Preserving the Collection: Disaster Planning, Response & Recovery

  The board of TX-CERA maintains a page on our website of resources we've found useful in the past on a range of preparation and salvage topics. Our website also lists upcoming (and recent) TX-CERA webinars on our front page.

  AATA Online is a free research database managed and published by The Getty Institute. It contains over 170,000 abstracts from both historic and modern sources, focusing on preservation and conservation.

The Culture in Crisis Portal is a free resource by the Victoria and Albert Museum that strives to "[bring] together those with a shared interest in protecting cultural heritage, providing a forum for sharing information, inspiring and supporting action and raising public awareness." Cultureincrisis.org contains a database of preservation projects around the world.

We're at that part of the year in Texas where we're reaching for our hoodies and scarves one day and back to flip-flops the next - and that means your HVAC may be switching back and forth between air conditioning and heat, which could cause fluctuations in your environment. Having the right monitoring equipment in place can help you assess the environment, which will help you decide if there are any changes that need to be made to improve conditions for the long-term stability of your collection. https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/2.-the-environment/2.2-monitoring-temperature-and-relative-humidity

Hazards in your collection may not be obvious, or may not have been recorded by previous staff. The building may have been constructed when asbestos was a popular building material, DDT may have been used as pest control, and the objects themselves may contain arsenic or mercury. The danger level for any of these situations varies. As always, knowledge is the best tool to navigate the situation.    Collections Trust, "Hazards in Museum Collections": https://collectionstrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SHARE-Museums-East-How-To-Guide-to-Hazards-in-Museum-Collections.pdf   Department of the Interior, "FAQ About Contaminated Museum Collections": https://www.doi.gov/sites/doi.gov/files/migrated/museum/upload/Contaminated_Collections_FAQs.pdf   The Progressive Magazine, "Museums Deal with Toxins from the Past": https://progressive.org/latest/museums-deal-with-toxins-from-past-anderson-220402/