ARMA Titanic Story

James Ballard, a world-renowned oceanographer located the RMS Titanic in 1985 off the coast

of Nova Scotia. The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912, 109 years ago. Ballard used the Argo, a

submersible sled equipped with a remote-controlled camera to transmit live images of the

wreck to his computer. The Argo was also able to retrieve belongings of the passengers and

crew. Items collected included postcards, books, ticket stubs, photographs, and a young

passenger’s suitcase. The young passenger missed boarding another ship headed for the U.S.

and ended up on the Titanic that cold night, which unfortunately sealed his fate in the dark

waters off Nova Scotia.

In 2002 Document Reprocessors was contacted by Eastern Michigan University to help with

preserving over 800 artifacts retrieved from the RMS Titanic. The artifacts were carefully

prepared, then dried and preserved in Document Reprocessors’ cryogenic vacuum freeze-

drying chambers. These chambers dry the material in a more controlled, slower-paced

environment using an ultra-sensitive, deep-vacuum system. Eric Lundquist founded Document

Reprocessors in 1979, and in 1991 he patented this “Thermaline” drying process. This process

is still in use today and has been used for more than 30 years to dry and preserve damaged

material.

The Titanic’s artifacts were successfully dried and preserved, and then returned to the RMS

Corporation. Many of the artifacts are currently on display in a rotating Titanic Exhibit.

This just one of the many restoration jobs Document Reprocessors has completed over the

years. Document Reprocessors is a member of ARMA and resides on the GSA Schedule of

approved vendors.

Document Reprocessors is here to assist your organization with restoring and preserving your

flood and/or fire damaged material.

“If It’s Wet, We’ll Dry It” CALL 800-4-DRYING NATIONWIDE 24/7