The news media and photographers were on the disaster site almost immediately. Every newspaper around the country featured the story as front page news. Some papers included the Eastland disaster in the late edition on Saturday July 24th, but most published the story in the Sunday morning paper. Many of these newspaper articles can be found in your local area on microfilm in your public library. We encourage you to visit your own local library and touch history.

We recommend researching newspapers between July 24th, 1915 and August 30th, 1915. It will become apparent as you view these articles that beyond the 26th of July, the featured news stories return to the horrors of the World War. Even though America was not involved in the World War at that time, there was a great interest by the general public, as a large influx of immigration during the late 1800's came from central and eastern Europe.

If you live in the Chicago area, your hometown newspapers may also have published articles during the major anniversary dates (e.g. 1916, 1920, 1925).

Be sure to read the online version of the Western Electric News from August 1915. It was the Memorial Edition of this monthly publication, dedicated to the Eastland Disaster.

We extend our thanks to those who have spent hours transcribing these articles, generally from microfilm, to make them available to the general public. If you would like to volunteer to take on the task of transcribing your own local newspaper(s), please contact us to allow us to coordinate the transcribing effort. Thank you!