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Title: Public Records, Cultural Collections, and Natural Disasters


1
Public Records, Cultural Collections, and Natural
Disasters
  • Gregor Trinkaus-Randall, M.A.L.S.,
    C.A.Preservation SpecialistMassachusetts Board
    of Library Commissioners(617) 725-1860 x 236 or
    (800) 952-7403 x 236 (in-state)gregor.trinkaus-ra
    ndall_at_state.ma.uswww.mass.gov/mblc

2
Cultural Resources What Are They?
  • Include a wide variety of institutions, sites,
    locations, and regions
  • Holdings of libraries, archives, historical
    societies, museums, private collections, and city
    and town halls
  • Historic houses, historic districts, historic
    structures, outdoor sculptures, objects
  • Landscapes, botanical gardens, archaeological
    sites, cemeteries

3
Cultural Resources Why Are They Important?
  • Document the cultural, historic, economic, and
    social heritage of our society
  • Define the places where we live
  • Play a major economic role in the life of towns,
    regions, cities, states, and the country
  • Put events into perspective

4
Cultural Resources Why Are They Important?
  • Many the cultural resources are irreplaceable
  • Manuscripts, governmental records (at all
    levels), rare books, prints and drawings,
    buildings, paintings, objects, etc.
  • Philosophical issues
  • Retention of our history, culture, heritage, etc.
  • Make cultural resources available to generations
    to follow
  • Ability of institutions to function

5
Natural Disasters
  • Many disasters affecting cultural resources are
    weather related
  • Kinds and Frequency in the United States in the
    20th Century ( of years of major occurrences)
  • Blizzards (6)
  • Earthquakes (8)
  • Floods (10)
  • Forest Fires (8)
  • Hurricanes (28)
  • Tornados (28)

6
Natural Disasters
  • Tsunami (1)
  • Volcanic eruption (1)
  • Costs of disasters
  • Prior to 1987 no natural disaster with insured
    losses greater than 1 billion
  • Since 1987 there have been 8 such events

7
Natural Disasters
  • Cost reduction
  • Proper planning
  • Need for strict building codes and their strict
    enforcement based on known threats
  • Emphasis on the need for disaster preparedness,
    planning, and mitigation
  • Development of institutional disaster
    preparedness plans
  • Inclusion of cultural heritage institutions and
    resources in local, state, and national disaster
    preparedness and planning

8
Preservation Resources
  • Government organizations
  • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • National Park Service (NPS)
  • Smithsonian Institution (SI)
  • Library of Congress (LC)
  • National Archives and Records Administration
    (NARA)
  • State Emergency Management Agencies
  • State libraries, archives, museums, and
    historical societies

9
Preservation Resources
  • Non-profit institutions
  • Regional Alliance for Preservation (RAP)
  • Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC)
  • Conservation Center for Art and Historic
    Artifacts (CCAHA)
  • Professional societies
  • American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
  • American Association of State and Local History
    (AASLH)

10
Preservation Resources
  • American Library Association (ALA)
  • Society of American Archivists (SAA)
  • Council of State Archivists (CoSA)
  • National Archives and Records Administration
    (NARA)
  • National Association of Government Archives and
    Records Administrators (NAGARA)

11
Disaster Preparedness on a Broad Level
  • Identify cultural resources within each state and
    municipality
  • Use the broadest possible net to include as many
    resources as possible
  • Work with these institutions to develop
    institutional disaster preparedness plans
  • Incorporate these plans into the state and
    municipal emergency management plans

12
Disaster Preparedness on a Broad Level
  • Develop a program of hazard and risk assessment
  • Emergency managers, fire departments, etc. need
    to work with cultural institutions/resources to
    identify hazards both inside and outside of
    institutions
  • Emergency personnel should become familiar with
    the staffs and facilities and visa versa

13
Recent Major Cultural Resources Natural Disasters
  • Florence Flood (1966)
  • Served as a wake-up call and really was the
    beginning of collections care, disaster
    preparedness, and response on a large scale
  • 1.2 M wet books and 40,000 wet and muddy volumes
  • Prague Flood (2002)
  • Large number of institutions inundated and
    collections flooded in the southern Czech
    Republic
  • 300,000 - 400,000 wet books
  • 9 11 water mark
  • Museums heavily impacted

