Jewish Theological Seminary Reports Progress in Restoring Library Hit by Fire

Three years after a fire in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary destroyed or damaged 70,000 volumes, efforts to re-establish the library–which are expected to continue for at least another 10 years–have been highly successful, officials reported today. They said that the Seminary again could report a collection of Hebraica and Judaica “unique in scope and distinction” and an “on-going program of restoration, preservation and modernization.”

Water to end the blaze made 150,000 volumes a soggy pulp and restoration began almost immediately to dry out the books, which involved Seminary faculty, students and staff and hundreds of volunteers who placed a paper towel between each page of every book, requiring an estimated 2.5 million operations.

By September, some six months after the 1966 disaster, 150,000 dried out and restored books had to be classified, while the Seminary resorted to a nucleus library from usable volumes and thousands of gift books from individuals and duplicate collections of the New York Library, Hebrew Union College, the Brooklyn Jewish Center and other sources.

Officials of the Conservative Seminary decided to reclassify all its books by the Library of Congress method, which requires classification by title, author and subject matter — all told, seven cards for one classification. For the 200,000 volumes in the Seminary library, about 1.5 million cards must be prepared. A team of six experts has catalogued about 25,000 books to date. Although the rare book and manuscript room was not affected by the fire, it was decided to microfilm all manuscripts and the rarest books. The films have been stored in vaults. A special alarm system has been installed as well as carbon dioxide extinguishing equipment.