I wrote this reflective piece in 1999 as I was assuming my first full-time position as a professor with limited administrative responsibilities at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). After 30-plus years in administrative roles in higher education that provided the opportunity to teach on a part-time basis only, I quickly became aware of…

Relates the author's experiences of salvaging items following the Grand Forks (North Dakota) flood of 1997. Highlights include restoring home movies, paper documents, and photographs; setting realistic recovery goals; and preserving document copies in other locations. A sidebar describes experiences of the public library in Elba (Alabama) after…