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national level; however, within the 54-mile flood zone, a tenuous memory of the flood and its

devastation persists. I have explored what has been remembered and how the event has been

commemorated by analyzing public narrative associated with the disaster, drawing from

historical records, and through visiting cemeteries and communities throughout the flood

zone looking for various forms of memorialization. Throughout the project I have kept an

open dialog with LADWP employees, ANF Heritage Resource Managers, historical society

leadership and members, dam historians, descendants of victims and survivors, land owners

in San Francisquito Canyon and the Santa Clara River Valley, and other heritage

stakeholders.

The public narrative observable today is largely due to the efforts of a network of

historical societies and dam historians, who have come to be known as “dammies.” Local

historical societies acknowledge the disaster annually through anniversary activities, such as

hosting talks and providing tours the dam ruins. Many of the dammies have organized

community events commemorating the disaster (e.g. tours of the dam site, survivor reunions,

museum exhibits), work with local media (i.e. newspapers, television and online), and

generate articles and interest around the anniversary dates. Historical society members and

dammies have communicated firsthand with survivors and kin of flood victims, influencing

their understanding and remembering of the disaster as well as what they choose to pass on to

the public.

Operationalized within a historical archaeology framework, this thesis applies

archaeological and historical data in the study of social memory to better understand how

post-disaster rituals and community commemoration affect the long term memory,

materiality, and heritage associated with a catastrophic event. Previously recorded oral

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