At the Main Library, saving UI history

As the Iowa River began its creep toward the UI Main Library, volunteers scrambled to rescue irreplaceable pieces of University history—bound copies of The Daily Iowan, the late James Van Allen’s papers, records from the Iowa Writers Workshop, even a collection of vintage Hawkeye game films.

“It brought to mind the 1966 flood in Florence, Italy, when it seemed like half the country turned out to save the city’s cultural treasures,” says David McCartney, University archivist. “It was very moving to see this remarkable community support.”

Library staff had been watching the waters since Monday, June 9, when arts facilities upriver—including libraries at the School of Music and School of Art and Art History—began to be evacuated. By midweek, flood predictions had grown graver than anyone anticipated, threatening University Archives and Special Collections material housed in the Main Library’s basement storage space.

At first, library staff cleared the lowest foot and a half of basement shelves. But on Friday morning, Nancy Kraft, head of preservation for the University Libraries, advised McCartney and colleagues—including Sid Huttner and Greg Prickman, head and assistant head, respectively, of Special Collections—to prepare for water levels of up to five feet.

“It was a very short meeting,” McCartney says. “I recall Nancy saying, ‘Let’s hope this will be a very elaborate drill.’”

Immediately, the Libraries put out a call for volunteers. They came by the dozen.

Chains of students, faculty, staff, and friends snaked through the stairwells, passing delicate documents hand-to-hand, piece-by-piece, to higher ground. Meanwhile, teams shuttled carts loaded with boxes and cartons up freight elevators. By early evening, they had cleared as much as 10,000 feet of shelf space.

For now, both the Main Library building and the resources within have escaped serious damage. Other facilities haven’t been so fortunate.

“With any disaster, there’s the trauma of the moment and the trauma that follows,” McCartney says. “As we start recovering, we have a collective responsibility to help our colleagues across campus however we can.”