The interviews in this collection were conducted in 1995 and 1996. The oral history project grew out of Stuart McDowell's decision to write and produce a play based on Allen Eckert's book, A Time of Terror: the Great Dayton Flood. Stuart McDowell is the Chairman and Artistic Director of the Department of Theater, Dance and Motion Pictures at Wright State University.
As part of Stuart McDowell's research for the play, he interviewed one of the persons profiled in Allen Eckert's book. Mark Lyons was then asked to come on board to film the flood survivors oral histories represented in this collection, and produce a documentary titled 1913: The Great Dayton Flood - From Story to Stage. The film documented the process by which real people's stories became the basis for a play about this historic tragedy.
From the guide to the 1913 Dayton Flood Survivors Oral Histories, 1995-1996, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)
