In 1988, Carole Turchan, the paper conservator of the Chicago Historical Society, published a recap of a tremendous flooding incident that affected her institution.

View toward the museum. Burst water main.

Check out her article, The Chicago Historical Society Flood: Recovery Analysis Two Years Later for details about the recovery.

My takeaways from the article:

  • Construction or renovation projects can dramatically increase your risk to catastrophic events.
  • Importance of stabilization/freezing to prevent mold and facilitate easier recovery, and the importance of vendors of these services.

What a story! Glad no one was hurt, and that the damage wasn’t worse.