fred Lipman's words: "That was a dramatic affair. It saved us..."



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March 22, 2006

Disaster Shack, Part 2

Ed Terpening

In my previous post, I discovered how unprepared I am for a disaster, especially an earthquake. I recall when watching the terrible consequences of Katrina that I really should do something, but even that didn't get me moving. It somehow seemed remote—did it to you? I guess I'm a procrastinator to the core.  And I know I'm not alone, according to a recent report by ConsumerAffairs.com Click here to learn about third-party website links, "Though nearly half of Americans say they believe a major natural disaster or terrorist attack is likely to occur in their area in the next five years, a new survey shows more than three quarters admit they are ill-prepared should it occur."

ed and pet gracieBTW, I did try out that "aluminum foil" blanket I found in my "Disaster Shack" kit with my dog, Gracie. We sat in the garage for a bit—where it was about 40 degrees—and it really did keep me quite warm. I was surprised. Gracie didn't care for the crackling sound it made, and we looked like we were sitting in a Jiffy Pop Popcorn bag—but it worked! I have a feeling we'll learn there are some fairly innovative survival tools Click here to learn about third-party website links out there.

The American Red Cross' site includes a great tool for getting prepared Click here to learn about third-party website links. They have identified 9 categories of supplies. In the next couple of posts, I'm going to chronicle how long it takes to prepare and what my experience has been through it all. But first, I need to take stock and determine how far off the mark I am.

Recommendations
Shopping List
Water: Store one gallon of water per person per day, keep at least a three-day supply
I have 2 dozen 20 oz. bottles for two, but what about Gracie? I'll count her as 1/2 person (she's 30 pounds). So I need 960 ounces, and I only have 480. I need another 4 one-gallon jugs.
Food: Store at least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.
I had about half the food needed, and not a lot of variety! We're going to grow tired of chili and tuna by the second meal. I'll get two more days of food, with variety, including kibble for Gracie.
Medications: non-prescription meds for children, adults, and prescription drugs
My first aid kit has some aspirin, but looks like I'll need: an additional pair of eyeglasses (good idea!), and extra medications.
Tools and Supplies: This is a big category, everything from mess kits to needles and thread. Check their site for details Click here to learn about third-party website links.
I do have a radio, flashlight, and other supplies listed. I'm short of a lot of stuff here, including mess kits, cash/checks, fire extinguisher, compass, all kinds of things I wouldn't have thought about.
Sanitation: Soap, toilet paper, disinfectant's, etc.
From their detailed list, I'll need to buy: toilet paper, towelettes, soap, liquid detergent, plastic garbage bags and ties, a plastic bucket with tight lid, disinfectant and household chlorine bleach
Clothing and Bedding: "Include at least one complete change of clothing and footwear per person. We suggest long pants and long sleeves for additional protection after a disaster." I had no clothes at all in my kit, so will need all of it: one change of clothing, sturdy shoes, rain gear, gloves, thermal underwear, and sunglasses. I do have a blanket!
Emergency Car Kit: Battery powered radio, flashlight, blanket, booster cables, fire extinguisher (5 lb., A-B-C type), first aid kit, bottled water and non-perishable high energy foods, maps, shovel, tire repair kit and pump, flares
I hadn't thought of this, but they're right: you could be in your car when a disaster hits. I'll need: a portable radio, fire extinguisher, food, and a shovel... maybe I won't need the shovel, is that for SNOW???
Documents: Will, insurance policies, deeds, stocks/bonds, passports, social security cards, immunization records, bank account numbers, credit card account numbers and companies, inventory of valuable household goods, important telephone numbers, family records (birth, marriage, death certificates)
Hadn't thought of any of this either. Looks like I just need to copy some documents, but then leave them in my shed? Guess it will need a lock.
First Aid: Assemble a first aid kit for your home and one for each car. Hey, I did it! Each car has a first aid kit (standard), and I have one in the garden shed. Check!

