Archives Found

Have you been reading the updates on the Haiti earthquake and wishing that you could help? Are you an archivist, conservator, preservation professional? Read on.

There has been a call for volunteers through the Blue Shield network, and according to the International Council of Archives, as of February 11, 2010, there have been over 500 volunteers.

From the Blue Shield press release:

The Blue Shield is the protective emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention which is the basic
international treaty formulating rules to protect cultural heritage during armed conflicts. The
Blue Shield network consists of organisations dealing with museums, archives, audiovisual
supports, libraries, monuments and sites.
The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS), founded in 1996, comprises
representatives of the five Non‐Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working in this field:
- The International Council on Archives (www.ica.org),
- The International Council of Museums (www.icom.museum),
- The International Council on Monuments and Sites (www.icomos.org), and
- The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (www.ifla.org)
- The Co‐ordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (www.ccaaa.org)
National Blue Shield Committees have been founded in a number of countries (18
established and 18 under construction). The Association of National Committees of the Blue
Shield (ANCBS), founded in December 2008, will coordinate and strengthen international
efforts to protect cultural property at risk of destruction in armed conflicts or natural
disasters. The ANCBS has its headquarters in The Hague.

The Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield (ANCBS) wants to help the people of Haiti

The earthquake in Haiti of 12th January has caused an enormous devastation. The amount of people that lost their lives is beyond imagination. At the moment basic humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of a functioning infrastructure is crucial.

However, as soon as the situation in Haiti has become more stable, Blue Shield wants to help to enable experts from all over the world to support their Haitian colleagues in assessing the damage to the cultural heritage and therefore to the identity of their country. Subsequently, Blue Shield wants to support recovery, restoration and repair measures necessary to rebuild libraries, archives, museums, monuments and sites.

An important task of ANCBS is to coordinate information. ANCBS needs to know who and where the experts are. ANCBS therefore calls upon archivists, restorers, curators, librarians, architects and other experts to register online as a volunteer.

ANCBS wants to be able to bring experts in contact with those organizations that will send missions to Haiti, and make sure that volunteers will be informed about the situation in Haiti.

Please join Blue Shield to help your Haitian colleagues.

More information at the website.

Information from the ICA- first and second update on Haiti; list/statement of needs (download pdf at this link)

The International Council on Archives wants to publicize throughout the international community the efforts of our Haitian colleagues, who have formed a crisis cell “Heritage in danger”, on the fringes of the official commission for the evaluation of buildings and reconstruction. An initial statement of requirements has been issued and you will find a copy of it attached. The Secretariat has very recently been in touch with Jean-Wilfrid Bertrand, the National Archivist of Haiti, and Jérémy Lachal, Executive Director of Libraries Without Borders, currently on mission in Port-au-Prince. Jean-Wilfrid and others have confirmed that the items on the requirements list are really needed, and that, if anything, it is an under-statement. Jean-Wilfrid has in particular emphasized the urgent requirement for tarpaulins. These are needed to protect records that are at present lying on the ground, because the buildings that previously housed them have been destroyed. If nothing is done now, they will be completely exposed during the forthcoming rainy season. ICA is now working as a matter of urgency on ways of getting these and other materials to him at Port-au-Prince as quickly as possible.

… from the “equipment” section of the list:

2.2. Equipment
2.2.1. 60,000 acid-free archive storage boxes (350 x 350 x 350
mm)
2.2.2. 150,000 plastic gloves
2.2.3. 150,000 protective masks
2.2.4. 30,000 rolls of adhesive tape (neutral glue)
2.2.5. Pencils, felt-tips, labels, acid-free wrapping paper, glue,
string, zinc-coated paper clips, staplers, needles, 8½ x 11,
8 ½ x 14 size paper
2.2.6. 50 laptop computers
2.2.7. Three computer servers
2.2.8. 100 tents to act as temporary shelters for records and
salvage personnel
2.2.9. 20 two-way handheld radio transceivers
2.2.10. 20 mobile phones
2.2.11. 15 digital cameras of semi-professional specification
2.2.12. 8 GPS (global positioning system) devices
2.2.13. 200 safety helmets with lamps (miner’s helmet-style)
2.2.14. 30 heavy duty flashlights
2.2.15. 10 pick-up trucks
2.2.16. 5 lorries
2.2.17. Temporary storage facility measuring 10,000 square meters.
The managers of the Canne-à-Sucre historical park have
offered a storage facility, which is far too small
2.2.18. 2000 struts or props with hydraulic jacks
2.2.19. 2000 tubular scaffoldings with gaskets
2.2.20. 30 20 x 40 feet containers
2.2.21. 100 metal trunks (or durable plastic)
2.3. Financial Resources
We need money to:
2.3.1. Provide logistical support (fuel, food, transportation,
communication expenses, etc.
2.3.2. Rent storage facilities
2.3.3. Rent or buy second hand containers
2.3.4. Offer incentive pay for non volunteer workers
2.3.5. Purchase records, photographs, audio and video material
created prior to the earthquake
2.3.6. Write a damage report with photographic evidence
2.3.7. Purchase inventory software and set up a database

