Monitoring temperature is vital to protecting stored materials, and it goes without saying, but high temperatures are bad for objects. Flames are worse! Removing combustible materials, having fire suppression systems present, and practicing a disaster response plan are the best means to prevent and recover from fire damage.
A Tower spread from a special edition of the Tower reporting on a student rally outside the Mullen library (where the President's office was then housed). One of the students' goals was the development of a Black studies program at the University the development of a Black studies program at the University.
Fire-damaged court docket ledger, 1870s (William Callyhan Robinson Papers)
William Robinson served as the first Law School dean at CatholicU. Included in his papers are several court ledgers and personal papers, burnt by a fire. The smoky scent of the damage lingers to this very day.
A Tower spread covering the fire damage to Salve Regina Hall.
Tower staff reported on a fire that ripped through Salve Regina Hall, decimating the Art Department. Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire and the building was salvageable. Unfortunately, many of the original records for the University’s Art Department were lost in the blaze.
Sources of Fire
Sources of fire can often be found within archival or museum collections, as seen by these matchboxes and lighters that were gifted to the University over the years.
Match box made from an old cannon in the Alleghany Arsenal, 1895
Match box made of ivory, 1890s
Cigarette lighter made from a bullet, WWI trench artwork, ca. 1910s