Four days after the Triangle Fire in New York City, a fire spread through the state capitol at Albany. The disaster, according to the man who served as the State Library's director before and after the fire, was unequaled in the history of modern libraries. The fire is estimated to have destroyed about 500,000 books and 300,000 manuscripts; only 7,000 books and 80,000 manuscripts were saved. The blaze also destroyed 8,500 artifacts in the New York State Museum, including irreplaceable Seneca Indian craftworks.
WHDH TV reports on more of the story.