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w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m
soot. Fortunately, although the repository was the hottest part
of the fire, many of the museum's original paintings were pro-
tected. "We had a big fireproof storage drawer system in there
that when you opened it up there were paintings in them and
pictures and those survived and we're pulling those out," said
Torosian. "They were wet but we were able to revitalize them."
She added that most of the exposed artifacts in the repository
were lost.
Once all the objects were plucked from the mess and inventoried,
staffers were relieved to find that, although they'd lost several
items to fire, most artifacts in the museum had avoided the flames,
although almost everything was affected by smoke, heat or mud.
"I'm not gonna sugarcoat anything," said Torosian of her sorrow
in the days following the fire. "My staff and I, the first couple
weeks after the fire, were lost. We were coming up every day and
reporting to the college where the artifacts were laid out and
being photographed. And there were some days I cried all the
way up there. And I cried all the way home. It was just devastat-
ing to see all these items that we had worked with and cared for
and we knew that they were a part of our ancestors. Yeah. And
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TOROSIAN
Many of the beadwork items were
completely covered in soot, and
required meticulous cleaning,
sometimes bead by bead.