Grenades And A Pistol

Charles

Part of the larger story of the quake of '06 is how the water mains were wrecked and the firefighters had to stand by and watch the City burn. The San Francisco Fire Department Click here to learn about third-party website links has its own history of competence and innovation and fire fighting in general had made great strides in technique and technology by 1906. But call it one of the ironies of the disaster—a peninsula surrounded by an ocean and a bay, but no way to get all that water on the flames.

coit shoesBefore the Fire Department became pro in the 1860s, it was all volunteer. Despite overblown legends, there WERE a lot of fires Click here to learn about third-party website links and the volunteers attacked them with zeal and dash. Companies challenged each others' skills and had mascots. The mascot of Company No. 5 was their neighbor, Lilly Coit Click here to learn about third-party website links, who had cheered them on since she was a kid. She was a socialite, married a rich guy and loved to have fun: most historical accounts portray her as a real pistol. When she died in 1929, she left some money to the City, who built Coit Tower Click here to learn about third-party website links with the bequest, honoring her and Engine Company No. 5. We have a red pair of Lilly's shoes in the Wells Fargo Archives—size 6.

fireballsIn Lilly Coit’s time, as modern methods were in development, fire fighters used glass orbs called fire grenades. Firemen would come barreling into the structure armed with these grenades and lob them into the flames. The enclosed salt water solution would ostensibly smother the blaze. Or people bought them and kept them around the house as an antique version of the fire extinguisher—in a variety of colors and styles Click here to learn about third-party website links to match any décor.


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The Gift Of Time

Jane Po

I volunteer. There are many reasons why other people do it Click here to learn about third-party website links, and I have mine. And I've volunteered for so long and seen the difference it makes, especially during times of crisis, that I even co-founded a community organization Click here to learn about third-party website links and served on the boards of a few. I know the thought of "working for nothing" sounds ridiculous in this age of double incomes and rising interest payments, but think of 9/11 or Katrina: Would we have been able to move forward without many hands working together for "nothing?"

Have you ever considered volunteering? It really doesn't take much. I know that you're busy but if you can give up one happy hour a week or miss the evening news every now and then (ever hear of TiVO?), you're halfway there. Don't know where to begin? Here are a few places to check out.

Start with Volunteermatch Click here to learn about third-party website links, an online service that matches individuals wishing to volunteer with non-profit service organizations. Find an opportunity by location or area of interest. Volunteermatch offers volunteer recruitment services to community service organizations, too.

Red Cross The American Red Cross Click here to learn about third-party website links is one of the oldest disaster relief organizations in the country. It offers volunteer opportunities in disaster relief nationally and locally. The organization conducts preparedness training for community-based organizations, as well. Unwilling to give up that Seinfeld rerun at 6? Give to your local Red Cross chapter’s blood drive Click here to learn about third-party website links, instead. The Red Cross also welcomes tissue donations and donations in kind.

Food is one of the most valuable gifts you can give in times of disaster. America’s Second Harvest Click here to learn about third-party website links is a non-profit organization that provides emergency hunger-relief services in disaster affected communities. Volunteers are needed to help sort, box and repackage food for distribution. Donations of food are accepted.

During Hurricane Katrina, The Humane Society Click here to learn about third-party website links was responsible for the care and reunification of displaced animals. The organization provides rescue and shelter services to animals in disaster stricken areas. If you have skills in animal handling or are an animal care and control professional, the Humane Society needs you.

Another good resource for volunteer work is your company's human resources department. Your company may even award you with brownie points for your effort.

Volunteering is not a one-way street. Real people benefit from your gift of time and you get something back, too: a smaller beer gut, meet new friends, land a significant other, wean yourself from an episode of Dr. Phil, the returns are endless. Find a reason to do it. Volunteer.

