Following historic flooding across the Upper River Valley, the Dartmouth Libraries' Preservation Department joined Vermont's recovery efforts at the Justin Morrill Homestead in Strafford, Vermont.
Upon their arrival at the Homestead, Deborah Howe, Collections Conservator; Jamie Dalton, Preservation and Project Management Assistant; Lizzie Curran, Assistant Conservator; and Conservation Intern Jacky Martin discovered that water had filled the only climate-controlled space on the property, causing the most damage to the Homestead's most valuable collection items.
When Howe saw two state disaster recovery experts putting on hazmat suits to go down into the standing water on the lower floor, she knew that they might be dealing with a situation more complex than just moving books out of the building.
Over two days, the team contributed their expertise and time to clean and salvage photos, documents, manuscripts, and printed material for future conservation.