Lecture looks at post-Big Burn refugees

COEUR d'ALENE - In the aftermath of one of the nation's biggest natural disasters - the Big Burn of 1910 - how did the region's communities, as well as public agencies, respond to the influx of refugees?

A lecture by Dr. Thomas Krainz at the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, 702 E. Front Ave., will examine the response, Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room.

An assistant history professor at DePaul University, Chicago, Krainz, attended graduate school at the University of Colorado to earn a Ph.D. in history. He worked as a social worker for various social service agencies in the West.

"I brought this interest in social work, poverty, welfare and the West to my book, 'Delivering Aid: Implementing Progressive Era Welfare in the American West.' While conducting research for the book, I came across several examples of refugees who were displaced due to fires or floods," he said. "I discovered at the time that we know surprisingly little about how society cared for refugees; moreover early 20th century residents used a much broader definition of 'refugee,' one that included internally displaced people."

His current project explores how local communities, including state and federal agencies, responded to refugees in the American West. The massive 1910 forest fire known as the Big Burn or the Big Blowup is one of the case studies used to understand how receiving communities cared for refugees.