Jewish Theological Seminary Library fire

Last updated
Jewish Theological Seminary Library fire
DateApril 18, 1966 (1966-04-18)
Time10:15 AM
LocationBroadway and 122nd Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City
Coordinates 40°48′42.8″N73°57′38.3″W / 40.811889°N 73.960639°W / 40.811889; -73.960639

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library fire was discovered on Monday, April 18, 1966, at 10:15 AM when smoke was seen pouring from one of the small upper windows of the Jewish Theological Seminary Library tower at Broadway and 122nd Street in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, New York City.

The tower, with only few small windows, was the perfect environment for a major conflagration. There were no floors separating one level from another, only steel library stacks surrounded by catwalks. The tower was like an oven and the fire spread quickly. Extinguishing it was extremely difficult, with only one entrance and stairwell from the bottom and limited window access.

Fire Chief Alfred Eckert dispatched masked firefighters to the highest floor that could be safely reached. The firefighters spread canvas tarpaulins over as many shelves of books as they could, while hook and ladder trucks sprayed water through the highest openings in the tower, cascading down to the fire below. The fire was declared under control at about 7:00 PM, nine hours after it was discovered.

Menahem Schmelzer, the librarian at the time, joined Gerson Cohen, the future chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and the fire chief, for the initial foray into the damp, charred stacks. The fire had been confined primarily to the upper stacks, which housed mostly second and third copies of books, although some important recent acquisitions had also been kept there. But the water had caused enormous damage and the growth of mold threatened to do more.

After rejecting several methods for drying the water-soaked books, the suggestion was brought to Rabbi David Kogen, then-vice chancellor of the Seminary, to place paper towels between the pages of every book to absorb the moisture. Volunteers of all ages were recruited from around the neighborhood and Jewish day school students were brought in to help. The paper toweling was supplied by local retailers and manufacturers.

Some 70,000 volumes were destroyed in the fire and many more were damaged. [1] The library's rare books and manuscripts, which were stored elsewhere, were spared. [2]

The library's book collection was rebuilt with the help of donations from private and institutional libraries. The books were moved to a prefabricated building in the JTS courtyard that remained until a new library building was completed in 1984.

The library now exceeds 380,000 volumes. With the assistance of the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, 35,000 books that were saved from the fire and placed in high-density storage are being restored and catalogued.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Theological Seminary of America</span> Religious education organization in New York, New York

The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) is a Conservative Jewish education organization in New York City, New York. It is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism and a center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies. The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the most significant collections of Judaica in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis Finkelstein</span> American rabbi and scholar (1895–1991)

Louis Finkelstein was a Talmud scholar, an expert in Jewish law, and a leader of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS) and Conservative Judaism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collapse of the World Trade Center</span> Outcome of September 11 attacks

The World Trade Center in New York City collapsed on September 11, 2001, as result of the al-Qaeda attacks. Two commercial airliners hijacked by al-Qaeda terrorists were deliberately flown into the Twin Towers of the complex, resulting in a total progressive collapse that killed almost 3,000 people. It is the deadliest and costliest building collapse in history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graduates Memorial Building</span> Debating chamber, student society rooms and residences in Dublin , Ireland

The Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) is a neo-Gothic Victorian building, in Trinity College Dublin designed by Sir Thomas Drew in 1897. It is home to Trinity College's oldest student societies: the University Philosophical Society, the College Historical Society and the College Theological Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Theological Seminary</span> Episcopal seminary in Alexandria, Virginia, United States

Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS), formally called the Protestant Episcopal Theological Seminary in Virginia, located at 3737 Seminary Road in Alexandria, Virginia is the largest and second oldest accredited Episcopal seminary in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beyazıt Tower</span> Observation tower, Broadcasting tower in Istanbul, Turkey

Beyazıt Tower, also named Seraskier Tower, from the name of the Ottoman ministry of War, is an 85-metre-tall (279 ft) fire-watch tower located in the courtyard of Istanbul University's main campus on Beyazıt Square in Istanbul, Turkey.