Full list of needs, requirements available in PDF at the bottom of this ICA announcement.

A few sources of information:

dLoc (Digital Library of the Caribbean)

IFLA- Haiti update

Cultural riches turn to rubble in Haiti quake- New York Times

A quick roundup of things that have recently caught my attention:

Are archivists today’s real peacemakers?

Politicians, beauty queens, and rock stars all claim they want world peace. But could the unassuming archivist, more likely to be found buried in a stack of yellowing newspapers than at a global summit, be the true peacemaker of our time?

That was the prevailing theme at the Scone Foundation’s “Archivist of the Year” awards, held last week at the CUNY Graduate Center: archivists aren’t here merely to perform the dutiful-but-dull task of preservation, but to defend civil liberties, encourage transparency, and maybe–just maybe–facilitate historical reconciliation between former enemies. Underscoring the idea of archivist-as-peacemaker, this year’s award was shared by representatives of both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Khader Salameh of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Library in Jerusalem, and Yehoshua Freundlich of the Israel State Archives.

You can also listen to the fall 2009 podcast of Dr. Saad Eskander’s talk on Recovering Iraqi Records to the Simmons GSLIS community here.  Eskander’s 2006-2007 blogs on the topic are available at the British Library.

Torn Lincoln paper digitally reunited with other half:

Call it a scholar’s birthday present to Abraham Lincoln. David J. Gerleman, an adjunct history professor at George Mason University, has digitially stitched together a torn document whose pieces are held by two different archives.

The lower half of document bearing President Lincoln’s signature is held at St. Lawrence University, in Canton, N.Y., while the upper half is at the Illinois State Archives, in Springfield. While the two pieces are still physically states apart, digital images of them have been pasted together to form an entire legal document with a coherent history.

Full article in Wired Campus. Digital image can be seen on this site (scroll to very bottom under “reunited documents”)

Now’s a good time to start thinking about MayDay 2010- what are you doing to promote disaster preparedness?

ALA-ALCTS is launching a national Preservation Week May 9-15, 2010 and there’s a call for two-minute advocacy speeches.

From the announcement:

Contest — Making the Case for Preservation Action to Save Collections

We all know how hard it is to lift the sense of urgency and priority for preserving collections, especially in our economically tight and
digitally oriented times. The American Library Association’s Association of Library Collections and Services (ALA-ALCTS) is
sponsoring a competition for the best “2-minute speech” to convince 3 key audiences of the importance of action for preservation as a part
of the first national collection Preservation Week (May 9-15, 2010).

The target audiences are:

●       Decision makers-directors, board members, elected and appointed officials, and other people who choose priorities for action and provide
the resources;
●       Friends, family, visitors and users, and others who work outside collecting institutions, and the cultural heritage, conservation, and preservation fields-public support is essential for preservation action;
●       Library, archives, and museum staff outside the preservation or conservation fields – shelvers, check-out and ILL staff, building operations, and housekeeping personnel can have a significant impact on collections preservation.

Here’s how the contest will work:
1.      Select one or more target audiences (i.e. decision makers; general audience; and/or library/archive/museum staff) to persuade with a 2-minute speech to support preservation and take preservation action.

2.      Write a short, compelling, and easy-to-understand argument that will persuade your target audience.  Send in one 2 minute speech per target audience.

3.      Send your written submissions in one e-mail per target audience to Yvonne Carignan, Library Director and Head of Collections, Historical Society of Washington, DC, carignan@historydc.org.

