{"id":1722,"date":"2015-06-28T15:46:34","date_gmt":"2015-06-28T15:46:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/?p=1722"},"modified":"2022-12-08T23:01:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-09T04:01:25","slug":"historical-research-into-a-disaster-greenwood-delaware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/historical-research-into-a-disaster-greenwood-delaware\/","title":{"rendered":"Historical Research into a Railroad Disaster: Greenwood, Delaware"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a>
A house was damaged in the explosion. Source: Greenwood A Delaware Town from the Collection of the Greenwood Library<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently I have been researching a deadly Delaware tragedy that spurred a vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad to push for national safety transportation regulations.\u00a0 Following several accidents involving powerful explosives, including a catastrophic one in Greenwood, DE, the Bureau of Explosives was created under the American Railway Association.<\/p>\n

The Sussex County disaster occurred over a hundred years ago, on December 2, 1903.\u00a0 During a blinding snowstorm, two trains collided in the center of the town of 367 people.\u00a0 One pulling a lethal cargo of dynamite and naphtha exploded, the blast and fire severely damaging the Sussex County community of 367 people.<\/p>\n

Because of the growing number of catastrophes, James McCrea, who would become the eighth president of the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1907, urged carriers to adopt regulations to promote the safe transportation of explosives.\u00a0 The Bureau of Explosives (BOE) was created under the American Railway Association in 1907.\u00a0 With a chemical laboratory and 16 inspectors, the BOE immediately took the lead in inspecting shipments, encouraging improvements in shipping techniques, and developing rules that formed the basis of modern regulations of hazardous shipments.<\/p>\n

Throughout the remainder of McCrea\u2019s life, he had vivid recollections of the deadly detonations at Greenwood and elsewhere, which \u201chad caused the death of many people, injury to many others, and had cost the Pennsylvania railroad many thousands of dollars.\u201d\u00a0 Twenty-seven years later at the annual congress of the National Safety Council in Chicago in 1930, the tragedy was still being discussed in the official proceedings.<\/p>\n

Having incidentally heard of the Greenwood Delaware Railroad Disaster in a few widely scattered secondary sources over the years, I wanted to better establish the broad framework and narrative of what appeared to be a major catastrophe in rural Delaware at the top of the 20th<\/sup> century.\u00a0 But there was little material conveniently available, and a Google search turned up only one hit. a genealogy website that had abstracted some information from newspapers.<\/p>\n

So with my interest sparked and my research question framed, it was time to launch an investigation.\u00a0 Naturally, being a curious type, this is the kind of work I enjoy doing as I start a new study and begin my search for evidentiary fragments from the largely forgotten past.<\/p>\n

My first step is always a review of the historical literature.\u00a0 This enables me to see what has already been done, and that often yields powerful results.\u00a0 But in the case of Greenwood, there wasn\u2019t much secondary or primary material easily available.<\/p>\n

My second step is to visit the community for a field observation as I look at the intersection of the present with the past.\u00a0 Surviving traces of earlier times exist, and exploring the built and natural environment facilitates understanding.<\/p>\n

As I delve deeper into the past from that point, I move into archival research and interviews.\u00a0 Depending on the purpose of the study, this may include a wide range of materials — written, printed, or digital.\u00a0 The search for physical records includes letters, newspapers, diaries, photographs, maps, and much more \u00a0\u00a0One seldom knows where the information will be discovered as you start on the trail to find clues to the past.<\/p>\n

While much of the material will be found in libraries, archives, special collections repositories, and local government offices, it usually is far from obvious where your data will come from.\u00a0 There are private papers in homes ranging from notes and letters to entries scribbled in diaries.\u00a0 Sometimes there are typed manuscripts containing memories of the community\u2019s elders, but tracking these down means poking around to make contacts in the place you are visiting, as that material is often in basements, vaults, closets, and attics.<\/p>\n

It also means leveraging unconventional techniques as I make my interest widely known in the community.\u00a0 That process usually begins with the reference librarian or the local community historian. Still, it also means visiting the barber shop, town hall, police station, tavern, and church.\u00a0 And it often calls for a visit to the nursing or retirement home.<\/p>\n

Along the way, you collect your evidence, and the time will eventually arrive to try to fit the puzzle together by placing material into a pattern, which allows for the creation of a coherent narrative.<\/p>\n

