Emily Willis and Dr. Rebecca de Schweinitz, History
On June 5, 1976, the almost-completed Teton Dam, a Bureau of Reclamation project, broke, sending millions of gallons of water thundering through the Upper Snake River Valley in Southeastern Idaho. The flood destroyed hundreds of houses and left thousands of people homeless. As soon as the waters receded, cleanup began, involving every man and woman in the most menial and, at times, nontraditional tasks.
Women in natural disaster relief have largely been overlooked in the historiographical record; likewise, modern LDS women’s history is underrepresented. This project looks at LDS women – both victims and volunteers – during the Teton Dam failure. It relies heavily on the book That Day in June: Reflections on the Teton Dam Disaster, a compilation of accounts written by victims, volunteers, and friends of those impacted by the disaster and published in 1977; it also draws on local newspaper articles reporting the disaster and relief efforts. Because LDS women had to negotiate between what male leaders presented as the ideal woman and their own desires to develop as they deemed appropriate, I chose to focus on how the work they did during cleanup and public reactions to that work either defied or confirmed contemporary LDS gender expectations.
This is not how my project began, though. Originally, I planned to look at female volunteers during three different natural disasters that took place between the early 1900s and the 1970s. As I began researching, however, I discovered that my topic was too broad for the fifteen page paper I planned to write from my research. My first attempt at narrowing the topic was to focus on LDS women. Once again, I found the topic too broad. I finally chose to concentrate on LDS women during the Teton Dam disaster because of my proximity to the location and a plethora of primary sources about the disaster.
I had the opportunity to do hours of research in the BYU-Idaho Special Collections Library where they house hundreds of transcripts from interviews with flood victims. I also visited the Rexburg Teton Flood Museum where the curator introduced me to my best resource, the book That Day in June. Women, most of whom identified themselves as LDS, submitted over seventy-five percent of the entries in That Day in June. My other main primary source – copies of local newspapers that covered the flood – came from my maternal grandmother who lives in St. Anthony, a town barely missed by the flood.
I started reading That Day in June to find information on LDS women volunteers. While many told stories about volunteers, a number of other themes became evident. Women victims concentrated on their initial reactions to the disaster, faith-building experiences, gratitude for family safety, regrets over lost memory books and photographs, gratitude for volunteers, and their own backbreaking work; women volunteers mentioned faith-building experiences, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve, and described the work they were involved in. These accounts make it obvious that work in all forms shaped the disaster experience for most of the women who contributed to the book. It also gave them the opportunity to develop fully as human beings.
The idea of women reaching their full potential as humans formed many of the philosophies of second wave feminism. Articles written in the Ensign, the LDS monthly adult periodical, indicate that LDS women also longed for opportunities for personal development. In March 1976, the Church produced a special edition of the Ensign designed specifically for women. Among female writers, self development and fulfillment were the most common themes; the accounts from women about the Teton Dam disaster reflect these desires. Among male writers and leaders, however, the most common theme was a plea for women to remain in their traditional roles and find fulfillment through their husband, children, and Church service. The Teton Dam reflects these expectations through articles printed in newspapers about relief efforts that often glossed over women’s work. One particular article printed in the LDS Church News two weeks after the disaster extolled the virtues of the approach that male (priesthood) leaders took to get the job done; the article never mentioned the work of women, even to allude to the relationship between the Relief Society (the women’s organization) and the priesthood.
The contrast between women’s representation – or lack thereof – in newspapers and their descriptions of themselves is striking and makes it evident that women’s efforts – even those in nontraditional spheres – did not necessarily result in more public equality or prestige among men. Their efforts did, however, provide women with a new understanding of their own capabilities; the way that women discussed their work also suggests that they found it fulfilling and important to the rebuilding process. Participation in the Teton Dam disaster gave women a unique opportunity to break out of their traditional roles without denying what the Church called their divine heritage as wives and mothers.
References
- Janet Thomas et al., eds., That Day in June: Reflections on the Teton Dam Disaster (Rexburg, ID: Ricks College Press, 1977).
- Thomas G. Paterson, Mary Beth Norton and Ruth M. Alexander, eds., “NOW Issues Its Statement of Purpose, 1966,” Major Problems in American Women’s History, 4th ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007), 450.
- Marilyn Arnold, “Mormon Sisterhood: There’s a Poet inside Me,” Ensign (March 1976) http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=f83cfd758096b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD (accessed December 15, 2009), 27; Barbara B. Smith, “A Conversation with Sister Barbara B. Smith, Relief Society General President,” Ensign (March 1976) http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=451cfd758096b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD (accessed December 15, 2009).
- Lane Johnson, “I Journey with an Angel: Husbands Share Appreciation for their Wives,” Ensign (March 1976) http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=ce3cfd758096b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD (accessed December 15, 2009); Spencer W. Kimball, “First Presidency Message: Relief Society – Its Promise and Potential,” Ensign (March 1976) http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=e60cfd758096b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD (accessed December 15, 2009).
- “From Chaos to Order the Priesthood Way,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church News 46, no. 25 (June 19, 1976), 5.