Preserving the Collection: Disaster Planning, Response & Recovery

  The Greener Solvents Project started by Sustainability in Conservation (SiC) aims to examine organic solvent use in practice and to evaluate their environmental and personal impacts. If you use solvents in your practice, consider filling out their survey (5-10 minutes), which is the first step in examining solvent use in conservation around the world. This site has a handbook up with several articles about solvents, and will also feature open-access research results and conference information.   https://siconserve.wpengine.com/greener-solvents/greener-solvents-project-overview/

  This Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Plan (CHSP) by France's Centre de Recherche et de Restauration des Musees is such a handy guide for emergency plans, TX-CERA recently added it to our website. In addition to tips for emergency plan writing and drills, it also features a great list of equipment for various purposes (including PPE, processing, and drying) and a list of other great resources. https://c2rmf.fr/sites/c2rmf/files/documents/CULTURAL_HERITAGE_SAFEGUARDING_PLAN_2024.pdf?trk=article-ssr-frontend-pulse_little-text-block  

  This publication by ICOMOS and ICCROM communicates over-arching themes for recovering from catastrophes (both natural disasters like fire and earthquakes, and manmade, like war or climate change). Each section contains general framework, and provides resources that give more specific guidance. Guidance on Post-Disaster and Post-Conflict Recovery and Reconstruction for Heritage Places of Cultural Significance and World Heritage Cultural Properties: https://www.iccrom.org/publication/guidance-post-disaster-and-post-conflict-recovery-and-reconstruction-heritage-places  

  This document by The Health & Safety Network and The Education & Training Committee is a great resource to help you investigate health and safety concerns, and self-advocate for safer practices. Self-Advocacy for Health and Safety in Conservation & Collections Care: https://www.conservation-wiki.com/w/images/e/e1/Self-Advocacy_for_Health_and_Safety_in_Conservation_and_Collections_Care.pdf