AAVSO: 32 Tons Later

32 Tons Later

—AAVSO Director, Arne Henden
—Photos courtesy of Arne Henden, Keith Danskin and Elizabeth Waagen

On December 27, 2006, I signed the closing papers to make our purchase of 49 Bay State Road official. I walked 200 feet to the new building to do an inspection of the work necessary before we actually moved. It was pretty obvious that we were in for an exciting time prior to the move! I immediately told Travis to reschedule the move from mid-January until the beginning of February, to give us some preparation time.

After posting on the discussion group for volunteers to help us prepare walls, paint, and do the myriad of other repair items, I was pleasantly pleased when, on Saturday, January 6, a large contingent of helpful folks showed up. Half of the crew was put to work removing picture hangers, wall anchors, and spackling holes. The other half kindly started cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, vacuuming accumulated debris throughout, and running errands. I don't think anyone felt underutilized!


New HQ: The mess before we started... is it too late to change our minds?	New HQ: Before we started work.	New HQ: The Danskins to the rescue! L-R: Doug, Keith, and Sylvia


New HQ: Keith Danskin and Gerry Dyck start assembly on the outdoor shed	New HQ: Staff and volunteers come in on Saturday to help paint.	New HQ: Linda Henden and Sylvia Danskin whip the kitchen into shape.

This continued for the next two Saturdays and Sundays, with painting crews, rewiring of a couple of light switches and copier power outlets, replacing door closers, installing a drop ceiling, and other things from my four-page checklist. Linda and I continued the activity through the week, painting in the late evenings after work. The counter employees at Home Depot soon knew us by sight as we made daily trips to purchase more paint and supplies.


New HQ: Staff and volunteers take a lunch break	Old HQ: Travis packs up the mail room	Old HQ: Office space was quickly filled with crates and boxes.

As the moving day approached, staff were efficiently packing the hundreds of boxes of books and files, along with the hundreds of rented flip-top crates from the moving company. I expected to be packing late into the night on the day before the scheduled move, but we were actually packed by the previous day! Having moved myself multiple times through the years, this was unheard of, and demonstrates the competence of our HQ staff. Aaron spent Thursday moving computers over to the new HQ, and we were off the air for about 12 hours until Internet was re-established at the new HQ.

Friday, February 2, 2007, dawned sunny and beautiful. This couldn't be a moving day in the Winter! Promptly at 7:30 three trucks showed up at 25 Birch Street. After a quick look-see, the crew started moving boxes into the first truck. Once it was full, it went around the block to 49 Bay State, pulled into the parking lot and started to unload. The next truck in line was then filled by a second crew, and this process continued until late afternoon.

Mike Saladyga estimated that there were about 24 tons of books and files, many of which had to be moved from the basement at the old headquarters, to locations upstairs at the new headquarters - effectively, two flights of stairs. We also had about 8 tons of bookcases, desks, file cabinets, copy machines, tables and the like to move. So while hiring a moving company to transport stuff an effective 200 feet to its new location might have seemed excessive, it was well worth the expense.

It rained all night Friday. By Saturday, February 3, we had about 1/2 inch of ice on the parking lots and sidewalks. I spent a couple of hours de-icing and chipping so that the movers could do their job without falling down or getting the carpeting too wet. The movers showed up late morning for about a half-day of work, to move the remaining file cabinets, especially the fireproof cabinets from the basement at the old HQ. I'd guess about a dozen strong young men were involved, working continuously. At the end of the day, we were moved!


Old HQ: The library is packed and ready to go	Old HQ: Downstairs, check.	Old HQ: The movers start to load the trucks.


Old HQ: Say good-bye to old HQ	New HQ: Rebecca squeezes through cabinets and crates	New HQ: Rebecca directs the movers while Travis and Sylvia sort through dozens of phones.

Well, sort of moved. The major items had been transported, but we had left many items at the old HQ for the staff to move by hand. The pictures of Clint Ford and prior Directors, vases, bottles of donated liquor, plants, and many other fragile items were hand-carried during the next week. All of the rented crates, containing files from the most-accessed cabinets, had to be emptied by the end of the next week so that they could be returned to the moving company without a late penalty. We had to organize the furniture. The library bookshelves could not be moved around the corners to get them upstairs, so Mike and I had to cut them in half, transport them upstairs to the library/conference room, and reassemble them there. Many of the bookshelves Mike was using in the basement of the old HQ could not be brought up the stairs at that building; we cut these apart and moved them to the new HQ ourselves.


New HQ: Aaron sets up the computer in Kate's new office	New HQ: Mike starts setting up the serials library and archives.	New HQ: Matt and Keith put the bookshelves back together

Now we are nearly finished unpacking. The crates have been returned, the hundreds of boxes have been emptied and the contents stashed away. Many of the remaining fix-up items from my master list have been taken care of, and life is returning to normal. The main comments I've gotten from staff and visitors are that we have much more usable space at 49 Bay State Road, the archives are much more accessible, and the offices themselves reflect the professional atmosphere that the AAVSO deserves.


New HQ: The coffee maker gets set up first	New HQ: The serials library and archives area is nearly set up.	New HQ: The library is ready for use, shelves and all.


Good-Bye 25 Birch St.	We are now ...	officially moved!

There remain several remodeling projects, such as repainting the exterior and replacing old windows, but the new HQ has come to life. Please plan on coming for a visit, either in the next few months or at the Fall meeting this coming November 2 and 3!