Community Corner

Want to Learn More About The Great Salem Fire?

There will be a free lecture at the Salem Visitor Center on March 27.

Salem Maritime National Historic Site and the History Department at Salem State University will co-host a free evening lecture by Dr. Jacob Remes on Thursday, March 27, at the Salem Visitor Center (2 New Liberty Street) from7:30 to 9 p.m.

Dr. Remes is an assistant professor of public affairs and history at SUNY Empire State College, in the Brooklyn Unit of the Metropolitan Center.

His history talk, “Life and Labor in the Aftermath of the Great Salem Fire,” draws from his dissertation examining the overlapping responses to the Salem, Mass., Fire of 1914 and the Halifax, N.S., Explosion of 1917. Currently, Professor Remes is the William Lyon Mackenzie King Research Fellow at Harvard University.  Professor Remes studies working-class and labor history with a focus on urban disasters, working-class organizations, and migration.

“We are delighted to host this lecture in recognition of the upcoming 100th Anniversary of the Great Salem Fire,” said Superintendent Michael Quijano-West.  “Our collaboration with the History Department at Salem State University provides an opportunity for the community to learn more about their heritage and to enrich our understanding of the past.”

"Dr. Remes's lecture will provide a unique perspective on the social impacts of theGreat Salem Fire," said Donna Seger, History Department Chair at Salem State University.  "Rather than focusing on the industrial causes or physical destruction of the Great Salem Fire, Dr. Remes’ presentation will examine the human toll, with a particular emphasis on the dislocation of Salem’s immigrant communities. We are also very eager for the public to know that many of Dr. Remes’ sources and images can be found in the SSU Archives at the new Berry Library."

Jacob Remes upcoming book, Disaster Citizenship, based on his dissertation, will be published in 2015.  


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