“Between myself and the firefighters who would let me in, thankfully all of Dr. Karpeles’ pieces were saved,” Manderbach said.

There were about 24 documents and manuscripts, including a high school yearbook from Cuba when Fidel Castro was a student, and fingerprints from Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara as well as a CIA notebook containing notes about his movements.

The St. Louis Media Foundation also was hosting an exhibit there, and all of its materials were saved. Some remain in glass cases that protected them as firefighters poured water on the blaze, Manderbach said.

For now, Manderbach and board members of the foundation have taken the rare pieces into their own homes for safekeeping, he said.

Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said the department first sent firefighters inside the building with hoses to try to extinguish the blaze internally before deciding to use the aerial ladders and hoses, so to many, it may have looked as though firefighters weren’t pouring water on the building quickly enough.

“We can’t throw water on a building when we’ve got people in the building,” Jenkerson said.