HURRICANE IDA UPDATE

Due to the unprecedented flooding caused by Hurricane Ida, the Greenwich Historical Society’s Library and Archives staff have been relocated to the second floor Special Exhibitions Gallery, and most of our collections have been moved offsite for temporary storage while remedial work is underway. We have made the difficult decision to postpone our exhibition, Life and Art: The Greenwich Paintings of John Henry Twachtman, but otherwise our site and programs are open for normal operations. Periodic updates will be posted here as we undertake necessary site work and repairs over the next few months to secure the museum against future wind-driven storms and hurricanes.

To date, our experts have advised us that storm water leaked from the second floor ground level to the first-floor concourse, vault, archives processing room, reading room and archivists’ office. Independent conservator Ann Baldwin was immediately brought in to assist staff with the process of removing items from frames and applying absorbent material to items that were wet. Fortunately, only a small portion of our archives collections was damaged, and those items were hand-delivered to Northeast Document Conservation Center in Andover, MA, for conservation estimates. The quick response of current and former staff—especially Michele Couture, Kelsie Dalton, Maggie Dimock, Karen Frederick, Heather Lodge and Christopher Shields—to relocate and dry photographs, paper and paintings; and the arrival of personnel from our architect and contractor to wet vac the carpets and set up dehumidifiers and fans lessened the impact, which is none-the-less devastating to all of us.

Further updates:

• Claims for damage to the property were submitted to the Historical Society’s insurance companies, Chubb and Huntington Block Fine Arts Insurance; and legal counsel was engaged.
• Watsky Associates completed a thorough waterproofing assessment of the building and submitted a report of corrective measures to be undertaken.
• Two site civil engineers were engaged to assess the water flow and drainage and recommendations have been submitted to legal counsel.
• Belfor, a leading property restoration company, completed remediation efforts the week of October 18

EMERGENCY RELIEF FUND

Expenses for remediation and repairs, to date, exceed $300,000. An Emergency Relief Fund was created, and we are grateful for the generous contributions of our friends and colleagues.