American Institute of Conservation


                            Conservation DistList
                            Thursday, July 22, 1993
                            Instance: 7:14

Date: Wed, 21 Jul 1993 12:41:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Karen Motylewski 
Subject: AIC flood efforts
AIC (American Institute for Conservation) is planning to distribute basic information to institutions in the mid-west that may have experienced flood damage. They are teaming with NIC to assemble a mailing list, and are already faxing the following information, with a list of vendors of emergency services and supplies, to state and regional museum associations. I haven't included that because AIC is not on Net and I'd have to rekey it. I don't know the authorship, but Jane Hutchins, Barbara Roberts, and Debbie Norris have been collaborating to try to organize regional response capabilities. I modified the draft slightly.

The intention is to provide people who may have to respond to a crisis with simple, short, basic instructions for drying a variety of materials that characterize museum collections. It is *not* to provide comprehensive recommendations, and it recognizes that there are many variables in both collections and disaster situations. There may be considerable controversy about this philosophy, and about the specific recommendations, but the fact remains that as a community, we have never compiled generally applicable guidelines for non-professionals faced with salvaging their collections (with the notable exception of Betty Walsh's wonderful summary in WAAC, which I have distributed routinely (with permission from WAAC).

I offer this material for use and comment, and volunteer to coordinate a consensual document for future distribution (assuming we can arrive at some sort of consensus). I *don't* volunteer to take a lot of flack. Refer that to AIC (202-452-9545). Please keep in mind that non-professionals don't always have access to a conservator, don't always have working phone lines, and are not going to sit by and wait until they can be sure they've got the perfect solution when faced with sodden collections. *Nor should they.* What we should try to agree on is what categories of collections to include, what constitutes responsible generic advice, and what seems like the language least likely to be misinterpreted. Basic instructions should be short and sweet, and should project the most likely circumstances. A lot of education is still to be done on emergency preparedness, and most institutions won't have a plan in place.

Remember that NEDCC's handouts (written for non-conservators) include instructions for drying books and paper, drying photos in an emergency, and dealing with mold in a disaster; in addition we distribute some basic emergency preparedness guidelines and a list of (mostly national) emergency service vendors. These are normally available at no charge for up to three titles; for more than three, we ask you to reimburse us for postage and copying. In an emergency, we can probably provide some leaflets online, but formatting tends to be complicated and our systems are very slow (hence $$$ for phone). We'd rather fax them, but do not limit photocopying.


AIC Emergency Instructions

Memo from AIC/Debbie Hess Norris reads:

Attached please find disaster response and recovery information: a checklist detailing recommendations for initial response and lists of suppliers and services. The AIC hopes that this information will be of assistance to institutions threatened by flooding. Further information on health and safety issues, salvage recommendations and procedures, conservation referral services, and federal emergency aid are being gathered and prepared. We hope to work cooperatively with the National Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Property NIC) too coordinate the distribution of these materials as soon as possible. We urge you to share this information with your membership. Please identify where it might be most appropriate and useful. if necessary, the AIC referral system is available (202) 452-9545; FAX (2302) 452-9328, to help in locating a professional conservator to assist in response and recovery operations.


E M E R G E N C Y !


If You're First...

WATER EMERGENCY:

BASIC DRYING PROCEDURES


Karen Motylewski
Northeast Document Conservation Center


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