Norwich has a history of libraries. The earliest library can be traced back to 1608. More recently the Lending library was in Duke Street, this library started the first county archive centre, called the conservation studio, which was housed in an old laundry. Miss Kennedy was the first trained archivist. The Central Library, between Theatre Street and Bethel Street was designed by David Percival and was opened in 1963 by the Queen Mother. The library had a strong room in the basement to store the archives and an American Memorial Library. The Americans had contributed a considerable sum of money to the library for the foundation and maintenance of their Memorial Library.
At 7:20 am on 1st August 1994, a cleaner heard a loud bang from the American Memorial room and on investigation found the fire. As the Fire station was on the opposite side of Bethel Street the fire engines arrived within two minutes. The basement storing 12 million documents was indeed fireproof but the contents suffered considerable water damage. We were shown photographs from the day. Tesco’s trolleys were used to move the documents and books away from the fire damaged buildings. As archives are stored in brown cardboard boxes of varying sizes these all had to be opened to decide where the documents should be sent for safety or repair.
It was extremely fortuitous that Miss Kennedy had arranged insurance with AEA (Atomic Energy Authority) Harwell, this establishment was able to provide immediate freeze drying facilities to stabilise the documents for subsequent restoration. Some books were sent to temporary storage at Warmingers in Ber Street, some went to RAF Coltishall where they were dried by hot air blowers in a tent inside an aircraft hangar.
The Archive Centre subsequently moved to Anglia Square and a ’state of the art’ Archive Centre was built at County Hall. The Millennium Library was built on the original site and today is the most visited Library in England.
J Leggett