The combination can be disastrous. When Parliament burned in 1916, a quick thinking clerk and two iron doors saved the Library.
During episodes of fire and war, memory is not so lucky. Many private records – and the memories of the creators of those documents – were lost. The men and women and children who penned the records left to us. War and Fire and Flood and Disaster. The stuff of loss of a nation’s memory.
Images:
Parliament, 1916: http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/the-night-parliament-burned
St. Paul’s Cathedral, 1940: By Mason, Herbert, Daily Mail photographer – http://media.iwm.org.uk/iwm/mediaLib//7/media-7743/large.jpg This is photograph HU 36220A from the collections of the Imperial War Museums., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30835255
