August Flooding Incident and Collections Intake Update

We wanted to share an update regarding the flooding incident that occurred August.

We’re relieved to report that everything that got wet has been successfully dried out, and, fortunately, no irreplaceable materials were lost. Repairs are underway: the drywall will be repaired and replaced, and carpeting in the library and a staff office will be removed and replaced. Thankfully, the archive and processing room have tile flooring, which helped minimize damage.

As part of our recovery efforts, we permanently removed 18 empty filling cabinets from the archive. We’ll be replacing them with shelving and archival boxes, which will provide better long-term storage for our materials. Our plan is to gradually transfer materials from the remaining filinig cambinets to the new shelving, removing cabinets as we go until the transition is complete.

During the two and a half years of the NEH grant, we recognized that our filing cabinets were no longer suitable for storing our collection. Some drawers were overfilled while others were underfilled, causing papers to slump and curl. We knew a change was needed, and while the flood accelerated our timeline, we view this as a positive and necessary step foward.

This transition will cause significant disruptions to our work. While we are rehousing our archival collection, we’ll also need to temporarily relocate our entire library, which means pausing digitization and processing efforts to focus on moving and reorganizing the collection.

As a result, we are unable to accept new archival or artifact collections until further notice. We simply do not have space to store or process new materials at this time. We’ll keep you updated as we make progress and hope to resume intake early in the new year. If you do have a collection you’d like to donate, please feel free to reach out to us at aihp@aihp.org to begin a conversation, but please understand that we cannot accept new donations at this time.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who has supported us the weeks following the flood. Special thanks to the UW-Madison School of Pharmacy for their incredible response, and to the team at ServPro for their assistance.

We also want to thank our members who reached out, offered words of encouragement, and contributed to our flood recovery efforts. Your support means the world to us. We don’t say it enough, thank you.

In the picture to the left, UW-Madison School of Pharmacy Associate Professor Jay Ford helps box up materials. Thank you, Jay.

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