Trying to safe guard the information, the people, the artifacts for future generations has now taken on a new level of concern for everyone interested in historical research. As news regarding the Cologne archival building continues to be broadcast, historians and archivists are telling of additional disasters.

Historical and social histories are the things that make our family and personal histories come alive, without safe keeping, these family history records and the records that put everything into context is doomed.

Guide to House Records: Chapter 23 Ford's Theater Disaster

Joint Commission on the Ford's Theater Disaster (1894-1897)

JC.050 On June 9, 1893, while 490 clerks of the Record and Pension Division of the War Department were working at their offices in the Ford's Theater building, workmen in the basement were removing portions of the building's foundation. The building collapsed. Eighteen employees were killed immediately and several more died later. Many more were injured.

The US War Department's medical records collection was established in 1887, soon after index cards were invented & grew to a "19th Century database" of 30 million cards, six years later. Covering records from the War of Independence & requiring 500 clerks, this "database" was housed at Ford's Theatre in Washington DC, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.

New Scientist's article blamed "the combined weight of the 30 million index cards. But was the true root cause such an overload, or dodgy building practices? Or was it due to a series of failed defences as in the Swiss Cheese model of Professor James Reason ?

So, what can we do to ensure our historical heritage and access to genealogical information remains intact? Unfortunately, there can be no guarantees. Wars, natural disaster, vermin and structural problems all combine to make our paper-based histories "delicate". And the lessons to be learned? Don't keep a single copy of your important research, and make sure your back up is stored somewhere very safe and away from the place where you keep your working copy. As you can imagine, the older the information, the less likely there will be copies, so safeguard everything you deem to be important.