14
Recent Major Cultural Resource Natural Disasters
  • Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma (2005)
  • Louisiana
  • Untold numbers of cultural institutions affected
    or lost
  • At least 17 institutions where restoration costs
    were greater than 1 M
  • Over 500 government agencies in storm area for
    which damage is unknown

15
Recent Major Cultural Resource Natural Disasters
  • Mississippi
  • Again, untold numbers of cultural institutions
    affected or lost
  • Many institutions and collections no longer exist
    due to storm surge

16
Louisiana Repositories
  • Initially affected only by wind and rain and
    storm surge along the coast
  • Subsequently many were affected by flooding in
    the city of New Orleans

17
Moldy indexes to case files of the Orleans Parish
Criminal District Court
18
Mold-Infested Weapons Logbooks of the Orleans
Parish Criminal District Clerk of Court's
Evidence Section.
19
Mississippi Repositories
  • Affected mostly by the storm surge
  • Wiped out buildings or at least the first floor
  • Created fields of records as collections spread
    over fields by storm surge

20
Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, Biloxi,
Mississippi
21
Local History Collection, Biloxi, Mississippi
22
City Clerk's Record Book, City of Bay St. Louis,
Mississippi
23
Minute Books, Harrison County, Mississippi
24
Damaged legal files, Beauvoir, Mississippi
25
Historic Photographs, Mississippi
26
City Hall, Waveland, Mississippi
27
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Notarial Archives
  • Only repository in the US devoted to civil law
    notarial records, called acts a contract
    between individuals for example the sale,
    bequeathing, mortgaging, or pre-nuptial
    disposition of property, or the forming of
    corporations, partnerships, and benevolent
    societies
  • Came to Louisiana through its French and Spanish
    colonial governments

28
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Convinced Thomas Jefferson to allow Louisiana to
    keep its civil law traditions despite
    Americanization
  • Research Center holdings date from 1734 to 1950
  • Bound volumes are housed in stacks on third floor
    of a commercial office building near Superdome
  • Unique records are 5,100 oversize watercolor
    drawings Plan Books created to promote sale of
    buildings at public auction
  • Proof of advertisement and as a visual legal
    description of the property

29
Christoval deArmas, 1825 Act and Bound Acts
30
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Some 60,000 bound volumes housed below ground in
    basement of Civil District Courthouse
  • Legal and economic importance of these records is
    enormous
  • Admissible in court as primary evidence of a
    transaction
  • Notarial acts of sale provide proof of land and
    home ownership

31
Plan Book 58.29 Eugène Surgi Adrien Persac
1859 and Plan Book Housing
32
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Pre-Katrina activities
  • Did not have a written disaster plan
  • Evacuated New Orleans early Sunday morning
    without taking steps to protect the collections
  • Had already signed up for Munters Moisture
    Controls Code Blue

33
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Post-Katrina activities
  • Called Munters from Houston and learned that they
    were ready to begin recovery efforts
  • On Monday started calling staff
  • Spent Tuesday through Saturday trying to get a
    pass to get into the city
  • After the Archives plight was announced on the
    local radio station and online in the
    Times-Picayune, they got into the city on the
    following Monday (Day 8) with a military escort

34
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Efforts focused on saving the records in each
    location
  • Had to gain entry into Research Facility with
    permission from building owner (in Dallas)
  • Books were in acceptable condition and Plan Book
    cabinets were dry
  • No evidence of mold

35
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Filing Office basement had 6 of water and two
    snakes
  • Munters began pumping water out on Tuesday, Day 9
  • 5,000 volumes were soaked and had to be frozen
    and then sent to Chicago be vacuum freeze dried
    and sanitized
  • 55,000 volumes needed to be packed out and stored
    in climate-controlled 18-wheelers (18 of them)
    parked on the street

36
Notarial Archives New Orleans
37
Convention Center Stacks Day 43 Filing Office
Opens
  • Eventually moved records to the Convention Center
    ballroom
  • Staff began work on October 4th and the Filing
    Office opened to the public on October 10th
  • Research Center opened to the public on January
    9th

38
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Lessons learned
  • Need to have a disaster plan
  • Write a disaster plan even if you need to throw
    it out at the time of the disaster
  • Contract with a recovery firm ahead of time
  • Local phone numbers may not work
  • Establish out-of-town and out-of-area-code
    contact points for management and staff
  • Take responsibility for saving your own archives
  • Keep a journal to keep track of what happened
    when

