SMITHTOWN, NY — The Smithtown Library’s Smithtown building was badly damaged in the rainstorm on Aug. 19, destroying many items and putting a historical collection dating back to the 17th century on life support.
The basement of the building, at One North Country Road, Smithtown, was flooded. The branch will remain closed until it can be rebuilt. The library’s other three locations — Commack, Kings Park and Nesconset — are open.
After the downpour, Smithtown Library Director Rob Lusak said he returned to the building to discover the basement flooded with 8 to 10 feet of water, sludge, mud, mulch, beer cans, cups and straws.
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“Whatever collects in storm drains,” Lusak told Patch.
Concern immediately shifted to the Richard Hockman Handley Long Island Historical Collection, which Lusak called the “crown jewel of the Smithtown Library.” The collection, sealed inside a climate-controlled vault behind a waterproof door, features not just Smithtown historical documents, but Long Island history, as well.
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The door kept water out. However, the sheetrock became so saturated, a hole formed in the wall, allowing deluge to pool up to the room’s ceiling.
“We thought that we lost the entire collection,” Lusak said.
A couple of days after the storm, an archivist from Prism Specialties Documents flew in from Detroit to assess the collection.
“Within three hours, he told us he believed he was going to be able to salvage the vast majority of the collection, which was the best news we could have received through this catastrophic situation,” Lusak said. “We literally thought we lost everything in there.”
The collection features materials, books, manuscripts, maps, and letters, including the original deed from Richard Smith, an English settler who rode on a bull — Smithtown’s namesake. It has books from the 1600s. And the room housed a document signed by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
“You can imagine how valuable the materials are,” Lusak said.
Lusak said the company told him the “vast majority” of the materials can be salvaged and restored — albeit with some watermarks on the edges.
“That was the greatest news we could have received,” Lusak said.
A crew of eight removed the collection, filling up two freezer tractor-trailers worth of historical artifacts, and left Monday afternoon to return to Detroit. Approximately 950 tubs of items were filled and placed in the cold tractor-trailers, where the frigid air is meant to stop mold damage by freeze-drying the documents. Items are then sanitized and hit with gamma rays to protect from deterioration by elements, and documents are restored as close as possible to their original state, Lusak said.
The equipment in the library’s major space room was not so fortunate. Printers, sewing machines, Cricut machines, guitars, telescopes, popcorn machines, movies, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and CDs were destroyed, Lusak said.
“All of that material type can be replaced. That’s not a problem.”
The Town of Smithtown was hit particularly hard, receiving approximately 10 inches of rain from the torrential downpour, the town reported.
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