Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
Focus: Excluding the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, research 3 tragic events that have shaken America,
but ultimately, brought us closer together as a people. These may include assassinations of prominent Americans,
natural or man-made disasters, attacks from outside groups or countries, violent clashes over social, political or cultural
events. Explain how these events altered the way American’s viewed themselves, their society, their laws, and their
social relationships. Why did they have such an enormous impact on American history? What did they reveal about our
flaws and our strengths as a people?
How to Search for Information on Various Disasters.
The list of “Disasters” on the chart below is just a small fraction of the most famous disasters in 20th century US History.
The Disasters are organized first by date in ascending order and then by title and category.
HOW TO SEARCH: Below is a sample of how to search on each of the following web directories or search engines. Open
Directory Project is a surface web directory so it does not require a login. JSTOR and Academic Search Premiere are deep
web databases. See your email for login information. GALE Opposing Viewpoints is available to LAPL library users only.
Please contact the Petit Park branch of the LAPL for more information.
Open Directory Project
JSTOR
Academic Search Premiere
Link to site
Link to site
Link to site
Gale Opposing
Viewpoints
Link to site
List of Major Natural and Man-Made Disasters in United State History
Disaster
Johnstown Flood
Galveston Storm
General Slocum Steamboat Disaster
San Francisco Earthquake
LA Times bombing
Wellington Washington Avalache
Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Titanic
Spanish Influenza
Boston Molasses Spill
Tulsa Race Riots
Stock Market Crash
Black Drought (Dust Bowl)
Hindenburg Airship Crash
Pearl Harbor
Coconut Grove Fire
Date
1889
1900
1904
1906
1910
1910
1911
1912
1918
1919
1921
1929
1931
1937
1941
1942
Category
Natural
Natural
Man-made
Natural
Man-made
Natural
Man-made
Natural
Natural
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Natural
Unknown
Man-made
Man-made
Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
Hartford Circus Fire
Thalidomide
Cuba Missile Crisis
Texas Watchtower Shootings
Hurricane Camille
Attica Prison Riots
Jonestown Massacre (Guyana)
The Who Concert (Riverfront Stadium, Cleveland)
Three Mile Island Meltdown
Love Canal
Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption
Challenger explosion
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Northridge Quake
1995 Chicago Heat Wave
Oklahoma City Bombing
TWA Flight 800
Hurricane Ivan
Hurricane Katrina
British Petroleum Spill (Deepwater Horizon)
1944
1960
1962
1966
1969
1971
1978
1979
1979
1980
1980
1986
1989
1994
1995
1996
1996
2004
2005
2010
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Natural
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Man-made
Natural
Man-made
Man-made
Natural
Natural
Man-made
Man-made
Natural
Natural
Man-made
Open Directory Project (ODP)
Directions:
Type in the name of the Disaster (Example: Triangle
Shirtwaist Factory Fire). Look at the results and the
read the summaries for each website. They are just
a few sentences long
Open the sites you think would be the most helpful
to you. If ODP recommends Wikipedia, that’s okay.
Read the article but go to the References and
External Links. The external links and reference
articles are the actual academic or journalistic
sources not the Wikipedia article.
Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
JSTOR
Before searching on JSTOR, you must log
into the database (see email for login
information). Always use “advanced
search” in JSTOR; it works faster and is
more accurate than a basic search
Always choose “include only content I can
access” and narrow the search by
“articles.” If you want, you can limit the
language to English or narrow the date
range as needed.
How to open a document, click on the link
called “PDF” then click on the link called
“Proceed to PDF.”
Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
Academic Search Premiere
Before searching on Academic Search Premiere, you must log into the database (see email for login information). Always
use “advanced search” it works faster and is more accurate than a basic search
Search Tips:
Put your search term in
quotes
Click on “Also search within
the full text of the articles”
Click on Full Text
Choose “article” in the area
marked Document Type. How
to open: click on the links
called “HTML Full Text”
or “PDF Full Text” and the
document will open. Print,
save or email as your wish
Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
GALE Opposing Viewpoints in Context
This database is available through the LAPL, you must have an LAPL card to access the site.
How to Search
1. Type in your subject. As you can see the database will automatically give you search suggestions to
help you find the information like Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
2. You will get a list of results in the following categories
a. Viewpoints: these are opinion pieces
b. News: articles from major US and World News organizations
c. Magazine Articles: articles from Time, Newsweek, US News and World, National Review, etc.
d. Academic Journals: scholarly articles from publications similar to those found in JSTOR (reading
level is a little easier)
Humanitas_US Disasters in the 20th century
How to Access Articles
Choose your article. Place mouse over title of article and left click your mouse. All of your search terms will be
highlighted in RED. Briefly skim over article to determine whether it may be valuable to you. IF IT IS VALUABLE AND YOU
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE, choose print, save or download on the Tools Menu