Thursday, August 19, 2010

A team from the University of Iowa and the State Historical Society of Iowa spent two days early this week assisting Colfax Historical Society members with evacuating collections from their flood-damaged museum.

The museum was in the middle of a new building project next door to the current museum when the flooding hit. The older building, which housed the collections, took on at least four feet of water while the newer building, which is on higher ground, took only a few inches. The team was able to dry out the new building and use it to temporarily store the retrieved collections. Several volumes of the Colfax Tribune and other paper items are now drying in UI Libraries’ book freeze-dryer.

It will take several days to complete the evacuation of the entire collection and the UI/ State Historical Society team will continue to provide advice to museum staff.

The Colfax Historical Society has several other smaller buildings that were also damaged by the flood. Donations may be sent to Colfax Historical Society, PO Box 123, Colfax, IA 50054, to the attention of “Flood Recovery.”