Preserving the Collection: Disaster Planning, Response & Recovery

  Water is the most common problem cultural institutions face in an emergency situation - whether due to hurricane activity, fire, or, as Texas experienced last week, pipes burst due to freezing conditions. This video by AIC & FAIC provides an excellent starting point to addressing flooded buildings and waterlogged collections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwxkhj3IpxU&list=PL4DA994141F023199&index=18

  With freezing temperatures and widespread power outages last week across all 254 counties in Texas, museums across the state have sustained damage to their sites and/or collections. Federal funding may be available to support recovery efforts. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey, which will help the Texas Historical Commission Museum Services Program and our state and federal partners assess both the impact and the support needed for recovery. This survey will be open through Friday, February 26.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/txfreeze2021?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

  As dangerous winter weather continues to plague Texas, the American Red Cross urges everyone to stay safe and stay at home if possible, and offers these steps to follow: https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/2021/winter-weather-can-be-dangerous-how-to-stay-safe.html  When you are able to return to work, you may be confronted with a variety of collection emergencies. To prepare, we suggest studying the National Heritage Responders’ Tip Sheets before you return. These documents offer practical guidance on how to respond and recover to collection emergencies: https://www.culturalheritage.org/resources/emergencies/national-heritage-responders/tip-sheets

  For a more in-depth and practical look at writing a disaster plan, we suggest the educational video series called "Writing a Disaster Plan" created by the Collections Care Network of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) in 2015. This link will redirect you to the 1st of 5 videos in the series on AIC's YouTube Channel.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QzRYkbC3s&list=PLH0WXCtI2nog8Fk-00hUfVh_uDeF6qPnO&index=156

 Developing an emergency plan for a collection is an important yet intimidating task. There are many different ways to approach it, and professional resources are available to help you. We think this reference guide created by the American Alliance for Museums is a great place to start!  https://www.aam-us.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Developing-a-Disaster-Plan-2018.pdf