Almost 50 Years Of Tulsa Living Arts Archives Damaged In U-Haul Fire

Staff members at Living Arts of Tulsa are going through more than 46 years of archives damaged by a fire at a U-Haul storage facility two weeks ago. Steve Liggett of Living Arts Tulsa says 30 boxes of playbills, clippings, sheet music and other relics were damaged by water from the fire.

Living Arts of Tulsa is a non-profit organization that has been the hub for bringing in artists, singers and contemporary art gallery events since 1969.

“Walking in we found the boxes full of our archives that were full of water. They were just absolutely submerged,” Liggett said.

“I’ve got pictures of them actually pouring the water out of the archive boxes and we brought them back here, called in my staff—they had just gone through the “Day of the Dead;" they were exhausted,” Liggett said. 

11/2/2015 Related Story: Some Victims Of Tulsa's U-Haul Storage Fire May Be Covered

He says they immediately had to empty out the boxes and take pictures out of their frames to prevent the archives from getting moldy. 

Living Arts of Tulsa had a storage unit on the first floor, which was below where the fire started. The Tulsa Fire Department says the fire is believed to have started on the third floor.

A manager on site at the storage facility says they’ve contacted all the people who rent storage units and are working with them.

Tulsa Fire Department Spokesperson Captain Stan May says the fire is still under investigation, and interviews are still being conducted.