Lost and Damaged

The Los Angeles Central Library fire was a staggering loss, with over 1 million books left either water-damaged or completely burned. The books lost in the fire included Don Quixote by Gustave Doré and all books about the Bible, Christianity, and church history. Also lost were all American and British plays and books about theater, ninety thousand books about computers and science, all the unbound manuscripts in the Science Department, over five million American and Canadian patent listings dating back to 1799, etc. Thankfully, 700,000 of those 1 million were considered salvageable. To save the books on the verge of ruin was a long and monotonous process, taking the whole community to work together to restore the library and its contents collectively. With people knowing how important books and literature are for history and research, hundreds of volunteers came to help out. The volunteers ended up packing over 50 thousand boxes, each containing around 15 books, and sending them to a city depository to be frozen and protected from molding. Although many of the books were saved, the lost books were a source of sorrow for the Los Angeles Central Library.