After the maggot-infested cheese was discovered inside the famous columnist’s office, and after word traveled that a pile of crinkly leaves had been kept for years at the obituary desk, I had to see the mess for myself.

It was earlier this fall and the Washington Post newsroom was being dismantled and renovated as part of the merger of our print and online staffs. I wanted one last glimpse of the grand old place, to see what I could learn from what we reporters left behind.

Our new newsroom is scheduled to be unveiled in the next few days, but back in September, I ventured into the gutted ruins of the old fluorescent-lighted room, now naked without its cubicles.

It felt like a movie theater during the closing credits, the torn-up floor littered with reporters’ and editors’ artifacts like so many used popcorn buckets.

Here are some of the leftovers I found scattered about: an 11-year-old, star-shaped plaque for editor Mary Hadar commemorating a journalistic achievement; business cards of literary agents in New York and Finland (yes, quite strange); a New York Times clip from January entitled “Web Passes Papers as a News Source;” years-old documents wrested from Prince George’s County through a Freedom of Information Act request; boxes of leftover copies of a book by Post reporters about the 2000 presidential election; an angry letter from a lawyer complaining about a photo that ran in the Metro section; an IBM Personal Wheelwriter typewriter; and a red beaded necklace with a figurine of a clown clutching a lobster.

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