Photo by John Eaton

This coming Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m. in the Grand Community Room in the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro will be the free showing of “The Austin Disaster, 1911 – A Chronicle of Human Character,” a 90-minute documentary film produced by Dr. Gale Largey of Wellsboro.

The Grand Community Room is located on the second floor of the Deane Center and is handicapped accessible via a ramp into the lobby from Main Street and an elevator on the right side at the back of the lobby.

“The Austin Disaster, 1911” is the first of eight Largey films that will be shown for free at 7 p.m. on scheduled Wednesdays in January, February, March and May. Donations are appreciated and will be used to support the Deane Center and its programs.

Largey is a retired Mansfield University sociology professor who enjoys making fascinating documentary films about local history and people. Among them are the Austin Dam disaster, the heroes of World War II and his newest, “Nessmuk: In Defense of Nature in the Pennsylvania Wilds.”

On the afternoon of Sept. 30, 1911, the company-owned concrete Austin Dam, located on Freeman Run in Potter County, broke engulfing the town in millions of gallons of water and causing 78 deaths and nearly $2 million in damages. It was the second worst flood disaster in Pennsylvania’s history. 

The tragedy sparked the passage of laws about the safety of dams and stirred fierce debate about the social responsibility of industries and the engineering sciences.

The documentary also probes the culture and character of the people affected by the disaster and offers fascinating insights into the community’s response to it.

To do the documentary, which is about the events leading up to and surrounding the flood, Largey met with survivors and worked with several well-known people. Among them were country music singer, songwriter Willie Nelson who narrates the documentary and the late Gerald Ford who served as President of the United States from 1974 to 1977 and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge who both did voice-overs in the film. 

“I will introduce each film and point out interesting aspects of its production,” said Largey. “Some aspects from ‘The Austin Disaster, 1911’ are finding rare original film footage of the aftermath of the disaster and tracking down the 94- to 101-year-old survivors.”

The local jug band Sadie Green Sales and the Mansfield University Festival Chorus each sang one of the two songs featured in the documentary. 

After the showing of each of his eight documentaries, Largey will host a question and answer session with the audience.

The next Largey documentary film being shown free at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25 covers the Laurel Festivals held from 1938 to 1959. “I contacted many of the queens, including the first one. She told me ‘I only came because my mother made me. I really didn’t want to be in it.” In addition to interviews with the queens, the documentary incorporates a variety of film footage taken at the Laurel Festivals during those years.

For more information, call the Deane Center at 570-724-6220.