4.      Yvonne will distribute all submissions to a review panel representing preservation, conservation, and collecting institutions of a variety of types and sizes.  The panel will select the top three entries in each category.  The winning “speeches” will be highlighted on the Preservation Week Web site (www.ala.org./preservationweek) and the winners will also receive a surprise from ALCTS.

5.      The deadline for submission is March 8, 2010,  so don’t delay.

Here are some hints to help:
Send us the reasons for supporting preservation that have worked with people you know.

Audience:  Key decision-maker  –

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Board Chair, Director, Major Funder, that collections preservation should become a strong priority, budget priority, high priority, core function  of your institution, what would you say? what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s doubting Director that collections preservation should become a core function of your institution, what would you say?

Audience:  Friends, family, and neighbors outside the field
If you had only 2 minutes to convince your — Great aunt, cable or satellite installer, or neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a
well-funded activity, budget priority, high priority in your community, what would you say? what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your neighbor that preserving cultural heritage collections should become a high priority in your community, what points would you make?

Audience:  Line staff in your institution outside preservation and conservation

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your colleagues that by making collections preservation a strong priority, high priority, core function, they could make a real difference to your users, what would you say?  what points would you make?

If you had only 2 minutes to convince your institution’s volunteers that by making preserving your collections a high priority, they could make a real difference to your users, what points would you make?

[sorry for the dreadful pun; I just couldn't restrain myself.]

This is an excerpt from a post that I’ve added to the (closed) course discussion board for LIS 2223: Archival Access, Advocacy, and Ethics. I’ve talked about PAHR before on the blog, but I think that it’s important to continue discussing and supporting this and other archival advocacy efforts.

PAHR is a bill, introduced in the House of Representatives, authorizing the Archivist of the United States to provide grant funding for preservation and records projects at the state level. Last summer at the SAA meeting in Austin, PAHR advocacy was a hot topic in many of the roundtables and several sessions.

While this site is somewhat outdated, you can read about the bill and funding allocation, as well as talking points, background information, and a list of sponsors by state.

Why is PAHR important? As discussed yesterday in class, funding is important to continuing the mission/vision of archives. Visibility and building a coalition of support may be even more important, and while the money that this bill provides will certainly be welcomed by the recipients; the lasting legacy of this particular could be laying the foundation for future support.
I’d like to encourage you to read the bill on the PAHR site and then tell me if you agree or disagree, and explain your position.

PAHR site: http://www.archivists.org/pahr/index.asp

GovTrack: H.R.2256

Library of Congress summary: H.R.2256

Some links that might be of interest:

SAA 2009 session #210: Money, Money, Money: Lessons from Successful Advocates for Archives Funding: http://saa.archivists.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/events/eventdetail.html?Action=Events_Detail&InvID_W=1254

Recent developments noted on ArchivesNext by Kathleen Roe (but not yet added to PAHR site): Truly fantastic news about PAHR

PAHR Facebook group

The 75th International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) conference is being held in Milan, Italy from August 23-37, 2009.The theme of the 2009 conference is “Libraries create futures. Building on cultural heritage.”

Unfamiliar with IFLA? Here’s a little bit about the organization:

The International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) is the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users. It is the global voice of the library and information profession.

Founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1927 at an international conference, we celebrated our 75th birthday at our conference in Glasgow, Scotland in 2002. We now have 1600 Members in approximately 150 countries around the world. IFLA was registered in the Netherlands in 1971.

Read more about IFLA here.

Preconference/satellite events coming up:

IFLA Preconference 2009: Digital Information for Democracy: Information, Access, and Preservation (August 19; Rome, Italy)

Moving in, Moving up, Moving on: Strategies for Regenerating the Library and Information Profession (August 18-20; Bologna, Italy)

Conservation and preservation of library material in a cultural-heritage oriented context (August 31-September 1; Rome, Italy)

You may find a full list of satellite meetings associated with IFLA 2009 here.

