No 49 - IFLA

6
International Preservation News No. 49 December 2009
Emergency Preparedness and the Power of Partnerships
by Jane S. Long
Vice President, Emergency Programs, Heritage Preservation, Inc., Washington DC
In August 2009, a two-alarm fire swept through the attic of
the historic Ropes Mansion in Salem, Massachusetts. The
19 th Century Georgian Colonial, owned by the Peabody Essex
Museum, is notable because its fine collection of furnishings
and decorative art belonged to the Ropes family. Virtually all
of the valuable artifacts, family papers, and furnishings survived
the blaze. The museum staff counted themselves lucky,
but planning and cooperation made the real difference.
The museum had a trained response team of conservation and
curatorial staff who assembled quickly on the hot Saturday afternoon.
The responding fire departments recognized the expertise
of staff and the value of the historic structure and its contents.
Firefighters not only allowed the staff to rescue the treasures on
lower floors when it was safe, they also shifted and covered
heavier objects that staff could not remove. They fought the fire
with a minimum of water and did little damage to the top floor.
A museum official described their response as “miraculous” 1 .
Unfortunately, the many emergencies that strike cultural institutions
rarely end so well. In the fall of 2005, an estimated
70 museums and historical societies and more than 250 libraries
in five states on the Gulf Coast of the United States suffered
damage from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Even months
later, some collections remained in peril from mold and neglect.
Smaller incidents take their toll as well. A frozen waterline
burst on the third floor of Montana State University’s Renne
Library in Bozeman, Montana, in January 2008. Water flowed
for nearly 30 minutes before emergency responders could
shut off the fire suppression system, which released nearly
1,800 gallons of water. The water damaged hundreds of the
library’s most prized collections, including original signed and
manuscript copies of books about Montana, Yellowstone
National Park, and the famed Lewis and Clark expedition 2 .
National Partnership for Cultural Heritage
For fifteen years, Heritage Preservation, a national nonprofit
in Washington, DC, has been working to bring about more
frequent “happy endings” to the countless stories of fires,
floods, and other disasters that threaten life and heritage. In
late 1994, Heritage Preservation – along with the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and the Getty
1. Tom Dalton, “Ropes Mansion: a treasure saved”, The Salem News Online,
August 18, 2009, http://salemnews.com/punews/local_story_230002502.html
(Accessed November 25, 2009).
2. Daniel Person, “Flood damages MSU library books”, Bozeman Daily
Chronicle, January 23, 2008; Gail Schontzler, “MSU library leaks”, Bozeman
Daily Chronicle, January 30, 2008; and Anne Pettinger, “Once damaged
by flooding, dried books return to MSU library”, MSU News, March 19, 2008.
www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=5705 (accessed
June 19, 2009).
Conservation Institute (GCI) – convened the National Summit
on Emergency Response.
More than 80 representatives of regional and national organizations
came together out of concern for the safety of America’s
collections and historic places. Participants recognized
that American libraries, museums, and historic sites were ill
equipped to respond to emergencies in their own institutions
or come to the aid of their neighbors.
The gathering was significant for two reasons. First, it encouraged
the library, archives, museum, and historic preservation
communities to join forces around a single issue. Second, it
marked a major public commitment by FEMA to help “reduce
the future impact of natural disasters on our cultural and historic
institutions across this nation” 3 . FEMA, now part of the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security, coordinates the federal
government’s role in preparation, prevention, mitigation,
response, and recovery for domestic disasters.
The creation of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force
followed a few months later. The Task Force is a partnership
of 41 national service organizations and federal agencies.
Together its members constitute a nationwide resource of
information, expertise, and assistance. Its mission is to:
Help cultural heritage institutions and sites prepare for emergencies
and obtain needed resources when disaster strikes.
Encourage the incorporation of cultural and historic assets into disaster
planning and mitigation efforts at all levels of government.
Facilitate a more effective and coordinated response to all
kinds of emergencies, including catastrophic events.
Assist the public in recovering treasured heirlooms damaged
by disasters.
1. Heritage Preservation Logo.
Heritage Preservation serves as the secretariat for the Task
Force and as a clearinghouse of information during major
regional disasters affecting cultural property. Since Hurricane
Katrina, Task Force members have agreed upon a protocol that
facilitates the sharing of damage reports, disseminates information
resources, and links institutions affected by the disaster
with available assistance for response and recovery. In addition
to its coordinating role, Heritage Preservation has worked with
other Task Force members to create a number of information
tools to help libraries, archives, and museums prepare for and
respond to emergencies.
3. Former FEMA Administrator James L. Witt at the National Summit on
Emergency Response in Washington, DC. December 1, 1994.