Guided By   His   Herstory, Day 3

Anne

make a quakeAs part of the Wells Fargo Museum's Click here to learn about third-party website links San Francisco Is In Ashes exhibit, visitors can take a "Walk Through the Ruins." Through an interactive, touch screen map of San Francisco, one can navigate through areas of the crumbled city and view them after the destruction of the earthquake. This aspect of the exhibit doesn’t get as much buzz as the Make-A-Quake interactive, but instead quietly draws interested visitors in. One could almost think of the two as siblings: the Walk Through the Ruins as the mature elder, satisfied with thoughtful conversations in the corner, and the Make-A-Quake as a young child, pulling on the sleeve for attention as one enters the door.

exhibit mediaThe Walk Through the Ruins has over 75 images, all from the Wells Fargo archives. The originals range in size from Brownie snapshots to professional 8”x10” photographs. Seeing these photographs blown up onto a large flat screen, scrolling by as you sit in front of them, feels amazingly different than having the small originals resting motionless on a table-top. I have noticed visitors sitting in front of the exhibit for more than an hour at a time, practically hypnotized. Visitors can really take in the whole scene: the smoke in the air, the debris on the ground, the neatly arranged tents that now take the place of home and hearth… and the people.

To me history is really, at its most basic and powerful, stories of people and of what they thought and felt and experienced. Looking for a personal connection to the photographs in front of me, as I think most of us naturally do, I wonder what my relations were doing at the time. None of my relatives were in California that year; my grandfather, the only family member alive in 1906 that I have personally known, would have been just a baby on an Iowa farm. I wonder how or when his family received news of the San Francisco earthquake.

March 21, 2006

Prepare At Home

Ed Terpening

Consider this: between 1838 and 1989, the Bay Area was hit by 6 earthquakes with a magnitude of 6.5 or greater Click here to learn about third-party website links, each one causing injuries and deaths to thousands and the massive destruction of property. So it's not a question of if, but when. In my previous post I discovered I was not prepared. Are you?

Here are some resources to help you prepare.

Are you new to the Bay Area? The US Geological Survey features a handbook on its website called Putting Down Roots in Earthquake Country Click here to learn about third-party website links. It covers everything from why an earthquake of catastrophic magnitude is inevitable in this part of the country, to how one can prepare for the different forms of danger that can arise from such an event.

Do you have special needs? The American Red Cross Click here to learn about third-party website links(ARC) provides an earthquake preparedness brochure which includes pointers on what to do after an earthquake hits. Do you need information for seniors or brochures in Chinese? ARC also runs a website, Prepare.org Click here to learn about third-party website links, which specifically addresses earthquake preparedness for vulnerable populations, such as people with disabilities and non-English speaking communities.

Earthquake DamageStructural deficiencies, from ruptured gas lines to falling pieces of furniture, are a major cause of injuries during earthquakes. To address this, Pacific Gas and Electric Click here to learn about third-party website links offers guidelines on how to secure your home for gas appliance and building safety. The Structural Engineers Association of Northern California Click here to learn about third-party website links features a guide on how to evaluate your home for structural soundness, including retrofitting your home for earthquakes. Earthquake preparedness tip sheets Click here to learn about third-party website links, including one on how to secure your furniture, may also be downloaded from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the California Seismic Safety Commission Click here to learn about third-party website links websites.

Organize your neighbors for earthquake preparedness. The Bay Area chapter of the American Red Cross Click here to learn about third-party website links and the San Francisco Fire Department's Neighborhood Emergency Response Team Click here to learn about third-party website links(NERT) conduct workshops on neighborhood earthquake preparedness. Bay Area ARC also offers preparedness training for youth while NERT offers special grants for trainees age 55 and over.

Another good website for earthquake disaster planning is 72Hours.org Click here to learn about third-party website links. It contains pointers for various disaster situations, including floods, power failure, and acts of terror.

Check out the blogroll for more resources on earthquake preparedness. I'll be using this list this week to create my own plan, and will update you on my "disaster shack" ;-).

Guided By   His   Herstory, Day 2

Anne

showcaseAs with most days in the spring, around 10 AM, fourth grade students arrive ready for a guided tour of the Wells Fargo Museum Click here to learn about third-party website links. Before beginning the tour the class lines up along the wall where we have two monitors looping motion pictures. These videos of San Francisco