Article by Randy Roeder, University of Iowa
Disaster Strikes
On Friday morning, June 13th, 2008, the Cedar River crested inundating 1300 blocks of downtown Cedar Rapids. Cultural institutions including the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library and the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa were devastated. Farther south, on the Iowa River, twenty buildings on the University of Iowa campus were threatened with flooding and the situation had become so dire that officials deemed it advisable to close the campus to all but essential personnel for a week. Although collections at the University of Iowa remained dry, the archives of the Johnson County Historical Society flooded. This combination of events provided an opportunity for a five-institution collaboration that illustrates the benefits of a collaborative approach to disaster recovery.
Staff from the two Cedar Rapids museums, the University of Iowa Libraries, the State Historical Society of Iowa and the Johnson County Historical Society worked together to salvage collections and lower the costs of recovery for the flood damaged collections. Although the task at hand was enormous, the personnel of the affected institutions had undergone disaster training - a circumstance that eliminated much of the "ramp up" time often required in situations such as this. The group met and selected Steamatic, a business headquartered in Alsip, Illinois, as their disaster recovery company. It was a move that lowered administrative overhead costs by sharing Steamatic staff and such equipment as freezer trucks.
The affected organizations were also able to share in the services provided by consultants brought in to assess and clean hard-to-handle-collections. Textile conservators from the Chicago Conservation Center were called in as was a wood conservator from Des Moines.
African American Museum of Iowa | "The museum's manuscript collection, although flooded and damaged, remains salvageable because the archival storage containers did not disintegrate." |
On Wednesday June 18th, staff and volunteers were allowed back into the African American Museum. Doors were swollen shut and had to be pried open; the building was dark, and there was no electricity; a healthy bloom of mold covered many surfaces. The damage was severe. Exhibits were destroyed, George Washington Carver items on loan from the National Park Service were heavily damaged, and five feet of water entered the collection storage area. Steamatic brought in a generator and lighting equipment, and as volunteers began carting waterlogged items from the building, curator Susan Kuecker triaged the damaged material with detached, unemotional professionalism. Though the decisions were difficult, the goal was simple: save the best and ignore the rest.
Preservation staff from the University of Iowa, the State Historical Society and a former Iowan currently with the University of Alabama washed and cleaned those items requiring immediate attention. Dry items were sent to the Masonic Library for storage. Wet items requiring freezing were loaded onto a Steamatic freezer truck. Items which were not to be frozen received preliminary treatment and were sent to the University of Iowa Oakdale Campus. The museum's manuscript collection, although flooded and damaged, remains salvageable because the archival storage containers did not disintegrate. Manuscript boxes were simply loaded onto a freezer truck with contents intact. The Museum's photograph collection did not fare as well. A large number of one-of-a-kind photographs were damaged beyond repair-in some cases, their emulsion washed off the paper.
One thousand photos that survived triage, two hundred textiles and 15 works of art were sent to the Chicago Conservation Center. DVDs and CDs were washed and set aside for local treatment by conservation staff at the State Historical Society and at the University of Iowa Libraries. A wood conservator was brought on site to do initial assessment and provide advice on drying out.
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