Posted December 9, 2005.

Historic Redwood Library Collections Damaged in Fire

Two years after a collapsed ceiling prompted staff to begin a thorough renovation, the Redwood Library and Athenaeum in Newport, Rhode Island, suffered another major shock when an off-site facility where many of its priceless books and furniture were stored caught fire December 2. Among the water-damaged items in the Artex Fine Art Service building complex in Dedham, Massachusetts, were about 4,000 rare 17th- and 18th-century books and 500 colonial maps, the Providence Journal reported December 6.

“Most of our damage was due to the water,” Library Director Cheryl Helms said in the December 9 Bristol Phoenix. “The fire that was in the adjoining building was so hot and intense that the fire department as a precaution wet down all the adjoining buildings.” Helms added that the wet books were being freeze-dried at the Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts. Only about 15 books were completely destroyed.

After assessing the damage that weekend, Helms took only one unharmed document back to Newport with her—the 1747 charter that incorporated the Redwood Library, making it the oldest circulating library in the United States. “I said it’s not going anyplace without me,” she remarked. “That’s our founding document. It’s going home.”

The Redwood is still scheduled to reopen its renovated building January 10.

Posted December 9, 2005.