There are a LOT of interesting-looking sessions. Here are a few conference events that may be of particular interest:

Session 92: Statistics and Evaluation, Information Technology and Preservation and Conservation

Statistics for cultural heritage

• Statistics in preservation as a basis for positive action
  IRMHILD SCHÄFER (Bavarian State Library, Munich, Germany)
• Statistical tools for the evaluation of preservation needs
  ALISON WALKER and JULIA FOSTER (British Library, London, UK)
• The project NUMERIC: statistics for the digitisation of the European cultural heritage
  ROSWITHA POLL (Münster, Germany)
• Digital cultural heritage in the Netherlands: collecting statistics on production investments, and use
  TRILCE NAVARRETE HERNÁNDEZ and  FRANK HUYSMANS (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
• Measuring usage of cultural heritage documents; The German project Open Access Statistics
  MATTHIAS SCHULZE (University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany)
• Metrics and strategies for Web Heritage management and preservation
  EMMANUELLE BERMÈS and GILDAS ILLIEN (National Library of France, Paris, France)
• The DISCmap project: Digitisation of Special Collections: mapping, assessment, prioritisation
  MILENA DOBREVA (University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK) et al.
• Museum statatistical data in Germany and Europe
  MONIKA HAGEDORN-SAUPE and AXEL ERMERT (Institute for Museum Research, Berlin, Germany)

Session 163- Rare Books and Manuscripts, Preservation and Conservation and Library History

Dispersed cultural collections. Preservation, reconstruction and access

• Virtual reunification, virtual preservation and enhance conservation at the British Library
  HELEN SHENTON (British Library, London, UK)
• Virtual reunification as the future of ‘codices dispersi’: Practices and standards developed by e-codices Virtual Library of Switzerland [Français]
  ANNE MARIE AUSTENFELD (Mediävistisches Institut der Universitsät Freiburg, Freiburg, Switzerland)
• Discovering and studying the ancient handwritten cultural heritage
  ORNELLA FOGLIENI and GILIOLA BARBERO (Regione Lombardia, Milan, Italy)
• The library of the Cistercian Abbey of Clairvaux at the time of Pierre de Virey (1472)
  LOUIS BURLE (Médiathèque de l’agglomération Troyenne, Troyes, France)
• Deconstruction and reconstruction: detecting and interpreting sophisticated copies
  MARGARET LANE FORD (Christie’s, London, UK)
• Dispersed musical treasures. The music autographs of Beethoven and Bach at the Berlin State Library [Deutsch]
  BARBARA SCHNEIDER-KEMPF (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Germany)
• ‘Returning home’: migration and repatriation of Latvian cultural objects and collections
  INESE A. SMITH (Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK)

Session 193- Information Technology

New repositories: architectures interoperability and data exchange

• Not (just) a repository, nor (just) a digital library, nor (just) a portal: a portrait of Europeana as an API [Français]
  CESARE CONCORDIA (CNR-ISTI, Pisa, Italy), STEFAN GRADMANN (Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany) and  SJOERD SIEBINGA (Europeana Development, The Hague, Netherlands)
• Video active – European television heritage online
  JOHAN OOMEN (Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, The Netherlands),  VASSILIS TZOUVARAS (National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece) and MARCO RENDINA (Instituto Luce, Italy)
• A trust P2P network for the access to open archive resources
  EMANUELE BELLINI and PAOLO NESI (University of Florence, Florence, Italy)
• Persistent identifier distributed system for digital libraries
  MAURIZIO LUNGHI, EMANUELE BELLINI, MAURIZIO LANCIA, BRUNELLA SEBASTIANI, MASSIMILIANO SACCONE, ROBERTO PUCCINELLI  and  MARCO SPASIANO (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Rome, Italy)

You may find the full IFLA 2009 conference program here.

Want to keep up with news coming from Milan? On Twitter, follow @IFLA_HQ and watch for #ifla09

Think this all sounds pretty interesting? IFLA 2010 will be in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Additional links:

• Conference programs from IFLA 2008- Quebec, Canada and IFLA 2007- Durban, South Africa.

• IFLA Rare Books and Manuscripts SectionBlog by senior IFLA policy advisor, Stuart Hamilton

• 2007 and 2008 highlights from 025.431: The Dewey Blog

We found out in mid-June that we were selected as a recipient of the IMLS Connecting to Collections Bookshelf in the final round of awards. Since then, I’ve been itching to receive the materials from the American Association of State & Local History (AASLH) so that I could review them and put together a short presentation for the department.

