It's unknown what will become of radio broadcasting artifacts that are sealed in a bank's basement at Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street. They were slated to be included in the American Radio Archives at the Grant Brimhall/Thousand Oaks Library.

The radio archives in the bank's basement at Hollywood and Vine may have been contaminated by toxic polychlorinated biphenyls in 2004, when an underground electrical transformer caught fire.

The bank was closed for months, received a multimillion dollar settlement from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and has been cleaned, but the vault holding the radio collection has remained sealed.

Now Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters (PPB), an organization dedicated to preserving radio memorabilia, is trying to figure out how to rescue the archives, which include thousands of vinyl recordings of old radios shows, photos, equipment and transcripts.

A $75,000 settlement in July 2008 between PPB and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power didn't cover the cost of attorneys and expert witnesses.

Experts have told PPB it will cost about $500,000 to clean and transport the archives.

"The settlement got us really nothing. We were sort of shocked. Now we're in a state of flux," said Marty Halperin, PPB vice president.

"The judge didn't understand the sophisticated information and sided with the DWP," said Ric Ross, PPB's treasurer.

"We're trying to deal with what to do next," Ross said.

Meanwhile library officials and philanthropists are continuing to work on getting funds for an addition to the T.O. library, which would house the archives, said Steve Brogden, library services director.

Fundraising for the proposed addition has come to a standstill.

"It's a slow time for fundraising. We've had no major donations for 18 months," Brogden said.

In 2007, the Bergen Foundation, a private philanthropic organization named for ventriloquist Edgar Bergen, pledged $1 million to the T.O. Library Foundation's efforts to raise $30 million to build a two-story, 40,000-square-foot addition to the library.

In July 2007, the Thousand Oaks City Council approved a proposal to build the addition. Conejo Recreation and Park District has also approved the project. The park district owns the land; the city owns the library.

Since then, the library foundation, a nonprofit organization managing the project, has been trying to raise the $30 million needed—$25 million for construction and $5 million for an endowment fund—for what will be called the American Radio Archives.

The library collection includes documentation of the career of radio legend Norman Corwin; correspondence; scrapbooks; radio, TV and motion picture scripts; sound recordings; video recordings; photographs; business records and contracts; press clippings and other documents, most dating from 1938 to 1990. The collection of late entertainer Rudy Vallee, acquired by the library in the 1980s, is also included.