Ebay Gold - Complete 1956 North Carolina Survival Plan Project Report

While some people would scoff, I routinely hunt on ebay for anything related to Civil Defense. Recently I hit gold and won for a paltry sum a complete copy of the Phase One Report for the North Carolina Survival Plan Project, September 1956. The only copy of this report I have seen before is in the files of the North Carolina Civil Defense Agency in the Old State Records building for the NC Archives. This copy is heavily annotated and missing the cover letter and two attachments. To be honest, I did not even know there WERE attachments until this ebay auction!

The project itself started in June 1956 under contract CD-S-56-27 between the State of North Carolina and the Federal Civil Defense Administration. As a three-part report, these files are the first third and consists of initial research and study of Civil Defense operations in specified areas of the state. Phase II, "Preliminary Operational Survival Plan Study" took place from February through June 1957 and was to determine what facilities, equipment, and trained personnel were available and to promote the most effective means of coordination into an Emergency Operational Plan for the entire state. I have not seen this report of yet. Phase III began in June 1957 and continued into early 1959. The final phase included publication of an Operational Survival Plan for North Carolina, individual preliminary Operational Survival Plans for Guilford, Mecklenburg, Durham, Wake, Forsyth, Buncombe, and New Hanover Counties, and lastly the establishment of a prototype reception and care plan for NC counties. A fourth phase involved the distribution and implementation and or/adaptation of the Prototype County Reception and Care Plans to county and local community situations.

North Carolina was the first state in the Southeast and fourth in the nation (outside of New England) to brief government officials about the progress of the Survival Plan on 9 December 1957. On 26 June 1958, Governor Luther H. Hodges accepted the Operational Survival Plans for the state of North Carolina. The total cost of this plan was $244,586.00, financed entirely with federal funds appropriated by Congress as part of the National Survival Program. In a press conference at the State Capital building, Hodges proudly proclaimed

We are informed by the Survival Planning staff of the Federal Civil Defense - which has jurisdiction over the seven southeastern states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, and Virgin Islands - that the North Carolina Plans are the most complete, most practical and operational to be prepared by any state in the Region [NC was in Region III].

The state plan, the size of a phone book and numbering over 1,000 pages, is an impressive, albeit unwieldy document. I'll post more about it down the road. Here are some scans of the documents and the attached cover letter, as well as one of the nice fold out maps from the Phase I report.

Of note, I asked the seller where he found these documents. In his email, the seller noted that "someone discarded some papers of Prof. John A. Parker, who founded the UNC Dept. of City & Regional Planning, at the local recycling site [in Chapel Hill]. Dr. Hill was the co-director of the NC Survival Plan Project, so odds are these were his personal copies of this Phase I report. Dr. Hill passed away in 2001. Here is his obituary: John A. Parker, Founder of Planning Program, Dies at 91

What is sad here is how many rare documents are being thrown away with the passing of a family member/professor/manager/official. Before tossing anything away, see if your local archive or library is interested.