The intent of the Bookshelf, as stated (in part) by the press release:

To help raise the conservation IQ of museums, libraries, and archives, IMLS, in cooperation with the American Association of State and Local History (AASLH), is offering 2000 free copies of the Connecting to Collections Bookshelf, a core set of books, DVDs, online resources, and an annotated bibliography that are essential for the care of collections.

Over at Spellbound Blog, Jeanne provides a great overview of the contents of the Bookshelf here, and points out that some of these resources are freely available online. For example, the Guide to Online Resources is divided into six sections, such as Preparing and Responding to Emergencies, and then further broken down into the categories of Prepare and Respond. Having dealt with a collection-related environmental disaster and written a disaster plan over the past year, I think that being able to find all of this information in one easy place is a boon to any archivist, librarian, curator, or director. While having a plan in place prior to disaster is important, no plan will cover every contingency– and having these resources at your fingertips could be very useful. A group of resources for discovering funding, the Increase Support for Collections section breaks down into three parts: Funding, Promoting, and Informing the Public.  Think there’s something missing? You can email the IMLS to suggest other resources for inclusion on the site.

The intent of the Bookshelf is to help smaller institutions establish better preservation/conservation practices. While we’re a larger state institution (and a regional repository), I do spend a lot of my of time working with individuals and local programs that really need a helping hand when it comes to basic preservation practices. Because this is the largest city (and largest archive/library) within a six hour drive, we’re a resource for many small historical societies, town archives, and local genealogical researchers. My hope is that the Bookshelf can be utilized in this area as a source of preservation knowledge and as a starting point for some small local workshops and outreach programs.

Look for more on the books and other materials once they appear on my doorstep.

This year, I planned a full day of disaster and salvage-type activities for all staff, but due to scheduling conflicts it will not happen until the end of May. Unfortunately, that means that I don’t get to participate in all of the cool MayDay-type stuff that seems to be going on elsewhere– here are some of the 2009 participants. Take a look at past MayDay festivities from 2007 and 2008. Tell Heritage Preservation about your May Day festivities and you could win a disaster-themed prize here.

Did you see any really neat May Day stuff that I didn’t mention? Please post and tell me about it!

First, do no harm.

When a new collection arrives at your door, I’m sure that, like me,  you pull out all the stops. A brass band, ticker-tape parade, and full reception are just the tip of the iceberg! Before that happens, though, one of the more persuasive arguments to potential donors is that “we can take care of it better than you can– we will organize it, make it accessible to patrons, and store it in an appropriate environment.” I hear archivists (including myself) say variations on this all the time. But what does “appropriate environment” really mean?

Something that we may not think about enough as archivists until the need becomes overwhelming, that’s what. What is the best and most appropriate storage environment for our collections? How is that decision made, and how much money should we spend on it? How often should we reassess the storage situation, and what is the best way to ask for more resources– like shelving, cases, racks, compact storage, and other solutions?

Maintaining a proper climate with respect to temperature and relative humidity can be difficult,  not just in historic buildings, but also in newer construction. Do you monitor your environment? What is the best way to do so? It seems like a pain, but keep this in mind: Storage environment can have the largest overall impact on your entire collection of any preservation activities that you may employ. By keeping temperature and relative humidity stable and within the range that is most appropriate for the materials, you extend the life of the entire collection. By the same token, large swings and an uncontrolled climate can seriously affect your collection– potentially enabling mold growth or embrittlement on either end of the moisture spectrum, with a lot of different horror stories in between.

Two weeks ago, I attended a conference at the Union League in Philadelphia that was really useful on a practical level. A Space Odyssey: Storage Strategies for Cultural Collections was sponsored by the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, and the speaker presentations are available in PDF form on their website here.

Some of the information most useful to me included:

•  architect Walt Crimm’s session, “Deconstructing Museum Storage: The Essentials” where he discussed passive risk reduction, designing for suites of spaces that serve the same function, and an evaluation of active vs. passive energy sources in building management and maintenance.
• Crimm’s third session,”Space Planning: Maximizing Storage Spaces,” where he talked about a flexible collections management zone and keeping stuff out of storage space in order to minimize collection risk and fluctuations
• architect Peter Herzog on “Sustaining Optimal Building Environments” and “Understanding HVAC” systems– these were among the most practical and useful sessions I’ve attended in awhile. I can’t emphasize enough how useful this was from an “everyday maintenance issue” standpoint.
• James Reilly’s “Storage Environments: The Big Picture” was a great discussion of temperature/relative humidity, decay, chemical change and environment. I think that he gave the most straightforward description of dewpoint and moisture’s role in active change of physical/mechanical properties of organic materials that I’ve ever heard.