39
Notarial Archives New Orleans
  • Communications change on a daily basis.
  • Document everything for reimbursement. Take
    pictures.
  • This is especially true for working with FEMA
  • When evacuating take anything with official
    looking insignia to get back through checkpoints
  • Have a laptop with wireless connection and a
    camera
  • Learn about freezing, drying treatments, and mold
    recovery

40
Historic New Orleans Collection
  • Pre-Katrina activities
  • Put disaster plan into action
  • Returned all items to proper locations in vaults
  • Visqueen pulled down over bookshelves
  • Staff and public areas totally secured
  • Emergency crash cart positioned near door to be
    used upon return to building

41
Historic New Orleans Collection
  • Exhibit items stored on second floor
  • Equipment secured and protected
  • Priority items in certain locations with glow
    marker on them
  • Snakes placed in front of all doorways
  • Pre-cut plywood put over all windows

42
Historic New Orleans Collection
  • Post-Katrina activities
  • Contact lists were rendered basically useless
  • Major challenge was to re-establish
    communications
  • e.g. 5 days to reach the director
  • Were able to return to building to secure and
    move the collections as early as they did only
    because of family connections
  • Did so with pre-positioned fine arts movers and a
    police escort on September 8th
  • Reopened by the middle of October

43
Historic New Orleans Collection
  • Lessons learned
  • Evacuate your own collection vehicle
  • Put a set of acquisition records with priority
    collections
  • Re-examine supplies in emergency crash carts
  • Do not have time to consult the disaster plan in
    the course of the disaster.
  • Have to be trained on what to do well beforehand.

44
Historic New Orleans Collection
  • Communication and access to accurate information
    are most difficult to find
  • Have official insignia or identification to
    assist in returning to disaster area

45
Comparison of Preparation
  • Disaster plan and preparation made Historic New
    Orleans staff much better able to prepare for and
    respond to Katrina than most institutions
    including the Notarial Archives
  • Institutional disaster plans are crucial for
    protecting collections
  • Allow staff to proceed in a logical manner to
    protect collections

46
Comparison of Preparation
  • Must include contact information for staff
    outside immediate area
  • Must incorporate risk assessment well beyond the
    bounds of the building as to dangers posed by
    catastrophic disasters (e.g. Katrina, Rita, and
    Wilma)
  • Too many repositories did not have a disaster
    plan, were not prepared, and did not know where
    to start to protect collections

47
Council of State Archivists
  • Met in Morrow, GA on April 18-20, 2006
  • Addressed statewide disaster preparedness for
    public and historical records and to discuss and
    critique draft of Framework for Emergency
    Preparedness
  • Assessment of statewide disaster planning for
    records identified that
  • Importance of identifying and protecting records
    essential to continuity of government as part of
    the emergency planning process is not recognized
    by many people
  • Few state archives and records programs have
    involvement in revisions to their state emergency
    operations plans

48
Council of State Archivists
  • Citizens and their governments are vulnerable to
    major disruptions that could result from the loss
    of records in the event of widespread disaster
  • Revised Framework was distributed to all 50
    states in May 2006 to complete as an initial step
    in protecting records
  • CoSA published the report of their findings as
    Safeguarding a Nations Identity (February 2007)
  • Available at http//www.statearchivists.org/prepar
    e/
  • Report addresses actions steps, preservation, and
    current state of nations archives and records
    programs

49
Heritage Emergency National Task Force
  • Partnership of 40 national service organizations
    and federal agencies
  • Created to protect cultural heritage from
    damaging effects of natural disasters and other
    emergencies (1995)
  • Co-sponsored by Heritage Preservation and the
    Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
  • Primary goals
  • Help cultural heritage institutions and sites be
    better prepared for emergencies and to obtain
    needed resources when disaster hits
  • Encourage the incorporation of cultural and
    historic assets

50
Heritage Emergency National Task Force
  • 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
  • Heritage Preservation initiatives on behalf of
    the Task Force
  • Created Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel
    (1997) (2005)

