On June 25, 1914, fifteen-year-old Annah Mildred Lougee was living at 2 Fairfield Street in Salem with her parents, Arthur and Annah, and her siblings, Norman and Doris, when the Great Salem Fire erupted. The Lougee family owned the J. L. Lougee furniture store at 281 Essex Street, where they sought refuge as the inferno approached their home. Mildred's grandparents resided nearby at 31 Summer Street. In a detailed account, Mildred documented her family's ordeal, describing the fire’s progression from Boston Street toward their home on Fairfield Street. She also mentioned their neighbors, the Pinnock family, who lived at 4 Fairfield Street. Ultimately, the fire consumed all the homes on Fairfield Street. Mildred later married Edgar Johnson, whose personal papers, including this harrowing account, were donated to the Archives.

'The story of fire relief at Salem, Massachusetts, was published as a newspaper serial when temporary rehabilitation of the families made destitute by the conflagration, had been completed. Its purpose was to furnish the inquiring public an unofficial account of the problems connected with giving relief to fire sufferers and the methods employed in the effort to give justice and satisfaction to both recipients of relief and donors of the fund. It is reprinted in its present form, at the request of persons engaged in social service, because it is deemed valuable as embodying information applicable to the giving of any emergency relief." Reprint of a serial published in the Salem Evening News.

"Nature of Buildings Burned - Materials of Original Construction - Assessed Valuation on Land and Buildings - also Insurance on Buildings and Contents, where obtainable. Arranged according to Name of Owners, Street Location and Classes of Buildings." 20 pages.