The other kind of railroad history sustained damage last weekend. A pipe burst in the Underground Railroad Museum in Flushing, Ohio, flooding archives and the office. The curator, John Mattox, has asked for volunteers to help reassemble the place as soon as insurance adjusters get done with it. (The delay is ironic; John used to be an insurance agent and originally hosted the museum in his office.) Here is the local TV coverage:
http://www.wtrf.com/story/24634718/underground-railroad-museum-closes-after-disastrous-water-break

If any of you have ideas about how to handle some of the problems, please give him a call at (740)-968-6113. Even if it's a "we had that happen and it really stunk, so we understand" he'd probably like to hear it.

Thank you all in advance. When he mentioned trying to save Rozz's pillow, my heart broke for him.

I don't know how much help it will be, but with water you have to work fast to minimize object damage. My recommendation would be to contact the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts: www.ccaha.org, and ask for some guidance or recommendations for help in the Flushing, OH, area. Laura Hortz-Stanton was my contact there during a class on this very topic (well, a bit broader, but we practiced with water disaster recovery). They are located in Philadelphia, but have network contacts all over the U.S. and beyond. Just my two cents for assistance.

Sincerely,

Kent
The West Virginia Railroad Maintenance-of-Way Museum, Inc.

[url][/url]There are several approaches to water damage while it is still wet. One method is to use old fashioned wood clothes drying racks (we have a real antique, use it all the time at home) and air dry. Another for very large collections of paper was told me by Arthur Dubin. When their archived architecture company drawings were flooded at society headquarters in Chicago, they hired a refrigerator semi trailer and quick froze them for gradual drying. I would suggest as the next move to freeze dry in a facility especially designed for the purpose. We used one such facility in Metropolitan Chicago to freeze dry moldy drawings that came to us after long term storage in a basement that had once flooded. The chamber was walk in size and they were freeze drying valuable furniture from New Orleans' Hurricane Katrina, found time for us, costly though they were kind in their charges. The procedure was to back fill with nitrogen, freeze then draw vacuum. After back filling again and releasing vacuum, the material was removed from the chamber, and the dead mold was vacuumed off in a ventilation hood. Though dead it could still cause respiratory problems. Mold is nothing to fool around with! Catching the material before it begins to mold is critical to avoid stains, disease and artifact decay.
Sincerely, Ted Anderson IRM Pullman Library

the chicago flood not long ago flooded the freight tunnels...


I would ask the insurance people for quick assessment as historical objects, may have a certain monetary value, essentially they are irreplaceble except for duplication, save them ASAP.

Thanks for the responses and I will gladly forward all info.

As of right now, he has everything laid out flat in open air. I hope the cabin dries out all right (yes, there's a whole slave cabin in the basement.)

On top of everything else, we had a major ice storm last night and his area about thirty miles away had heavy snow, so getting in will be a problem. He was asking for volunteers over the weekend, so I assume the water damage restoration company will work on the walls, carpet etc. tomorrow and Friday.