FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Angie Lowrie
Director, Cleveland History Center
alowrie@wrhs.org
216.721.5722 x1402
CLEVELAND, OH -- On September 28, 2023 there was a fire in the basement of the Western Reserve Historical Society (WRHS) Library building. Since then, the WRHS Library has been closed for restoration. As previously reported, although the fire was limited to an area of the Library basement, the event caused smoke and soot damage throughout the building.
Over the last 18 months, WRHS worked closely with experts from Belfor Property Restoration and The Conservation Center (TCC) to restore the Library building and assess, treat and restore library collections. In the meantime, we continued our work to steward collections and continue to respond to requests for research assistance and information. During the restoration, researchers and groups have been welcome to use the Library by appointment and special projects continued.
We are very pleased to report that the restoration of the WRHS Library building is complete.
WRHS will reopen the Library to the public for research on April 3, 2025 and the Library will resume its regular operating hours: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 10 am-3 pm.
About the WRHS Library:
The Library’s diverse collections appeal to a wide spectrum of users including scholars, students, genealogists, historians, hobbyists, government, media, and others. Since its founding, the primary focus has been to document the many facets of the history of the region. This portrayal includes genealogy, religion, politics, immigration, gender, ethnicity, transportation, business, labor, war, philanthropy, medicine, leisure, and countless other dimensions. Please visit our website at wrhs.org to learn more about WRHS Library Collections and Services.
In 2021, WRHS completed a $3,000,000 renovation of the Library Reading Room and Administrative Headquarters thanks to generous support from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation. In 2022, the project received awards from the American Library Association (ALA) and the Commercial Interior Design Association (IIDA). These awards "honor excellence in library interior design and promote examples of extraordinary design reflected through innovative concepts across nine categories." Today, the WRHS Library is a center for research, preservation, learning, and programming. This award-winning space creates limitless opportunities for collaboration and continues to change WRHS’s relationship with the community.
On behalf of WRHS, we thank you for your patience and flexibility over the last 18 months as WRHS took the steps necessary to restore the Library building and collections and we look forward to welcoming you back when the Library resumes regular hours of operation on April 3, 2025.
Please contact Ann Sindelar, Interim Library Director at aksindelar@wrhs.org or Kelly Falcone-Hall, President & CEO, at kfalcone@wrhs.org with questions.
