St, Louis Fire that destroyed some personnel records, documented

From time to time, I have heard RPCVs talk about not being able to access their COS or personnel records because Peace Corps didn’t have them or they had been destroyed.  Today, on the FaceBook page of the US National Archives, I found this posting that documents the rumor about such a fire: (Note:  This does not mean that Peace Corps records were destroyed or damaged.  It just documents that there was such a fire.  I am trying to get information from Peace Corps about PCV personal records that may have been damaged.)

“US National Archives shared Preservation Programs at the U.S. National Archives‘s pos

Our staff in the Preservation Program in St. Louis work with documents that were damaged in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center. Some of the documents that are our staff treat are contaminated with mold.

To keep our staff safe and healthy, we recently had air quality testing done in the Decontamination Lab.

The testing measured and identified not only mold, but also asbestos (a possible contaminant in the records from damaged building materials), carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).”

Here is the link for those who are on Facebook and might want to read it directly: https://www.facebook.com/nationalarchivespreservation