For the Greenwood disaster, this is still a work in progress, but as I continue, I will share thoughts on additional resources I come up with along the way.<\/p>\n

Click here to read an initial post on the disaster<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Materials<\/a>
Materials in the collection of the Greenwood disaster in the Public Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Greenwood<\/a>
Greenwood was a railroad junction. A photo without caption in Greenwood A Delaware Town from the Greenwood Public Library.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I have been researching a deadly Delaware tragedy that spurred a vice president of the Pennsylvania Railroad to push for national safety transportation regulations.\u00a0 Following several accidents involving powerful explosives, including a catastrophic one in Greenwood, DE, the Bureau of Explosives was created under the American Railway Association. The Sussex County disaster occurred over…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,214,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-studies","category-disasters","category-research-methods"],"yoast_head":"\nHistorical Research into a Railroad Disaster: Greenwood, Delaware -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Researching the Greenwood Disaster on Dec. 2, 1903. 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In the midst of a blinding snowstorm two trains collided in the center of the town of 367 people, and one pulling a lethal cargo of dynamite and naphtha exploded. While\u00a0opening\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"edwin roach","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/greenwood-edwin-road-2-207x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2224,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/old-weather-maps-help-with-history-research\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":1},"title":"Old Weather Maps","author":"Mike","date":"January 26, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"RESEARCH TIP -- OLD WEATHER MAPS -- 1871 to the Present -- Often when I'm investigating some matter I need to know something about weather conditions on some long-ago day. 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On Dec\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research Resources"","block_context":{"text":"Research Resources","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/research-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/weather-map-dec-2-1903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/weather-map-dec-2-1903.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/weather-map-dec-2-1903.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/weather-map-dec-2-1903.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4198,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/disasters-impact-on-communities\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":2},"title":"Discussing the Impact of Disasters on a Community With Fox News","author":"Mike","date":"December 13, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Various things make up the shared historical memory of a community. These narratives take assorted forms, but the most jarring materialize when an unthinkable tragedy strikes. Whether a storm or accident, the catastrophes are seared deeply into the collective memory of residents. They shatter many lives and became part of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Community Studies"","block_context":{"text":"Community Studies","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/community-studies\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/2022-12-11_21-55-33a-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2764,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/talking-about-murder-and-railroad-accidents-with-wboc\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":3},"title":"Talking About Murder and Railroad Accidents with WBOC","author":"Mike","date":"August 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Tuesday, WBOC\u2019s Delmarva Life asked me to stop by the Salisbury studio to talk about terrible railroad accidents and crimes, a time when murder and mayhem rode the rails on the Peninsula. In the decades around the turn of the twentieth century, trains were the dominant form of transportation and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Criminal Justice"","block_context":{"text":"Criminal Justice","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/criminal-justice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Copy-2-of-railroad-train-wreck-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Copy-2-of-railroad-train-wreck-5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Copy-2-of-railroad-train-wreck-5.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Copy-2-of-railroad-train-wreck-5.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Copy-2-of-railroad-train-wreck-5.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":851,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/research-treasures-reside-in-delmar-public-library-collection\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":4},"title":"Research Treasures Reside in Delmar Public Library Collection","author":"Mike","date":"February 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"If you are researching local or family history on the Delmarva Peninsula, there are many fine libraries from Wilmington down to Cape Charles that can help.\u00a0 Some are large, university affiliated repositories, while others are non-profit, stand-alone institutions located in some of the region\u2019s small towns.\u00a0 Traveling from one end\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Research Resources"","block_context":{"text":"Research Resources","link":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/category\/research-resources\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"railroad delmar library 02","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/railroad-delmar-library-02.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1426,"url":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/old-u-s-geological-survey-images-from-delaware-maryland-and-virginia-online\/","url_meta":{"origin":1722,"position":5},"title":"Old U.S. Geological Survey Images from Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Online","author":"Mike","date":"April 6, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) Photographic Library in Denver, CO has a helpful collection of digitized photographs available for researchers.\u00a0 These images, beginning in 1868, provide a visual history of the discovery, development and science of the United States and its Geological Survey.\u00a0 There are over 400,000 pictures in\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"A 1920 photo of a concrete downstate Delaware Road. Source: United States Geological Survey","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/delaware-cement-road-1920-usgs-1024x593.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1722\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dixonhistory.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}