Title: Superior Fire Sufferers' Fund Records
Inclusive Dates: 1894-1895

Creator:

• Superior Fire Sufferers' Fund (Superior, Wis.)

Call Number: Superior Mss C

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the Area Research Center, Jim Dan Hill Library, University of Wisconsin-Superior; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Superior Jim Dan Hill Library / Superior Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of the fund, a citizen's relief committee organized to aid victims of 1894 forest fires in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Included are proceedings, correspondence, financial records, statements by investigators of individual losses and injuries, and clippings.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-sup000c

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In the summer of 1894, fires were endemic over most of northern and north-central Wisconsin. Rainfall was below normal, resulting in especially hazardous conditions in an area of sandy soil, forests, and logging activities. The towns of Keith, Mason, Shell Lake, and Poplar suffered severe damage in the fires, and Phillips was totally destroyed. Fifield, Prentice, Medford, Chelsea, and the saw mill and farming settlements were endangered. There was general concern about the velocity and direction of the wind. Nearly four-hundred people died in the fires. Committees to alleviate the immediate distress of the victims were organized on a state-wide level and in almost every neighboring community as well as in the cities of Milwaukee and Superior.

On July 28, 1894, a mass meeting was held at Superior in response to a telegram from B. W. Davis, chairman of the Relief Committee of Phillips, Wisconsin, reporting that the town had been entirely destroyed by fire that morning. At this meeting the Superior Fire Sufferers' Fund, 1894 was organized, and numerous committees were established. These included a General Relief Committee, an executive committee, and also committees to solicit money, clothing, and prepared provisions; meat; flour; and transportation. These committees raised and administered the Superior Fire Sufferers' Fund, 1894 until its final dispersal and their own dissolution early in 1895.

The collection consists of the Proceedings of the General Relief Committee and its Executive Committee, correspondence and financial records relating to the collection and distribution of the Fund, and a file on the administration of relief to victims of the fires in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. The latter file includes statements collected by “visitors” investigating individual losses and injuries, and records of the Committee to Solicit Money, Clothing, and Prepared Provisions. There are also some miscellaneous lists and notes, and a folder of Xerox copies of clippings from Hayward and Superior, Wisconsin newspapers (July and August, 1894) of news reports of the fires. The newspapers from which these copies were made are on microfilm in the State Historical Society Library.

The records have been arranged by type and chronologically thereunder, except for the “Visitors Blanks” for which the original alphabetical order has been maintained and refined.

Acquisition Information

The Records of the Superior Fire Sufferers' Fund, 1894 were among the archives of the city of Superior until their transfer to the State Historical Society, Division of Archives and Manuscripts, on January 27, 1971.

Processing Information

Processed by Joanne Hohler, September 25, 1972.

Box   1 Folder   1	Background Material Scope and Content Note: Copies of clippings from Hayward and Superior, Wisconsin newspapers re fires of 1894 in area, 1894, July 28, 29; August 3.
Box   1 Folder   2	Proceedings, Relief Committee, 1894, July 28-1895, January
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   3	1894, September
Box   1 Folder   4	1894, October
Box   1 Folder   5	1894, November
Box   1 Folder   6	1894, December
Box   1 Folder   7	1895, January-February; undated
	Administration Of Relief
	“Visitors Blanks” detailing individual losses and injuries, 1894, July-October
Box   1 Folder   8	A-G
Box   1 Folder   9	H-K
Box   1 Folder   10	L-P
Box   1 Folder   11	R-Y
Box   1 Folder   12	“Committee to Solicit Money, Clothing, and Prepared Provisions,” 1894, July-October
	Financial Records
	Statements and Invoices
Box   1 Folder   13	1894, July and September
Box   1 Folder   14	1894, October-1895, January; undated
Box   1 Folder   15	Cash Statement of Fire Relief Fund, 1894, September 17
Box   1 Folder   16	Journal, 1894, September 6-1895, January 23
Box   1 Folder   17	Miscellaneous, Lists and Notes