We're exploring the Library's flute vault again with musical instrument curator Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford. (Yes, she also led Lizzo's tour.) Most of the Library's flutes came from one collector, Dayton C. Miller, who amassed nearly 1,700 wind instruments and related items during his lifetime. Sadly, he died of a heart attack in 1941 while packing up the flutes and preparing to travel from Ohio to D.C. He had arranged, along with the donation of the instruments to the Library, to be the collection'

Absolutely nobody wants Library of Congress collections getting WET. 🫣 However, it does happen from time to time, and that’s why the Preservation Emergency Response Team (PERT) exists. They are on-call to help mitigate damage when, for different reasons, collections encounter water. Recently, a training was held for the PERT members so they could get more comfortable handling large, wet paper items, such as maps and posters. (No Library collection items were damaged in the making of this video!