They've started clearing out some of the material from the archives; we were
doing triage in a big warehouse for a company which specializes in removing
toxic waste & rubble & various other "difficult" materials. Some of the dry
material was simply repacked and shipped off somewhere in sturdy boxes;
damaged material was put into cardboard file folders to keep it flat until
it can be looked at properly, and the wet stuff wrapped in plastic (one end
open to allow it to breath) & shipped off somewhere else (presumably to be
freeze-dried). Overall, the whole operation was well-organised and
professional: they have experience from the Anna Amelia library fire of a
few years back, and they had a few days' time to get things ready before
anyone was allowed into the site to start rescuing anything.
But this was just the start, and the stuff we saw today was probably in some
of the best condition: not deep down, under the groundwater. And even with
the heavy rain today, a lot of it was dry.
Still: some things like medieval town charters had simply shattered...
In addition, there was a lot of material from the neighbouring houses
brought in, which had to be searched through, trying to separate any stray
archival material from personal effects, & setting those off to one side.
For me it was a lot like sorting through some of the rubble I excavated in
Dresden, but more emphasis on trying to preserve someone else's privacy (I
just collected stuff & put it all in boxes for someone else to sort).
Still: overall we're lucky: only one confirmed & one presumed dead. There's
a high school across the street...