51
Heritage Emergency National Task Force
  • Published Cataclysm and Challenge documenting
    damage and loss to cultural property after 9/11
    (2002)
  • Developed concept of Alliance for Response (2002)
  • Published Before and After Disasters Federal
    Funding for Cultural Institutions with support
    from FEMA and NEA (2005)
  • Produced Field Guide to Emergency Response (2006)

52
Heritage Emergency National Task Force
  • Post-Katrina activities
  • Hosted conference calls post-Katrina for several
    months
  • Numerous agencies and organizations and on-site
    professionals
  • Gained insight into how cultural and historic
    resources were affected
  • Took the lead in coordinating response by
    organizations concerned about damage to cultural
    and historic collections
  • LC, Smithsonian, AIC, SAA, ALA, AASLH, NPS, FEMA,
    SHPO, NCPTT, RAP, NARA, etc.

53
Heritage Emergency National Task Force
  • Working with Task Force members, Heritage
    Preservation is seeking creative solutions to the
    problems that Katrina brought to light
  • Preparedness
  • First Responders
  • Ensure Informed, Coordinated, and Expedient
    Response
  • Funding
  • Collaboration on Response
  • Received IMLS funds for a pilot project to
    encourage small and mid-sized museums to prepare
    for disasters

54
Alliance for Response
  • Programs in Boston, New York, Dallas, Cincinnati,
    Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco,
    Sacramento, Seattle, Atlanta, and Chicago
    sponsored by Heritage Preservation
  • One-day forum on October 27, 2004 at the Jewish
    Museum, New York City
  • Brought together representatives from the
    cultural and emergency management communities
  • Opened a dialogue between communities especially
    in small-group sessions

55
Cultural Emergency Management Team (CEMT) in
Massachusetts
  • Initiative is a result of the Alliance for
    Response forum
  • Representatives from government (city, state, and
    federal), private non-profit, and cultural
    resources
  • Focus is on developing ways to respond to
    disasters in cultural institutions in conjunction
    with the emergency management community in the
    Boston area

56
Activities at the State Level in Massachusetts
  • Massachusetts Emergency Management Team (MEMT)
    (1978-)
  • Multiple state agencies and other disaster relief
    providers meet on a monthly basis
  • Cultural Resources Disaster Planning and
    Mitigation Task Force (1996-1999)
  • Worked to educate cultural resources in
    communities about institutional and regional
    disaster preparedness

57
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
Activities in Disaster Preparedness
  • Massachusetts Emergency Assistance Program (1996)
  • Weather Alert program
  • Represented cultural resources on the MEMT since
    1996
  • Has resulted in an ongoing relationship with the
    Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency

58
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
Activities in Disaster Preparedness
  • With NEDCC created dPlan the Online Disaster
    Planning Tool (IMLS grant)
  • Launched nationally in June 2006 at
    http//www.dplan.org
  • 1,220 institutions and 1,512 individuals using
    it (6/7/2007)
  • Top states are MA (192), IL (121), and NY (94)
    institutions

59
Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners
Activities in Disaster Preparedness
  • Working to develop a process for creating a
    statewide disaster preparedness plan for cultural
    resources with NEDCC (IMLS grant 2006)
  • Working with CoSA whose product focuses only on
    records
  • Focus is on libraries, archives, museums, and
    historical societies, etc.

60
Conclusions
  • Cultural resources help define who we are
    throughout history and society
  • Document our cultural, historic, economic,
    social, and governmental heritage
  • From town halls, public libraries, small museums,
    and local historical societies to large
    universities, museums, research libraries,
    historic structures, etc.
  • All too many have been ignored by staff and
    overlooked by emergency managers regarding the
    development of institutional disaster
    preparedness plans and their inclusion in the
    municipal and state emergency plans

61
Conclusions
  • Cultural resources staff and emergency management
    personnel
  • Need to meet to identify and discuss potential
    problems
  • Educate one another on cultural resources and
    disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and
    mitigation
  • Need to consider both institutional and
    catastrophic disasters

62
Conclusions
  • Steps taken before a disaster strikes can make a
    significant difference in
  • minimizing the potential damage to the cultural
    resources
  • ensuring the proper response to these resources
    involved, and
  • prioritizing of response within a community
    and/or a region

63
Conclusions
  • Finally, by taking the initiative, being
    proactive, and collaborating with other response
    organizations, cultural resources staff can
    dramatically reduce the losses to their
    collections from natural disasters

64
  • Thank you.
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