FIELD GUIDE TO EMERGENCY RESPONSE

A new initiative of Heritage Preservation and the Heritage Emergency National Task Force

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded Heritage Preservation a grant for a two-year project to develop, produce, test, and disseminate a new Field Guide to Emergency Response. Heritage Preservation co-sponsors, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Heritage Emergency National Task Force.

Despite recent gains, archives, historic sites, libraries, and museums remain vulnerable to natural disasters and other emergencies. Preservation leaders have expressed the need for a tool that offers more in-depth instruction than the popular Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel, but remains concise and portable enough to be used on-site.

The new Field Guide to Emergency Response will help staff at collecting institutions and historic sites respond more capably to emergencies, and it will highlight actions that are essential to emergency preparedness. The Guide’s interactive nature and distinctive format will make it handy to use. It will have three components:

A spiral-bound, flexible notebook will feature step-by-step advice on what to do immediately after a disaster, how to assess damage, and how to properly salvage materials. It will also address risk assessment, emergency supplies, and health and safety. A bibliography of resources will be included.

An instructional DVD, which can be used in a laptop computer on-site, will be coordinated with the text and tucked in a pocket of the Guide. It will illustrate typical problems encountered in a disaster and demonstrate critical salvage techniques. Institutions can adapt the Guide to their needs by using the tabbed “Preparedness Panels” in the notebook. The panels will help users identify and save information on local emergency contacts, service providers, insurance, inventories, and salvage priorities.

The development of the Field Guide will be guided by a distinguished advisory board: Sharon Bennett, Archivist, The Charleston Museum; Steve Dalton, Preservation Manager, Boston College; Mary Jo Davis, Conservation Consultant; Robert Herskovitz, Chief Conservator, Minnesota Historical Society; Julie Page, Preservation Librarian, University of California at San Diego; and Jill Rawnsley, Director of Preservation Services, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts.

The Field Guide to Emergency Response will be released in advance of the 2006 hurricane season.

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The Heritage Emergency National Task Force is a partnership of 40 government agencies and national service organizations formed in 1995. An initiative of Heritage Preservation and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Task Force has helped to protect cultural heritage from the damaging effects of natural disasters and other emergencies. Find valuable disaster resources at the Task Force Web site, www.heritageemergency.org.

For more than 30 years, Heritage Preservation has been the national, nonprofit advocate for the proper care of the objects and sites that embody our history and enrich our lives. Heritage Preservation partners with institutions, organizations, and concerned individuals who care about preserving our past.

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