With the 10 year anniversary of the Columbia disaster approaching, the City of Nacogdoches and Stephen F. Austin State University are doing their part to remember the local history surrounding February 1, 2003. The space shuttle Columbia was the first shuttle of NASA’s orbital fleet to be capable of space travel, and it completed 27 missions, before tragedy struck during re-entry on its 28th mission. “This disaster deeply impacted everyone living in Nacogdoches and all of East Texas because it hit so close to home” said Digital Archivist Jennifer Brancato.
The City of Nacogdoches Historic Sites Department and the East Texas Research Center at SFA will host a community collection day focused on gathering stories, documents and photographs related to the explosion of the Columbia Space Shuttle over East Texas. “People have very vivid memories of that day and we are asking that the public share their experiences with us. That can be done” according to Brancato, “ by sharing their stories and picture of debris, first responders or even the news vans that descended on Nacogdoches in the days and weeks following the disaster.” This will be a collaborative effort between the two organizations as well as the public. Many citizens remember clearly the sounds and sights associated with that morning and were part of the first response.
The Community Collection Day will be held Friday, February 1, 2013 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Nacogdoches City Council Chambers. Anyone and everyone with a document, story, photograph or any other media related to the Columbia disaster is invited to come to City Hall and share their story with us. The East Texas Research Center welcomes any donations of photographs, letters and other documents, including a digital donation wherein they will be scanned by the archivists from the East Texas Research Center and the original returned to the owners. Everyone is welcome, and there will be an audio recorder on site for those wishing to share stories about that day. This collection will be housed at Stephen F. Austin State University, and once fully processed, will be available to the public for research. For additional information concerning the event, please contact the Jessica Sowell at 936-560-4441 or email historicsites@ci.nacogdoches.tx.us.
