When Disaster Strikes: Environmental Impacts on Collections Preservation

Cultural heritage collections are threatened resources. Climate change exacerbates physical risk posed by insufficient facilities and infrastructure. Many museums, repositories, and collections facilities worldwide are ill-equipped to handle increased frequency of natural disasters exemplified by recent flooding in Louisiana, wildfires in California and Arizona, Super storm Sandy, and Hurricane Katrina. New collections of fragile, perishable, and organic materials rescued from sites facing imminent destruction encounter poor refuge in overburdened, vulnerable facilities. While collections may be "saved" via excavation, future research, education, and public outreach remain imperiled if the facilities to house these new collections are sub-standard. Most repositories are inadequately prepared for and therefore susceptible to the gamut of natural disasters. Confronting these challenges offers the opportunity to develop collaborative solutions that will not only benefit heritage preservation across the world, but also enrich research relevant to that changing world. This symposium brings together international experience and expertise focused on more effective planning for response to climate threats and the preservation challenges they pose.