1911 New York State Capitol fire

[2] In New York City the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911, had killed 146 people.

The fire's cause is unknown, but it may have been started by electrical wiring or the butt of a cigar dropped onto the floor.

It proved to be fireproof just like a furnace — what is in it will burn.”During the fire, the archaeologist Arthur C. Parker used a Seneca tomahawk to smash display cases and try to save Iroquois artifacts from the building.

After it was put out, people quickly began hunting for souvenirs and the New York State National Guard was deployed to protect the area.

[3] Almost the library's whole collection, at the time 800,000 items, was destroyed, leaving what The Daily Gazette described as a "hole in [New York's] cultural heritage".

A draft of the Emancipation Proclamation and George Washington's Farewell Address were held in a fireproof safe.

[3][4][2][5] A copy of the Memoirs of Sir Joshua Reynolds that the library had held since 1819 was not burnt because it was loaned out.

"[5] John Dix, at the time New York's governor, reportedly worked in the building the day after the fire.