The Halifax Disaster and relief efforts
On the morning of December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the narrows between Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. One of the ships, the Mont Blanc, was fully loaded with over 2,500 tons of highly explosive munitions and caught fire after the collision. The crew abandoned the ship as it drifted towards the Halifax side of the harbor. Drawn by the brilliant colors of the burning explosives, many Haligonians watched the fire from their windows, unaware of the ship’s explosive cargo. About twenty minutes later, however, the ship exploded. The area was absolutely devastated by the explosion.
On December 16, Perkins director, Edward E. Allen called the attention of the Red Cross to situation in Halifax and the number of people who suffered eye injuries. The Red Cross appointed their own committee to manage and oversee their efforts in Halifax. They named Allen as chairman of the “American Red Cross Committee on Eye Victims of the Halifax Disaster.” The Director-General of Civilian Relief, W. Frank Persons, charged the committee “to report very frankly and explicitly the plans that seem most desirable and to estimate the necessary expenditure therefore, and to indicate what proportion of this outlay should, in your judgment, come from the American Red Cross”.
Along with Edward Van Cleve (Principal, New York Institute for the Education of the Blind), O.H. Burritt (Principal, Pennsylvania Institute for the Instruction of the Blind/Overbrook School for the Blind), Thomas S. McAloney (Superintendent, Western Pennsylvania Institution of the Blind), and other members of the American Red Cross committee, Allen worked with Charles Frederick Fraser (Superintendent, Halifax School for the Blind) to provide services and education to people who had eye injuries and were blinded from the Explosion. Lotta S. Rand, a social worker from the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, worked in Halifax at the director of the Committee. Visit our online exhibit about the Halifax Explosion to learn more about the work and legacy of the American Red Cross Committee on Eye Victims of the Halifax Disaster.
The Halifax Disaster and relief efforts
On the morning of December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the narrows between Halifax and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. One of the ships, the Mont Blanc, was fully loaded with over 2,500 tons of highly explosive munitions and caught fire after the collision. The crew abandoned the ship as it drifted towards the Halifax side of the harbor. Drawn by the brilliant colors of the burning explosives, many Haligonians watched the fire from their windows, unaware of the ship’s explosive cargo. About twenty minutes later, however, the ship exploded. The area was absolutely devastated by the explosion.
On December 16, Perkins director, Edward E. Allen called the attention of the Red Cross to situation in Halifax and the number of people who suffered eye injuries. The Red Cross appointed their own committee to manage and oversee their efforts in Halifax. They named Allen as chairman of the “American Red Cross Committee on Eye Victims of the Halifax Disaster.” The Director-General of Civilian Relief, W. Frank Persons, charged the committee “to report very frankly and explicitly the plans that seem most desirable and to estimate the necessary expenditure therefore, and to indicate what proportion of this outlay should, in your judgment, come from the American Red Cross”.
Along with Edward Van Cleve (Principal, New York Institute for the Education of the Blind), O.H. Burritt (Principal, Pennsylvania Institute for the Instruction of the Blind/Overbrook School for the Blind), Thomas S. McAloney (Superintendent, Western Pennsylvania Institution of the Blind), and other members of the American Red Cross committee, Allen worked with Charles Frederick Fraser (Superintendent, Halifax School for the Blind) to provide services and education to people who had eye injuries and were blinded from the Explosion. Lotta S. Rand, a social worker from the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind, worked in Halifax at the director of the Committee. Visit our online exhibit about the Halifax Explosion to learn more about the work and legacy of the American Red Cross Committee on Eye Victims of the Halifax Disaster.
