From Flood Devastation to Restoration

For more than 100 years, the Hindman Settlement School in Eastern Kentucky has sought to provide education and service opportunities for the people of its mountainous region. Unfortunately, the recent devastating floods in Kentucky threatened to erase important items that are part of the organization’s rich history.

When documents and photos from Hindman were damaged, faculty from ETSU who have connections with the Kentucky school reached out to the Archives of Appalachia to see if there was anything the center could do to assist with restoring and preserving these items.

So, a dedicated team of staff and volunteers came to campus on a Saturday evening and helped unload 15-feet of materials into the Archives of Appalachia. ETSU Facilities Management helped the Archives secure freezers where all of the items were placed for the next week.

“We worked with the Hindman team on how they wanted these items handled,” said Dr. Jeremy Smith, who noted that the items sent to ETSU were only a small part of the Hindman collections.

Archives staff, volunteers, and a retired conservator have since been working with the photos and documents to have them cleaned and dried.

"We cleaned and dried the photographic materials by hand, and we are now using a Wei T'o freeze dryer for the paper materials to gradually remove all the moisture so that these valuable collections can be dried and cleaned before any mold begins to grow," Smith explained.  "It will be a long process, but we are proud to be able to play even a small role in helping to preserve this material."