Kentucky's Capitol
(2009-11-16)
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The research room at the Libraries and Archives building was affected by the water leak. Public records from all 120 Kentucky counties are stored in the building, which is located on a hill overlooking the State Capitol. Beside it stands the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Photo courtesy Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives (Click image to enlarge)
(CLICK ARROW ON BAR ABOVE TO HEAR TONY'S REPORT)
A water line leading to the archives' microfilm processor burst over the weekend, and leaked water into the research room for about an hour before being discovered. State Archivist Barbara Teague says some state periodicals were damaged, but none of the state's rare documents were affected.
"Everything is fine," Teague told Kentucky Public Radio. "Some of the things that were damaged are more our newer publications. We found the leak fairly quickly."
Teague says around 30,000 documents got wet, but only two or three are a total loss. The state's rare documents are stored on the third floor. The water leak was on the second floor and affected areas below.
(ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE DAMAGE)
State Archivist Barbara Teague says maps, annual reports and technical bulletins were affected, but only two or three documents are a total loss.
"One was from 2001," said Teague. "And we lost a couple from 2005 that were done on the slick paper and so they got stuck together more quickly than we could separate them. So, we lost those three publications. We are able to save anything else that was wet or damp. We're still working on all of those."
Teague says the state's rare documents were unaffected.
"The action journals of the state legislature, early documents that were published by state agencies - like the early report of the corrections division that was published in the 1800's - everything is fine," said Teague.
Public records from all 120 counties are stored in the archives, along with gubernatorial and geneaological records that trace the history of the commonwealth, which gained statehood in 1792.
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