I’ve spent much of the past year trying to regulate the climate in our building, particularly in the stacks and vault areas, and it’s not always an easy proposition. Kudos to the CCAHA for putting together this practical, useful conference for people that deal with historical collections and issues of storage– you hit this one out of the park!

As I suspect many others are doing, I’m still trying to catch up on sleep and work backlog from my week in San Francisco. I’m hoping to post more about sessions and roundtables later, but for now,  some highlights from the Preservation Section meeting on Friday (8/29).

Announcements and Updates from consortiums and funding agencies:

Ann Russell, Executive Director, NEDCC, talked about their recent initiatives: dPlan, the online Preservation 101 course, and a digital preservation toolkit.  All of these tools could be useful for planning and understanding the scope of various collection-related issues, particularly at smaller and less-funded institutions.

Peter Wosh, SAA Publications director, spoke about a proposal for the development of a preservation manual in the same vein as the SAA Archival Fundamentals series.  There was some discussion regarding single author vs. multiple chapters/authors under a single editor, with the conclusion that either model would work for this type of manual. Contact Peter if you’re interested in working on this project. Additionally, a document that was originally intended for archivists looking at building/renovation projects is available in draft form/PDF on the SAA website. Link here.

Kathleen Williams, Executive Director, NHPRC, discussed the current funding situation. Basically, funding for NHPRC must be reauthorized every five years by Congress. It has been approved by the House, and was supposed to be introduced in the Senate sometime after Labor Day. However, being an election year, it’s possible that funding will fall under a continuing resolution (with the previous funding amount) in order to operate while everyone is out there on the stump. While I was looking for the above legislation, I found a bill introduced in the House to strike a commemorative coin for the 75th anniversary of NARA and NHPRC in 2010– HR. 6300. It’s interesting to realize how young our National Archives really is, particularly in comparison to those of other countries.

After all of the announcements, there was a panel titled “The Drive to Digitize,” which was followed by some discussion. My notes are a bit scratchy at this point, so I’m hoping that others will help fill in any gaps.

Thomas Clareson, PALINET:

-stated that priority to preserve that is driving digitization, and that he felt rumors of the demise of preservation funding in favor of digitization grants were exaggerated

-Trends helping cause: IMLS focusing more on preservation- possibly as a result of the 2005 Heritage Health Index; implementation money

- Concern: current (dormant) status of stabilization grants

-Best way to advocate for more funding is to use currently available $.  Use LoC list of preservation-friendly funding institutions, LSTA library state funding for preservation

Kaye Lanning Minchew, Troup County Archives, GA (funding recipient)

-Discussed digitization project originally slated for access purposes that turned into a preservation project.

Susan Malbin, IMLS:

-Talked about the custodianship of digital surrogates, post-grant project, and the importance of outlining future plans for these in the grantwriting process.

-Mentioned National Leadership & Laura Bush grants (deadline 12/15)

Kathleen Williams, NHPRC:

-Discussed drivers for dunding decisions

-Projects: preservation (archives and manuscripts) and documentary projects; trying to meet goals of preservation and access

-Make case that digitization needs to fall within preservation continuum, not vacuum

Joel Wurl, NEH:

-Digitization at core of institutional debate over preservation and access

-Anecdotally, digital funding has had some impact on preservation funding; not much increase in total agency funding

-Attempting to ensure future availability of resources> challenge: how to best harness interest/resources?

-Caution in thinking of granting agencies as drivers rather than listeners/facilitators

The Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum in Philadelphia discovered what may be the missing third copy of the Confederate terms of surrender signed at Appomattox by Robert E. Lee in 1865. Where was it?

The Civil War & Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia has held the document since the early 20th century. It was pulled out of storage and re-evaluated as officials prepared for the museum’s shutdown Saturday ahead of its move to a new building.

