>     Our small Historical Soc. needs to build a vault for our documents, 
> etc. and for the Town's records.  Could any of you direct us to sources 
> for architectural plans?
> Any ideas, thoughts, 'definitely don't do's ' , etc. would also be helpful.
>     We are a small town (approx 800 ) in coastal Maine.  I know that we 
> can spend many thousands of $ for such a vault.  Our society doesn't 
> have a large budget and no endowments as yet.  We were formed in 2000 
> and so are just beginning.  Our goal has been to begin carefully and 
> slowly and do things as correctly as possible from the start.
>     The possibilities for grants are something we need to explore also, 
> if anyone has ideas on that.

Joyce, a good vault must be all of the following:

1. Fireproof, i.e., not made of wood.
2. Dark and windowless.
3. On a middle floor.
4. Temperature controlled, always less than 68 degrees F.
5. Humidity controlled, always about 45% RH.
6. Positive-pressured and filtered through a closed system HVAC, to 
prevent dust buildup.

I hope this helps!

Eric

Eric v.d. Luft, Ph.D., M.L.S.
Curator of Historical Collections, Health Sciences Library
Lecturer, Center for Bioethics and Humanities
SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210
<http://www.upstate.edu/library/history/> -- 315-464-4585
Owner, Gegensatz Press <http://www.gegensatzpress.com/>

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