Posted on Thu., April 8, 2021
On April 8, 1949, a three-year-old girl fell down an abandoned water well in San Marino, California. The television coverage of the rescue attempt tapped into the deep spring of attention that a live broadcast can bring to news. Historian William Deverell visits the site of the tragic accident and discusses how the failed rescue of Kathy Fiscus previewed the wave of change that television would carry across the country.
TheHdoc series examines The Huntington through short documentaries that expose the archives, collections, and stories that maketheinstitution unique.