Curator Andrew Coldren said he is certain that museum officials knew what they had when the document was donated but its significance was forgotten over time because of a lack of record keeping.

In a 1967 inventory, someone wrote “Copy??” in reference to the document.

Coldren said it had been glued to a cardboard backing and varnished, an apparent attempt to preserve it.

“Old photostat copies from the ’20s and ’30s are shiny like that, so this is why you’d think this is not a real document,” he said.

Coldren said museum officials examining the document recently noticed that the indentation of pens into the paper was visible. He said they also noticed that the ink on the document was darker and lighter in places, as would be expected with the pens used at the time. The lines on a photostat would be of consistent darkness.

Read the full AP article here.

Some quick thoughts:

This reminded me of the recent posts at Hanging Together and Archives Next addressing the topic “What are archives good for?” To play devil’s advocate for just a moment, what is the value of this document, particularly in it’s current state? Evidential? Informational? Intrinsic?

Do you have a disaster plan? When was it last updated? In case of an emergency, how useful would it be? These are just a few questions that apply to the situation in which museums, libraries, and archives found themselves over the past few weeks in Iowa, Minnesota, and other places affected by flooding.

Some photos from the University of Iowa Special Collections taken as they moved materials to higher parts of their building (photos from UI News Services photostream):

Volunteers sandbagging outside:

Moving collections to higher ground:

University of Iowa Museum of Art:

From the University of Iowa Libraries website:

Friday, June 13. Libraries administrators were notified that the Main Library would be evacuated. More than 150 staff members in the Main Library packed their belongings and prepared to disperse to other libraries and locations across campus.

Relocation of Special Collections and other difficult to replace materials continued through the efforts of hundreds of volunteers throughout the day and evening. Handing books along a “book brigade” that snaked down hallways and up stairwells, volunteers were able to move tens of thousands of books from storage including thousands of theses of University masters and doctoral candidates. One volunteer estimated that they were “passing nearly 100 books a minute.”

Sandbaggers built a dike along the west side of the Main Library and around the loading dock entrance.

From the University of Iowa Museum of Art website:

The University of Iowa Museum of Art will be closed until further notice due to flooding.

Working nearly non-stop during the week of June 9, we were able to evacuate artworks totaling approximately 99 percent of the value of our collection. That figure represents nearly 80 percent of the 13,000 works of art in our collection ­– all evacuated in less than four days.

This is an incredible success story, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the proactive planning of the University and the massive outpouring of support from UIMA and Pentacrest Museums staff, student employees, and volunteers.

Water levels have receded and recovery of the building is currently underway. Exhibitions and events scheduled to be held in the Museum during Fall 2008 are under review and further information will be posted to this Web site and to the UIMA blog as it becomes available. Up-to-date flood news is available at the University of Iowa Flood Information web page.

If this kind of threat emerged for your collection/building, what kind of volunteer brigade could you amass without much notice? Do you have contracts with disaster recovery companies as well as local companies to provide assistance? It looks like the University of Iowa had enough time and volunteers to be able to save quite a lot of their collections. However, some other collections were not as lucky. From an art brief in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

For the past 7 days I’ve been in Cedar Rapids, Iowa working on a project and just happen to be here during the terrible recent floods. A brief report about the conditions here of the local museums:

I reported for Red Cross duty last week and have been translating for the Hispanic community and helping where I could. I have to go to another site for work now, so this will be my only report to you about conditions.

Internet service has had its ups and downs. About 4,000 homes damaged, and more rain to come.

The University of Iowa Art Museum took four feet of water. There is major damage on campus, but the art collection is mostly safe, I was told.

Cedar Rapids Art Museum was just above flood plane, the mostly safe Czech-Slovak Museum was 15 feet under water, with major damage, though the collections are mostly safe. Very sad. The African American Museum of Cedar Rapids had 15-18 feet of water and damage. The Seminole Valley Heritage Farm had major damage.

The Marion Historical Society is all safe

The Grant Wood Studio is completely safe.

The Granger House is all safe

The Kalona Heritage Village in Iowa City is safe.

Brucemore House is OK.

I’m sure your assistance will be needed, and I hope this brief report is of assistance to you. I’m exhausted and worn out by the recent events.

They will need your expert help. Pray for these people and these communities.

Tony Rajer, art conservator