Scope and Content

Collection consists of one copy of a manual intended to use for organizing citizens of Dallas County in the event of manmade or natural disasters and to provide for disaster relief efforts. The manual is focused on the immediate Dallas, Texas, area and also includes information on surrounding North Texas communities. 

The Dallas Texas City-County Civil Defense and Disaster Commission was appointed by the Dallas City Council under City Ordinance 6203 and approved by the Dallas County Commissioners Court in 1954. The mission of the commission was to "provide for the formation of a plan...which will have for its purpose . . . to provide aid and assistance in saving lives, render aid to the injured, give protection to property, maintain the morale of the community and be prepared to go to the aid of other stricken communities." 

The term civil defense refers to the organized non-military effort to prepare civilians for military attacks. The term and practice of civil defense has fallen into disuse and has been replaced by emergency management and homeland security. Although the concept of Civil Defense originated with President Franklin Roosevelt, it did not become a social phenomenon until the Cold War era. The preoccupation with nuclear attack during the 1950s and 1960s prompted most municipalities across the United States to develop and issue plans for securing citizen safety, restoring order, and assuring business resumption. 

Organization

The collection is one report housed in three parts.

Access​

Permission to publish, reproduce, distribute, or use by any and all other current or future developed methods or procedures must be obtained in writing from the Dallas Municipal Archives. All rights are reserved and retained regardless of current or future development or laws that may apply to fair use standards.

Citation

City of Dallas Civil Defense Administrative Files, 1958 (Box <x>, Folder <y>), Dallas Municipal Archives

Related Materials

Collection 1992-033—​Operational Survival Plan for Dallas and Dallas County, 1958

Index Terms

Civil defense -- Texas -- Dallas
Dallas -- Texas -- History
WRR-AM (Radio Station: Dallas, Tex.) 

Container List