As emergency responders work in flood-ravaged parts of the state to secure individual safety and property security, the Missouri State Archive is helping preserve centuries of documents.
John Korasick, director of the Local Records Preservation Program, received the call early Monday morning that the Carter County Courthouse - where the paper records are kept - had been filled 8 feet high on the first floor with unexpected water damage.
Calling in senior conservator Lisa Fox and following the state agency's plan for such an emergency, they soon had a refrigerated tractor-trailer ready to be filled with the soggy, warped books and boxes.
While county officials address more immediate concerns, its documents sit protected and chilled, safe from mold. Later, archive staff can assist in sorting and drying the various documents.
The archive staff assists local governments with water damage, generally from leaky pipes or other small impacts.
"This was particularly spectacular, being completely submerged," Korasick said.
Ironically, Korasick had been on the phone with Carter County officials the week before, addressing a leaky pipe situation.
"We were worried about a couple of moldy books that were damp," Fox said.
The last time they were involved in a major-scale document recovery was in 1997 after the Mississippi County Courthouse fire, Korasick said.
"When you get fire, you get water, " he said.
Mold thrives in the aftermath on the damp, organic pages.
State Archivist John Dougan said he is pleased Carter County officials were quick to involve his office in preserving the documents. He said he was concerned other public records may be in the same position, due to continued rainfall, and hopes officials will call their office for help.
More often, the archive staff is called in after mold has already set in - which takes only three days. Then it's more difficult to reverse damage.
Dougan said the flooding is a reminder public records should have a duplicate somewhere off-site, whether that's housed in the state archive's climate-controlled microfilm storage, in a bank vault or digitized.
Fox and the archive provide regular training for emergency preparedness regarding document preservation.
She reminds public officials, as well as individuals, "don't store important things in the basement."
For more information, visit sos.mo.gov/archives/localrecs/flood_salvage.
Correction: John Korasick's title and the height of the water in the Carter County Courthouse were incorrect in the original version of this article. They have since been corrected in the text above.