A Fire May Have Destroyed Tens of Thousands of Artifacts From New York’s Museum of Chinese in America

by admin

Jan 27, 2020

artnet

Leaders of the Museum of Chinese in American
(MOCA) on New York City’s Lower East Side are still grappling with
the effects of a devastating five-alarm fire at its storage
facility late Thursday night (January 23). The blaze may have
destroyed up to 85,000 invaluable historical items and ephemera
that collectively tell the story of more than a century of Chinese
immigration in the US.

MOCA has set up a GoFundMe page in
recent days that has already raised over $60,000 as it waits to
assess the full damage of the fire at 70 Mulberry Street.

“It was like how I felt when someone passed away,” museum
president Nancy Yao Maasbach told CNN about
her initial reaction to the fire. She did not immediately respond
to request for comment.

Image via Twitter

The fire broke out around
8:45 p.m. on the upper floors of the Mulberry Street building,
according to a report in Gothamist. Over 200
firefighters battled the blaze at its height. Nine were injured,
along with one civilian. The civilian was reportedly rescued from
the roof and hospitalized for smoke-inhalation related
injuries.

The items in storage include many donations by Chinese families
whose ancestors immigrated to the US, including textiles, wedding
dresses, menus from Chinatown’s earliest restaurants, handwritten
letters, and tickets for ship passage, just to name a few
examples.

“There’s dresses—traditional Chinese dresses, cheongsams from
the turn of the century. There was just an endless list of
priceless family albums, postcards from Chinatown from the early
1900s. I mean, these things are not easily acquired. We have all
the movie posters from the theaters that used to be in Chinatown
that no longer exist, the ticket stubs from those things. And we
have this signage from early restaurants and laundromats in
Chinatown and these things are just priceless,” Maasbach said.

The 5-alarm fire at the Museum of
Chinese in America, courtesy of FDNY.

She does not believe the fire reached the second floor where the
archives are stored, but water damage is nonetheless of utmost
concern right now, she said.

A spokesman for New York’s department of buildings told the
New York
Times that inspectors have determined there was
“significant interior fire damage” to the building and that it is
not safe for occupancy. Museum officials will likely not be able to
enter the building for several weeks.

In addition to MOCA storage, the building was home to several
nonprofits that cater to Chinese Americans, including a senior
citizen center. It was formerly a school for immigrants.

MOCA was founded in 1980 and is dedicated to preserving the
history, heritage, culture, and diverse experiences of people
of Chinese descent in the US. It “promotes dialogue and
understanding among people of all cultural backgrounds, bringing
160 years of Chinese American history to vivid life through its
innovative exhibitions, educational and cultural programs,”
according to a statement on its website.

The museum’s main space, located at 215 Centre Street, a few
blocks away, will still have normal operating hours. MOCA posted
this message on its GoFundMe page:

Friends,

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers as we attempt to recover
artifacts from the fire that has devastated MOCA’s archives at 70
Mulberry Street.

For 40 years, MOCA has preserved and protected 85,000 artifacts.
Those artifacts are now in jeopardy.

In response to your overwhelming support and inquiries as to how
you can help, we welcome your support as we anticipate a long road
ahead.

The MOCA Team

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