← North Star with Ellin Bessner28. Sept. · 25 Min.

After Winnipeg's Jewish archives flooded, an enormous recovery effort is underway

After Winnipeg's Jewish archives flooded, an enormous recovery effort is underway28. Sept.25 Min.

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It’s been nearly four months since a massive rainstorm hit Winnipeg on June 9, causing a flood in the basement of the Asper Jewish Community Campus. That’s where half the archival collection of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada was being stored: among the collection were some of the 70,000 photographs, old Jewish newspapers, Torah covers, and other cloth and textiles donated by generations of Jewish families from Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario.

If it hadn’t been for the quick response by archivist Ava Garfinkel, and some volunteers, the collection could have suffered serious damage from mould, and been ruined within a day or two. They raced against time and worked all night to move the sodden boxes upstairs, then called in a restoration company in Ottawa that specializes in saving water-damaged collections and paper, through deep freezing.

Garfinkel believes they managed to save everything, except for one photograph. But big challenges remain before the collection can be returned to Winnipeg: raising $100,000 – enough funds to build a safer, drier space in the same building to protect 130 years of Jewish history.

On today’s episode of The CJN’s North Star podcast, host Ellin Bessner takes the archivist Ava Garfinkel back to that frantic, stormy night to recount what happened, to update us on the current status of the frozen archives, and to outline what measures are needed to make sure this doesn’t happen again.