Graduate Student Jeff Nichols Finds Unseen Film from 1915 Eastland Disaster

Posted on February 09, 2015

Graduate student Jeff Nichols discovered film clips of the SS Eastland disaster, an excursion vessel that capsized in the Chicago River in 1915. He found the footage while looking through archival films from the EYE Film Institute in the Netherlands. These precious few seconds of film are the only known moving images of the disaster. News of the discovery spread quickly via social media and was picked up by television and newspapers:

Chicago Tribune: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-eastland-disaster-footage-folo-met-20150209-story.html

All Things Considered: http://www.npr.org/2015/02/10/385267251/newly-discovered-footage-shows-sinking-of-ss-eastland

Associated Press: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc3godpi4cw

Chicago Tonight: http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/02/09/grad-student-uncovers-lost-eastland-disaster-footage

WBEZ: http://www.wbez.org/news/student-unearths-footage-chicagos-deadliest-disaster-111525

Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/12/rare-footage-from-century-old-chicago-shipwreck-unearthed/

CBS Chicago: http://chicago.cbslocal.com/video/11120222-film-reels-surface-of-chicagos-eastland-disaster/

UIC News: http://news.uic.edu/grad-student-discovers-disaster-footage

Daily Herald: https://www.dailyherald.com/article/20150211/news/302119864/

Europeana: http://blog.europeana.eu/tag/jeff-nichols/

Because of the Associated Press, the story has gone global. A sample:

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/10/chicago-titanic-lost-footage-100-year-old-ship-disaster-discovered-ss-eastern