As graduate students enrolled in the Cultural Heritage Disasters course at the School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin, we explored various aspects of response and recovery in the aftermath of a disaster. First we assembled a collection which represented holdings typical of a cultural institution.  We then used lake, salt, and tap water to flood separate sections of our collection, some of which was contaminated with motor oil. We evaluated and recovered the damaged materials according to the salvage methods recommended by several conservation resources. The entire process was recorded using still and moving images. A similar process was used to simulate an arson fire with the help of the Austin Fire Department, who oversaw a controlled burn at their training center. After accumulating and arranging another collection for this experiment, the Fire Department helped us to set a fire with the aid of accelerant, allowed it to burn long enough to mimic an expected response time, then doused the flame with a fire hose. Before performing salvage techniques on the burned materials, we waited two days to simulate the length of time it would take for a building to be considered safe to enter. Once the burned materials were transported back to a lab, we performed the salvage techniques, recording our progress in order to determine how we were successful and how we could improve our methods. On this website, we aim to share our experiences and acquired knowledge with the cultural heritage community. No rare books or materials were harmed in these experiments.