Crates of materials salvaged from the Jagger Library Basement in April 2021 move to I&J’s Paarden Eiland Distribution Centre.

Story Mandy Noble Photos Theresa Schoeman

There was a great deal of activity on UCT’s Upper Campus on Monday 17 January 2022. Crates of materials salvaged from the Jagger Library Basement in April 2021 were placed in cold chambers to preserve them. These crates were removed to be taken to a cold storage facility at I&J’s Paarden Eiland Distribution Centre. This was made possible through the very generous offer of a cold storage facility from I&J to support the ongoing UCT Libraries Special Collections Recovery Project.

The crates contained materials such as books, manuscripts, VHS tapes, that had been severely water damaged as a result of efforts to contain the Jagger Library fire. These materials were removed from the Jagger Library basement and taken for emergency conservation treatment in the Triage Tents as part of the Salvage project.

Emergency treatment at the time involved cleaning to remove any excess mould and spraying with ethyl alcohol to contain the spread of mould and buy time to enable restoration. They were then wrapped in cling film and placed in the containers to be frozen to halt the spread of mould. Following this, the items will be systematically freeze-dried for further conservation treatment.