Disaster Response and Collections Salvage Workshop

FAIN: PG-51256-11

Heritage Museums and Gardens (Sandwich, MA 02563-2110)
Jennifer Yunginger Madden (Project Director: May 2010 to September 2012)

Specialized training in disaster response and collection salvage for staff of the museum, which has approximately 13,000 historical objects, including a carousel, antique automobiles, military miniatures, early firearms and tools, and various types of American art, such as bird carvings, ceramics, glass, baskets, lithographs, and paintings. Staff from neighboring historical organizations would be invited to attend the workshop.

This Preservation Assistance Grant would support the preservation of Heritage Museums & Gardens' collections through specialized training and a workshop in collections salvage by MJ Davis as recommended in the museum's recent Conservation Assessment Program report. The workshop, which would be open for up to thirty staff members and volunteers from local museums at no charge to them, would focus on emergency response and wet collections salvage. The second day of the consultant's visit would focus specifically on familiarizing local first responders to Heritage's emergency response plan, and learning from them how Heritage fits into the regional plans already in place. This day would also include a mock emergency scenario. This workshop would further the museum's efforts to care for its collections in the best manner possible.