On September 1, Hurricane Ida dealt American Heritage a near-fatal blow, flooding our office and library with two feet of muddy water.  

We lost hundreds of books, magazines, research files, antique prints and photographs, furniture, equipment, carpets, accounting records, bank statements, legal documents, and more.

If you haven't done so already, please consider a donation to help us pay for professional help, buy new furniture and equipment, and replace important books and magazines. And we must mitigate the fast-growing mold that has made our office unusable.

The irony was not lost on us. For 72 years, American Heritage has reported on disasters, from David McCullough on the Johnstown Flood (written when he was an editor on our staff) to our recent article on how hurricanes in 1780 may have helped Americans win the Revolution by sinking or severely damaging 24 British ships just before the battle of Yorktown.

Now, it was our turn for a crisis. While we were out of town, a three-and-a-half-foot-high wall of muddy water suddenly slammed against our office door — an unprecedented flood caused by overwhelmed storm sewers. No one would expect a hurricane to flood a building at an elevation of 347 feet and well above the nearest stream.that are 

A couple of blocks away, a man drowned while trying to help his mother, and 150 people were left homeless when their apartments flooded to the ceiling.

In the days since, we have tried to save whatever we could, wrestling with the agony of so many things desperate for attention. And now, black mold grows at the base of walls, and water-swollen bookshelves and cabinets split apart.

WTOP News provides more reporting in "Rockville man's historical collection destroyed in recent flooding"

One night, before collapsing in exhaustion, we took odd comfort in revisiting some of the stories of disaster that American Heritage has published over the decades. They remind us that things could always be worse.

Here are a few of the many we've published over the years:

• The Day They Burned The Capitol, by Willis