A flood in Honolulu two weeks ago caused a lot of damage to the University
of Hawaii and the surrounding neighborhood.  Here is a link with more
information.


http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Nov/14/ln/ln10p.html


The following text describes the damage to the Map Library.  Although
recovery continues, it is a difficult situation.


  DSLev <[log in to unmask]>
11/10/2004 03:32 PM

Subject:Hamilton Map Library
Map Library:

I again want to thank all of you who volunteered in the aftermath of the
Halloween flood that caused such extensive damage in the basement of the
old building of Hamilton Library. Since Ross Togashi is not yet back to
speak for the library, I want to pass on my guess of the status of the
library. I am sure this will be modified as the accounting is completed
over the next weeks.

1. First - Its highly unlikely that the Map Library will be open in any
degree of functionality for many months.

2. In the end, many of the aerial photographs and maps were salvaged or
frozen for future restoration attempts. I know nothing about the freeze
restoration process but a friend who is a FEMA infrastructure recovery
engineer says that the process can produce amazing results so we hope for
the best on the frozen materials as their recovery is attempted here or on
the mainland.

3. Aerial photographs survive wetting better than other materials since
they are processed in liquids when made. The library had several different
types of aerial photograph collections.
a. rolls of film donated by DBEDT from 1970s U-2 coverage of the islands
and other flights.
b. prints of several project dates in Hawaii
c. part of the "UCLA collection" of WWII images of the South Pacific and
Southeast Asia
d. orthophoto enlarged images of the Trust Territory of the Pacific
e. several other photo sets from various Pacific Islands

The Hawaii and UCLA collection were given first priority for recovery and
on Sunday and Monday. They were either washed and dried or washed and
frozen for future recovery. By dark on Monday any remaining photos that
were not yet washed were frozen in the form they were found. The DBEDT
rolls were found largely undamaged in plastic containers. The last two
photo sets (d and e) were found late in the week in rolls, boxes and map
drawers and were washed and dried or frozen.

4. The first priority of maps to be removed were the Hawaii collection and
the historical map collection. These 100 drawers were removed and attempted
to be washed but in the end frozen as they were found. The remaining maps
were left in drawers as found until late in the week. At that time some of
the drawers were found to have maps without major damage. I don't know how
many drawers were left after the first priority were removed but I am
guessing about 700 drawers. Each map cabinet stack has about 20 drawers.
Wednesday about 30 drawers of Japan and China maps were frozen. Thursday
about 160 drawers were frozen but had started to deteriorate. These maps
were the topographic collections from Asia, the world Russian series, and
whatever other Asia maps looked recoverable. On Friday 50 additional
drawers were frozen containing large scale topographic maps of Europe that
still looked possible to save.

5. If my guess of 800 total map drawers in the collection is close to
accurate, over a third of the collection (about 300 drawers) were frozen .
However, the recovery rate of the frozen maps remains to be seen. The
remaining maps were judged replaceable or too damaged to attempt saving.
The USGS topographic map repository and the nautical charts of the world
were abandoned. Several world series, the aeronautical charts, Canadian
topographic maps, the Corps of Engineers collections, and atlases were also
abandoned. The tourist maps, government document map collection and
assorted thematics from world countries were abandoned along with all new
or gift maps that had yet to be processed.

6. The choices for attempting to save maps were based on several criteria.
How rare the maps were, areas of more importance to the University, scale,
and unfortunately their position in the map drawer. Most map drawers have
holes in the bottom of the drawers. The water apparently was at seven feet
in the map library for a very short time. Some of the map cabinets floated,
knocked down walls and then settled quickly as the water drained. Two map
library windows were broken out by the weight of the water and helped drain
the water. The water quickly drained from the top drawers down through the
cabinet, filtering out the mud in each drawer with the lower drawers
sustaining more mud and water damage.

7. Apparently many libraries from around the world have volunteered help
since the flood got national news coverage.

Ev Wingert


--
Smoke Pfeiffer
845 Cagle Rock Road
Russellville, Ar. 72802