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Hi Christine,

I am sorry to hear about that. That is a nightmare and one that seems to be devastating. I am not totally sure where you are located in NJ, but we have used a company in NJ to rent props from that are great to work with on productions. My guess is that they may have some suggestions for you on how to clean or where to take items to be cleaned (props, furniture, value of piece destroyed, etc.) 

Good Luck with everything. I hope it all works out with you.

Jim

Anything But Costumes | Home

How about vacuuming the delicate costume?  If you put some nylon over the tip it will prevent anything loose from getting sucked into the vacuum. 

I've also had success at home by placing dry rice in a paper bag and shaking the item in the rice.  I've cleaned some of my feathered kachinas that way. 

I'd also advise that you take pictures of everything, although if your storage looks like ours, that's a daunting task!  Maybe have students do it?  Also, on those things your totally worried about, you could get an appraisal, or find them on ebay or etsy and print out the page.  That way, you have a record of value.

I hope you get some satisfaction and you don't lose too many items!

We had an air conditioner installed and when they cut open the roof we got all that debris and then it rained! They were responsible for all the damage. They did higher a cleaning crew. We don't have any irreplaceable items, so I wasn't as concerned, but I was on them about all the cleaning. They had to come back about 3 times until I was happy with the results. They were financially responsible. I also included my AP in all of my concerns, since I use the theater the most and it was my storage rooms that were effected. Yes, take photos. 

Hi.  This suggestion may come a little late and may require more time that you have but to record the information about your costumes, store photos, print reports of the value of your collection - you can try the Theatre Inventory Database - which I sell.  I realize I am not to promote sales on this site but I wanted to let you know of a tool that could help you collect information to document the collection and present reports to the roofing company.  The software is downloadable from my website and is available for a 30 day free trial.  Please contact me directly if you are interested and I can extend the free trial period to cover the time period you need to catalog the collection and prepare reports.

Margaret Messick

Costume Inventory Resources

margaret@costumeinventory.com