On Tue, Feb 10, 2015 at 7:37 PM, PeterK <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> "At this point, we don't have specifics [on what was lost]," Arlene Hackel,
> the assistant director of communications at the Office of Court
> Administration, told me. "What we do know is that these were closed cases
> before 1990; cases from Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn."
>
> The cases, Hackel said, were primarily from those boroughs' Supreme Civil
> Court, Family Court, and Criminal Court, and may have included historical
> records. Half of the cases in storage were at a different location, so
> right now, her office is determining which half is which, and other
> possible methods of bringing those files back to life. This may include the
> digitization of microfilm, if available. To pinpoint what needs to be
> restored, though, is still fuzzy: "We cannot verify all of the facts right
> now," Hackel concluded.
>

Hopefully, they'll know a little sooner than NARA did about the Military
Personnel records lost in St Louis in 1973.

I'm assuming for the courts, it all starts with a report from the CRC of
what boxes were a total loss and what boxes remain, but have been damaged.
But in the meantime, someone should be able to go through the record copies
of transmittals and determine what was sent there (and when) and get some
idea of what, if any of it, had any historic value.  At minimum, they may
be able to determine a gross estimate.

Another question is this was a three-building CRC complex- one building
that was enlarged to twice it's original size (no knowledge of if there was
a firewall between the two compartments, or if they had independent
sprinkler systems, but it appears they DID NOT) and a third larger stand
alone facility across the street, which was unaffected.

In a case like this, I don't know IF the operator elected to move holdings
within the one facility or to the other facility, were they required to
notify the owner of the materials?  And if not, one would assume the CRC
internal inventory reports would say what was where, in which facility, to
allow them to access to for their clients.  So the court's records can
identify WHAT was sent when, but the CRC is going to have to determine
WHERE those items were.

There was also one article that mentioned the facility owner having a
living quarters within one of the facilities (but they were not home and no
one was injured), and another article mentioning a client who was concerned
about 'furniture and personal belongings' he had stored there... both of
these reports raised a bit of concern.

Were they actually commingling the storage of records and other materials
in this space? Because if they were, that's definitely outside of the
guidance in NFPA 232.  If I were one of their records storage clients, I'd
be asking questions of the fire inspectors about what they found in the
debris.

-- 
Larry
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*----Lawrence J. MedinaDanville, CARIM Professional since 1972*

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