About this collection

Viennese city dwellers get rescued after massive floodings in 1847.

Human societies have always had a close relationship with water. Water is as much humanity’s most existential resource as it is one of its greatest threats as source of floods or diseases. In order to address the centrality of water in environmental history, this ever-expanding Arcadia collection presents some of the most interesting stories from around the globe that deal particularly with this love-hate relationship between humans and water.

This collection is curated by Jonatan Palmblad (Rachel Carson Center).

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69 results
Development and Degradation in the Lakes of Lapsista and Ioannina from the 1950s to the Present
Perrakis Kollias, Petros • Arcadia, Summer 2023, no. 14
The Mighty Streams: Coping with Rivers in the Ancient World
Vuković, Krešimir • Arcadia, Autumn 2022, no. 14
Of Ghost Nets and the Haunting at Nissum Bredning
Lundsteen, Sebastian • Arcadia, Spring 2022, no. 3
The Day of the Waterfall: Tourism, Identity, and Gender at the Trollhättan Hydropower Plant
Zimmer, Fabian • Arcadia, Autumn 2021, no. 33
Environmental Dimensions of the RMS Leinster Sinking
Connolly, Claire, Singer, Rita, Smith, James L. • Arcadia, Autumn 2021, no. 32
Metamorphosis of a Waterway: The City of Nijmegen Embraces the River Waal
Rădulescu, Maria Alina, Leendertse, Wim, Arts, Jos • Arcadia, Autumn 2021, no. 29
Subterranean (In)visibilities: Traces, Underground Water, and Thermal Flows in the El Tatio Geyser Field, Atacama, Chile
Fonck, Martín • Arcadia, Summer 2021, no. 24
From Rains to Floods: A Case of Chennai in 2015
Vencatesan, Anjana • Arcadia, Summer 2021, no. 23
“The battle of geological experts”: Water Flow and Tunneling within a Welsh Mountain
Nuttall, Mark • Arcadia, Spring 2021, no. 14
Hydroelectric Power and Anishinaabe Diets: What Oral Testimony Suggests About Managing Food (In)Security on Reserve
Mehltretter, Samantha, Luby, Brittany, Bradford, Andrea • Arcadia, Summer 2020, no. 33
The Search for George DeBaptiste’s House: The Crooked Creek Flood of 1846
Baas, Christopher, Rubino, Darrin L. • Arcadia, Spring 2020, no. 15
The Aura River Ice Jam in Turku, March 1903
Norrgård, Stefan • Arcadia, Spring 2020, no. 10
The Day the Falls Stopped Flowing: Devastation and Resilience in Tropical Queensland
Vidonja Balanzategui, Bianka • Arcadia, Spring 2020, no. 3
Water Flows and Topographic Networks of Power: Social Struggles for Water in the Copiapó Valley in the Eighteenth Century
Astudillo Pizarro, Francisco • Arcadia, Spring 2020, no. 2
Dividing a City: The Flooding of the Saint Petersburg Metro (1995–2004)
Schroeder, Phillip • Arcadia, Autumn 2019, no. 43
The 1795 Disaster: Casualties of the Spiritual Waterscape of Lough Derg, County Donegal
Smith, James L. • Arcadia, Autumn 2019, no. 37
Unifying the Yangzi Watershed in Early Twentieth-Century China
Gao, Yan • Arcadia, Summer 2019, no. 28
The Water Shops of Republican Tianjin
Cao, Mu • Arcadia, Summer 2019, no. 20
The Lake That Became a Bus Terminus
Nagendra, Harini, Unnikrishnan, Hita • Arcadia, Spring 2019, no. 2
Living on Coral Time: Debating Conservation in the Anthropocene
Braverman, Irus • Arcadia, Spring 2019, no. 1
The Niagara Telecolorimeter
Macfarlane, Daniel • Arcadia, Autumn 2018, no. 28
Fishing for Souls: Water Technology and the Dutch Baroque
FitzGerald, Lisa • Arcadia, Autumn 2018, no. 26
The Lake That Became a Sports Stadium
Nagendra, Harini, Unnikrishnan, Hita • Arcadia, Autumn 2018, no. 23
Blood in the Water: A Digital History Project on the Geography of Pontiac’s War, 1763
Clark, Brandon • Arcadia, Autumn 2018, no. 22
Beauties and Beasts: Whales in Portugal, from Early-Modern Monsters to Today’s Flagship Species
Brito, Cristina • Arcadia, Autumn 2018, no. 21
The Lost Lakes of Bangalore
Nagendra, Harini, Unnikrishnan, Hita • Arcadia, Spring 2018, no. 13
John Anthony Allan’s “Virtual Water”: Natural Resources Management in the Wake of Neoliberalism
Stack Whitney, Kaitlin, Whitney, Kristoffer • Arcadia, Spring 2018, no. 11
“Moby Dick” in the Rhine: How a Beluga Whale Raised Awareness of Water Pollution in West Germany
Kleemann, Katrin • Arcadia, Spring 2018, no. 6
From Pulley to Pipe: The Decline of the Wells of Bangalore
Nagendra, Harini, Unnikrishnan, Hita • Arcadia, Spring 2018, no. 5
