Portion of Columbus State University archives suffer water damage

A portion of the Columbus State University archives collection suffered damage over the holiday weekend, a university official said on Wednesday.

A water drain on the roof dislodged over the weekend, causing flooding to part of the third-floor area in the of Schwob Memorial Library that houses the university archives, said John Lester, chief of staff to President Chris Markwood.

“We think about 300 boxes were impacted,” Lester said. “About 90 percent of what got wet is not permanently damaged.”

The CSU archives is an extensive collection of material and records from various organizations, churches and community business, civic, military and educational leaders.

University officials are still accessing what part of the collection was impacted by the water damage, Lester said.

“Most of the boxes are designed against water damage,” Lester said.

It was discovered on Sunday morning, but university officials are not sure exactly when the damage occurred. A portion of the ceiling collapsed. There was an ongoing construction project to replaced the library roof, but it is still undetermined if the leak was related to that, Lester said.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 12:22 PM with the headline "Portion of Columbus State University archives suffer water damage."