The stack effect or chimney effect is the movement of air into and out of buildings through unsealed openings, chimneys, flue-gas stacks, or other containers, resulting from air buoyancy. Buoyancy occurs due to a difference in indoor-to-outdoor air density resulting from temperature and moisture differences. The result is either a positive or negative buoyancy force. The greater the thermal difference and the height of the structure, the greater the buoyancy force, and thus the stack effect. The stack effect helps drive natural ventilation, air infiltration, and fires.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Hutt College</span> School

Upper Hutt College is a state co-educational secondary school located in Trentham in the city of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962 as the city's second state secondary school, supplementing Heretaunga College in Wallaceville. As of February 2024, the school has a roll of 1,163 students from years 9 to 13.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">One Meridian Plaza</span> High-rise office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.

One Meridian Plaza, formerly known as the Fidelity Mutual Life Building, Three Girard Plaza and Three Mellon Bank Center, was a 38-story high-rise office building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 492-foot (150-meter) tower was designed by Vincent Kling & Associates and completed in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical fires of Stockholm</span>

Stockholm has largely escaped looting and natural disasters, but the city's major scourges have been fires, which in the worst cases have wiped out entire neighborhoods. The population of Stockholm has historically lived in constant fear of the outbreak of fire, because the risk of fires in the 16th- and 17th-century Swedish cities was great. Each citizen remained on night watch well into the 19th century. The worst fire in the history of Stockholm was the fire of Clara in 1751, which evolved into a firestorm spreading from Riddarfjärden to Södermalm.

The Jewish Theological Seminary Library is one of the largest Jewish libraries in the world. Founded in 1893, it is located at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City, New York, and holds over 400,000 volumes, as well as extensive rare materials collections, including the world's largest collection of Hebrew manuscripts. Its holdings have been described as "the most impressive compilation of Jewish historical materials outside of Jerusalem." The library is an affiliate of the Columbia University Libraries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great New York City Fire of 1845</span> Fire and explosion in Manhattan

The Great New York City Fire of 1845 broke out on July 19, 1845, in Lower Manhattan, New York City. The fire started in a whale oil and candle manufacturing establishment and quickly spread to other wooden structures. It reached a warehouse on Broad Street where combustible saltpeter was stored and caused a massive explosion that spread the fire even farther.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buford Tower</span> Historic structure in Austin, Texas

Buford Tower is a tower standing along the north shore of Lady Bird Lake in downtown Austin, Texas. The structure was originally built in 1930 as a drill tower for the Austin Fire Department, but it now serves as a bell tower and landmark. Named after fire department Captain James L. Buford, the structure has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grenfell Tower fire</span> 2017 fire in West London

On 14 June 2017, a high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of flats in North Kensington, West London, at 00:54 BST and burned for 60 hours. Seventy people died at the scene, and two people died later in hospital, with more than 70 injured and 223 escaping. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha oil-platform disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the German Bombings of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Table Mountain fire</span> Cape Town fire that destroyed historic mill and library collections

The 2021 Table Mountain fire is a major fire that started on 18 April 2021 in and around Table Mountain National Park and the neighbourhoods of Newlands, Rosebank, Mowbray and Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa. The damage to sites in the Table Mountain area included the Rhodes Memorial, where a restaurant burned down; the upper campus of the University of Cape Town (UCT), where the Special Collections library was gutted; and Mostert's Mill, a historic windmill that burned down. In addition, five firefighters were hospitalised.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1911 New York State Capitol fire</span> Fire in Albany, NY

On the morning of March 29, 1911, a fire destroyed substantial portions of the New York State Capitol, including vast holdings of the New York State Library and the New York State Museum. It destroyed or damaged hundreds of thousands of documents and books. There was one casualty, Samuel Abbott, a watchman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Tower (Mariupol)</span> Old Water Tower, Mariupol Ukraine

The Old Water Tower is an architectural monument of Mariupol in Ukraine. It is located in the central district at Architect Nilsen Street 36, at the intersection of Soborna Street and Enhel'sa St near Theatre Square. The tower was designed by architect Victor Nilsen and was completed in 1910.

References

  1. LOST MEMORY - LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES DESTROYED IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY ( Archived September 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine )
  2. "The Jewish Theological Seminary - About The Library". Archived from the original on 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2007-10-27.