Every year, cultural organizations take time on May 1st to assess their emergency preparedness. This MayDay, the American Association for State and Local History encourages you to take at least a few moments to evaluate your readiness to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies, and to “Do One Thing for Emergency Preparedness.”Making sure that emergency procedures are in place and updated can prevent loss of collections or damage to historical structures and landscapes.
There are many groups and resources available to help organizations protect their collections and facilities against natural disasters. Below are a few to browse ahead of time, and keep on hand in case of emergency. Once you have a Disaster Plan in place, check out the AASLH blog post “I have a Disaster Plan. Now What?”
Groups:
- Heritage Emergency National Task Force
- Alliance for Response
- AIC-CERT (American Institute for Conservation – Collections Emergency Response Team) for 24-hour assistance from trained volunteers, call (202) 661-8068
- Northeast Document Conservation Center: for 24-hour assistance from NEDCC staff, call (978) 470-1010
- COSTEP: Coordinated Statewide Emergency Preparedness
MayDay Activities and Ideas:
- from the Society of American Archivists
- MayDay and year-round emergency preparedness information from the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Emergency Preparedness Resources:
- Building an Emergency Planby the Getty Conservation Institute
- Emergency Planning from the NPS Museum Handbook
- Emergency Preparedness Resources from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training
- Are You Prepared? A Guide to Emergency Planning by the Nebraska State Historical Society
- Developing a Disaster Preparedness/Emergency Response Plan by AAM
- Select Resources for Disaster Prevention, Preparedness, and Response for Archives, Museums, and Libraries from the Smithsonian
- Getting Ready in Indian Country: Emergency Preparedness and Response for Native American Cultural Resources
- 20 Emergency Funding Sources for Nonprofits by Tom Triplett and Alexis Cress, Fieldstone Alliance
- An Emergency Response Framework for the Cultural Communityby COSTEP and the Northeast Document Conservation Center
- Disaster Preparedness Clearinghouse by ALCTS
Sample Documents:
- “Tribal Historic Resources Office Emergency Plan” by the Ah-TaH-Thi-Ki Museum
- Sample Emergency Plan for Offsite Collections Storage Facility by the Historical Society of Central Florida
- Emergency Preparedness and Recovery Plan by the Minnesota Historical Society
- Sample Emergency Response Chain of Command Chart by the Chester County Historical Society
