Author Notes: Uncovering a Family Diary and Other Flood Sleuthing
Also: My List of Sources for The 1937 Flood Journal
Whether you’re a regular or a newcomer, I want to take a moment to share about my research and sources for The 1937 Flood Journal.
This endeavor began as a possible book project in late 2015. I have not given up on that idea. But it occurred to me last summer that I needed to start sharing this story. So here I am, with more than 30 installments about the flood published on Substack.
I read and admire others on Substack who diligently cite their sources for each piece they publish. Many of them are family historians and genealogists. I’m not a genealogist — I might be a family historian — but in any case, I’ve yet to list sources.
I admit, it was easier not to (call me lazy), and I admit, I expect a degree of trust from my audience (call me hopeful or foolish). I’m a published author of nonfiction who has navigated the editing, legal and other processes at a major publishing house. I gave myself a pass.
But there’s a time for sources and a bibliography. Today, I’m sharing because I want you to know about them (if you’re interested). Perhaps they add credibility to the narrative, or maybe you don’t care a whit.
I will say this: the Great Flood of 1937 was a major disaster that made national headlines and impacted more than a million people. It’s a big story to tell. I can assure you there’s no need to make up or embellish anything.
Ralph Sagebiel
For me, the story began with my father, Ralph Sagebiel, who lived through the flood as a 9-year-old boy. He shared a lot in the last years of his life about growing up in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and his memories of the flood and its aftermath. In the beginning, I recorded our conversations. As the years went by, I took notes, sometimes in the parking lot of the nursing home after a visit. It happened organically. Dad got to tell his stories, and I wrote them down. That was my first goal, to collect his oral history. He died in 2021.
Charles Field
Charles “Chic” Field was my great uncle. Although I spent time with him on occasional visits to Jeffersonville, we never talked about the flood, or if we did, it escaped my memory. Uncle Chic died in 1999.
On a research trip to Jeffersonville in 2016, a librarian handed me a 1937 flood diary that had no byline. She said, “We don’t know who wrote it.” After reading the first page that included family names, I figured out who wrote it — Uncle Chic. I shared this discovery with my father and uncle, Bruce Sagebiel. Neither of them knew about the diary.
I thought, “Maybe I’m supposed to be working on this.”
* * *
I got swept up in the flood. What an event. What a story!
My research expanded beyond my own family and Jeffersonville, taking me to Portsmouth, Ohio; Paducah, Kentucky; Huntington, West Virginia; and other points along the Ohio River.
In particular, I hunted for diaries, oral histories and letters — firsthand flood accounts in any form. I spent days in libraries, and I looked and looked some more at the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to where it empties into the Mississippi River.
I also collected newspaper accounts, books, magazine articles, reports, journals, photographs, radio broadcasts and videos.
The research and writing have been an on-and-off project since I’m no longer a full-time writer (aka retired).
SOURCES
Here’s a list of sources that inform my flood narrative. Subject to updates for any additions or other changes.
Interviews and Diaries
Mama Bondurant 1937 Diary (via woodspoint.org/meade/bbrg1937.htm)
Portsmouth (Ohio) Library interviews via YouTube with Lettie (Hatcher) Clark, Alberta Parker and Wanda (Robinson) Cave
Lettie (Hatcher) Clark, author interview, August 2016
Sue Doyle, letter, January 2017
Henry Bannon flood letter
Leo Diehl 1937 Flood Log
Elsie Spence flood document
Charles Field 1937 Flood Diary
Marion Groh Flood Diary, January-February 1937, Stuart B. Wrege Indiana History Room, New Albany-Floyd County Public Library
Jeffersonville Township Library, Indiana Memory Hosted Digital Collections, interviews with Arthur Lee Smith, Catherine Richardson and others still to be listed
Bruce Sagebiel, author interview, May 2016
Ralph Sagebiel, author interviews, December 2015 through August 2021
Newspapers and Magazines
National Geographic, LIFE, The New York Times, The Cincinnati Enquirer, The Commercial Appeal, The Courier-Journal, The Evening News, The Portsmouth Times
Books and Publications
Bell, Rick. The Great Flood of 1937: Rising Waters, Soaring Spirits. Louisville, Kentucky: Butler Books, 2007.
Castro, James E. The Great Ohio River Flood of 1937. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing, 2009.
Jeffersonville City Directory, Caron Directory Company, 1935-1939.
Jeffersonville Township Public Library, 1937: Mud, Sweat & Tears: A Community Remembers the Flood, circa 1984.
Nokes, Garry J. Jeffersonville, Indiana. Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Smith, Jean Edward. FDR. New York: Random House, 2007.
Southern Ohio Museum, River at the Door, (I need to find the date)
The American Red Cross, The Ohio-Mississippi Valley Flood Disaster of 1937, Washington D.C.: 1938.
Thomas, Lowell. Hungry Waters: The Story of the Great Flood. The John C. Winston Company, 1937.
Welky, David. The Thousand-Year Flood: The Ohio-Mississippi Disaster of 1937. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011.
Multimedia
1937 Flood: The Story of the Worst Flood in American History, Tim Young Productions, 1993 and 2006
River Voices: A Portrait of an American River Community, Lorentz Productions, 2002
Websites
alamy.com, britannica.com, census.gov, familysearch.org, fdrlibrary.org (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library), google.com/maps. indianamemory.contentdm.oclc.org, jefflibrary.org, jeffparks.org, redcross.org, YouTube.com, zillow.com
Thank you for reading. If you liked this installment, please click the 🤍. Access the archives for the full chronology of The 1937 Flood Journal.
Growing up in Evansville, I remember hearing about the 37 flood. I have a picture of the flood on Riverside drive where my grandma grew up and later built a house for her family. On the back she wrote "My old home." Looking forward to reading more.
Lots of research, thanks