“Fire broke out in the historic Pulaski Railway Station in the freezing, early hours of Nov. 17, 2008.” – reporter’s notebook.

If you witnessed it or saw photographs of that fire, it’s hard to imagine any of the artifacts in the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Museum surviving the destruction. Incredibly, important artifacts did survive, and they will again help tell the story of Pulaski’s cultural heritage in a new museum to focus on Pulaski’s industrial and transportation heritage—important links to the area’s past business community.

Contractors are also carefully rebuilding the Depot whose fire and recovery efforts provide further evidence of Pulaski’s resilience.

The story of what happens in the aftermath of a disaster can tell you a lot about a community. In Pulaski, there were a lot of heroes who have helped save photographs, fabrics, and historically important three-dimensional artifacts.

Firefighters entered the burning Depot and pulled objects away from destruction. Town workers and volunteers helped secure the objects at least five separate locations made quickly available by property owners. Regional museum personnel came to the Town’s assistance. Expert help arrived from Richmond.

Local businesses provided needed supplies, which exemplifies the hard work and dedication from this segment of the community, just as it is illustrated in the examples found in the museum itself.

For many months now, recovery from the fire has taken place. Fabrics went immediately to the National Guard Armory, where fans helped dry historic uniforms and unique quilts.

Volunteers, including Betty Lou Ratcliffe Kirkner, whose dad began the Museum and for whom it was later named, removed soot meticulously by hand.

Cintas provided the group with white towels to absorb the water, and a group from Wytheville offered “magic sponges” to remove the soot.

Right after the fire, Town staff members and volunteers readied the Calfee Park locker room to receive photographs and other two-dimensional objects. Local churches provided tables. For several months the locker resembled a morgue with the temperature turned down to prevent the formation of mold. After the drying, staff members created “sandwiches” of plywood, acid-free cardboard, and BondCote material. Now those items have been stabilized and stored awaiting further disposition.

Local business owners, Bob Strenz and Bill Warden, offered the use of their buildings to store three-dimensional objects that were badly charded. Volunteers saved the day, coming to clean soot and debris from artifacts.

In the days that followed the disaster, one large question faced us: “What did we lose and what had we saved?” That may sound like a simple question, but with literally thousands of individual items, Town Council decided to bring in a curator to help with the task.

Heather Carter, a Radford graduate with significant cataloguing experience, worked with staff members, Mrs. Kirkner, and Councilman Larry Clevinger, the chair of a Collection’s Committee appointed by Mayor Jeff Worrell to make sense of what we had and what was lost forever. Heather’s work laid the foundation for subsequent cleaning and stabilization recently undertaken by insurance-sponsored conservators.

Where are we now? All the artifacts saved from the terrible fire are now secure and stored in one facility. The Collection’s Committee is reviewing the difficult challenge of what can be conserved and restored, what the cost of restoration will be, and then recommending to the Town Council the “deassessioning” of some items and the conservation of others.

Among the most important artifacts are photographic images. Sadly, many originals were lost, but, joyously, many of those lost were saved through high-resolution scans.

On July 8  at 5:30 p.m. auctioneer Ken Farmer will offer deaccessioned items from the Ratcliffe Memorial Museum for sale. The sale will take place on Wurno Road about half a mile north of the James Hardie facility. All proceeds from the auction will go toward to a new, expanded  museum to be built just across the street from the Pulaski Railway Station.

Those interested in seeing some of Pulaski’s historic photographs are encouraged to become a “fan” of the Town of Pulaski on Facebook. Until a new Museum can be built, the Facebook page offers a “virtual Museum for those interested in the history of the region.

John B. White is the Town of Pulaski’s Economic Development Director.