Disaster preparedness and management priorities

I would first like to to say how much I appreciated reading the two
responses to this topic by David Tremain and Tom Cremers.  They make
very persuasive and educated arguments as to the importance and the
cost effectiveness of being prepared for Disasters.  This is such an
important topic, and too often institutions and private collectors
don't truly appreciate it until it is too late, and Disaster has
occurred.  This is also why it was felt that this year's annual AIC
Meeting should be devoted to the single theme:  Disaster
Preparedness, Response, and Recovery.

We are now developing an Audience Development plan to do precisely
what David Tremain suggested--to target the administrators and
collections management staff of cultural institutions to attend this
meeting.

As Tom Cremers posting has suggested--we are often our own worst
enemy in cultural institutions:  we might anticipate the hurricane
and plan for it, but what about the contractors working on the new
wing?

Paul Himmelstein has made this point very eloquently--that risk
assessment is vital, and the participation of a knowledgeable and
informed conservator in the pre-construction and construction phases
of a project can be vital. Museum and historic site administrators
need to be aware that the different perspectives which conservation
professionals bring to such planning can mean the difference between
years of exhibition openings and years of recovery.

All too often conservators are pigeon-holed as "lab rats".  If we
are going to grow as a profession we need to break out of that
stereotype.  Perhaps, in the future, risk assessment and disaster
preparedness will become as much a part of professional training and
practice as preventive conservation has in the last decade.  Perhaps
conservators in private practice will see this as another activity
with which to grow their businesses (some undoubtedly already do).

It will be interesting to see in what ways the AIC will evolve to
meet the challenge.  This year's meeting is a great leap forward but
what will happen afterwards?

David Harvey
AIC Audience Development Chair, 1998
Associate Conservator,
Metals & Arms
The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, Virginia  23187-1776  USA
757-220-7039

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 11:35
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 14, 1997
                       Message Id: cdl-11-35-005
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