Naturalizing Trout? Fish Farming in German Southwest Africa
Kalb, Martin • Arcadia, Autumn 2017, no. 33
Half a Century of Public Participation to Stop Pollution in the Alviela River, from 1957 to Today
Bento, Sofia, Bezerra Meira, Teresa, Oliveira Fernandes, Lúcia de, Rainho Brás, Oriana • Arcadia, Summer 2017, no. 20
To Dig a Well (in Siberia)
Chu, Pey-Yi • Arcadia, Summer 2017, no. 13
A Legacy of Brisbane’s Benchmark Floods of 1893: Creating Dam Dependence
Cook, Margaret • Arcadia, Spring 2017, no. 9
Dead Zones and Toxic Algae Bloom in US Waters
Mathur, Shubh • Arcadia, Spring 2017, no. 7
The Fen River in Taiyuan, China: Ecology, Revitalization, and Urban Culture
Falke, Matthias • Arcadia, Autumn 2016, no. 17
Land Subsidence and the Reservoirs of the Washburn Valley
McTominey, Andrew • Arcadia, Autumn 2016, no. 16
Versailles’ Drinking Water and the Last Service of the Marly Machine, 1859–1963
Dmitrieva, Tatiana • Arcadia, Autumn 2016, no. 14
A Milestone on the Road to Independence? Singapore’s Catastrophic 1954 Floods
Williamson, Fiona • Arcadia, Autumn 2016, no. 13
Brewing, Industrialization, and London Water Supplies
Unger, Richard • Arcadia, Summer 2016, no. 9
“Citizens of a Watershed”: The Colorado River Compact and the Exigencies of Drought
Foster, Lauren, Roberts, Stacy N. • Arcadia, Spring 2016, no. 1
An Endless Sediment Story: The First Five Decades of the Canal de Marseille
Maughan, Nicolas • Arcadia, Autumn 2015, no. 18
The Serre-Ponçon Dam and the Durance River: The Founding Act towards the most Regulated French Waterway
Maughan, Nicolas • Arcadia 2015, no. 16
Molluscan Explosion: The Dutch Shipworm Epidemic of the 1730s
Sundberg, Adam • Arcadia 2015, no. 14
Taconite Mining in Silver Bay: A Tale of Extraction and Accumulation
Schuchhardt, Caitlyn • Arcadia 2015, no. 3
The Watering of California's Central Valley
Grant, Daniel • Arcadia 2015, no. 1
The Thames Barrier: London's Moveable Flood Defense
Hall, Alexander • Arcadia 2014, no. 15
The 1969 Flood and Coastal Erosion on Cape Pitsunda
Yakushenko, Olga • Arcadia 2014, no. 13
The Canal System of Bolshoy Solovetsky Island
Kalemeneva, Ekaterina • Arcadia 2014, no. 11
Zolotitsa: How Diamond Mining Threatens the Ecological Conditions of a River Region
Kalemeneva, Ekaterina • Arcadia 2014, no. 8
The St. Petersburg Flood of 1824
Barabanova, Kseniya • Arcadia 2014, no. 7
Cosmopolitan Trout: The 1883 Fisheries Exhibition and the Global Expansion of Fish Culture
Del Vecchio, Michael • Arcadia 2013, no. 21
Munich and Its Isar River: A Rafting Port on an Alpine River
Jochum, Georg • Arcadia 2013, no. 18
Losing the Unruly Stream: Kondopoga and the Kivach Waterfall
Suzi, Grigory • Arcadia 2013, no. 11
St. Petersburg and Its Backbone: The Neva River as Gateway to Europe and the Sword of Damocles
Kraikovski, Alexei • Arcadia 2013, no. 10
The St. Petersburg Cholera Riot of 1831: Water Pollution and Social Tension
Kraikovski, Alexei • Arcadia 2013, no. 9
The North Sea Flood of 1953
Hall, Alexander • Arcadia 2013, no. 5
The Great Fear: The Polesine Flood of 1951
Hardenberg, Wilko Graf von • Arcadia 2013, no. 3
The Struggle with the River: Vienna and the Danube from 1500 to the Present
Hohensinner, Severin • Arcadia 2012, no. 19
Bold State Effort Fails to Control Floods in Fourteenth-century Roussillon
Hoffmann, Richard • Arcadia 2012, no. 16
Atlantropa – Endless Energy from the Mediterranean Sea
Mauch, Felix • Arcadia 2012, no. 9
Disaster Ahead: How Danube Floods Created Telegraph Networks
Neundlinger, Michael • Arcadia 2012, no. 7
The Great Flood of 1962 in Hamburg
Mauch, Felix • Arcadia 2012, no. 6
Rioting Townsmen Destroy Abbey’s Salmon Weir in Medieval Scotland
Hoffmann, Richard • Arcadia 2012, no. 5
London’s New River
van Lieshout, Carry • Arcadia 2012, no. 3
Expecting Disaster: The 1963 Landslide of the Vajont Dam
Hardenberg, Wilko Graf von • Arcadia 2011, no. 8
Transforming Rivers into Streets: How the Nineteenth Century Scheme to Improve Shipping on the Vitava, Elbe and Danube Failed
Brabec, Stephan • Arcadia 2011, no. 7
From Grains to Riches: How Hydropower Production on the Möll River in the Austrian Alps Went from Local to Supra-Regional
Haidvogl, Gertrud • Arcadia 2011, no. 6
The Hamburg Flood in Public Memory Culture
Mauch, Felix • Arcadia 2011, no. 4
Taming the Danube: Floodplain Regulation in the Machland
Hohensinner, Severin • Arcadia 2011, no. 2