Keep Calm & Carry On

Disaster Preparedness

Keep Calm & Carry On

Disaster Response

Quiz 1:

Quiz 2:

A sprinkler head breaks and showers two faces of shelving that have medium-rare, leather-bound books on one side and priceless ceramic and glass artifacts on the other with a small collection of trinket boxes made of shell and metal.

What is your salvage priority order?

A. Leather bound books

B. Priceless ceramic and glass artifacts

C. Shell and metal clasp and hinged trinket boxes

Salvage Triage Definition

Planning & Preparation

Heavy rains have flooded your basement records storage area that contain vital records. Everything is under a foot of water including your server, paper records, and microfiche files.

What is your salvage priority order?

A. Pack your server for shipment to a recovery vendor

B. Pack and freeze your paper records

C. Pack and freeze your microfilm

• Emergency phone tree w/disaster team members
• Disaster response training
• Disaster response supplies & list of vendors
• Instructions for response & recovery
• Logistics for inventorying and moving collections
• Identified workspaces
• Collection priorities
• Building & floor plans

• Sorting and prioritizing the rescue of damaged administrative records and collection materials
• What should and can be saved with the time, staff, funds, etc. that you have
• Based on:
• collection priorities
• sensitivity of materials
• extent of damage
• resources available

dPlan™

Evacuation & Emergency Procedures

• Deal with safety issues first
• Make sure everyone is accounted for
• Phone tree--make phone calls
• administration & other stakeholders
• recall staff & volunteers
• supply vendors
• service vendors
• Initiate your Operational Continuity Plan

Quiz 3:

A roof leak has affected several rows of shelving. The top row of cloth-bound books printed on uncoated paper are saturated and several of the volumes have severe mold growth (see photo). The second row of thick, cloth-bound serials printed on glossy paper are wet about 2” in from the edges of the pages. The third row of leather-bound books printed on uncoated paper are damp. Pick the salvage option you would pursue for each row, and then place the action in order of salvage priority.

Assessment

• Reenter the building when okay to do so
• Environment--power & climate control?
• How much time has elapsed?
• What collections were affected?
• What is the magnitude of the disaster?
• Document overall physical state of collections including photographic documentation

Quiz 3 cont.:

Disaster

Strikes

Row #1: (Choose one salvage action)

A. Freeze the entire row

B .Discard the moldy items and freeze the remaining books

C .Discard the moldy items and fan out the remaining books to air dry

Row #2: (Choose one salvage action)

A. Freeze the books

B .Fan out the books to air dry

C .Interleave the pages with paper towels

Row #3: (Choose one salvage action)

A .Freeze the books

B .Fan out the books to air dry

C .Interleave the pages with paper towels

Order of salvage action (list row numbers):

First Row #___, then Row #___, and finally Row #___.

Disaster

Salvage Triage

Salvage Options

• Air-drying
• Interleaving/Blotting
• Dehumidification/Desiccant
• Freezing/Freeze drying
• Vacuum freeze drying
• Submerging in water
• Ignoring/Tossing

Film based

Electronic storage

Wood Objects & Furniture

3-D Objects

• Floppies--magnetic media
• air dry w/in 48 hrs
• or rinse & keep wet & upright up to 72 hrs
• Optical--CD/DVD, WORM
• clean & air dry w/in 48 hrs
• or rinse in cases & keep wet in cool water

Sensitivity

• Porous
• Dimensionally unstable
• May be composite object
• Varnish / paint may deteriorate or bloom
• Veneers may lift
• Cracking, splitting, warping may occur

General rules

• Organic material more vulnerable
• Inorganic material less vulverable
• Composite & complex objects tend to be more vulnerable and problematic

• Magnetic reel-to-reel--A/V, data storage
• air dry w/in 48 hrs
• NEVER freeze

• Microfiche & Film negatives
• freeze or air dry w/in 48 hrs
• NEVER freeze OLD negatives

• Microfilm & Motion picutre film
• keep wet until rewashed & air dry w/in 72 hrs
• NEVER freeze

• Hard drives
• keep wet, do not rinse
• pack drives well and take to data recovery service
• or on the cheap, open case, air dry and hope for the best
• Flash drives
• air dry?

Q & A

Paintings

Sensitivity

• Mold
• Canvas supports can be tensioned
• Wooden supports can warp & split
• Large paintings will be very heavy when wet
• Varnishes can blanch / bloom and be sensitive to abrasion
• Canvas supports expand & contract

Salvage priorities

The Matrix

Recorded Media

• Film based
• Magnetic media
• Electronic storage

Salvage Triage

• Sensitivity of Materials
• Collection Salvage Priorities
• Severity of Damage
• Documenting the information
• The Matrix

Metals, Stone, Glass, Ceramics

Metals

• Emergency Response & Salvage Wheel
• Field Guide to Emergency Response
• Minnesota Historical Society Disaster Resources:
• www.mnhs.org/preserve/conservation/disaster_resources.htm
• NARA Disaster Response & Recovery
• www.archives.gov/preservation/disaster-response/
• National Park Service Wet Recovery
• www.nps.gov/hfc/products/cons/wet-recovery.htm

Sensitivity

• Corrosion can proceed quickly in damp conditions
• Corrosion such as rust can stain nearby objects

Conclusion

Stone & Glass

Sensitivity

• Generally stable
• Archaeological & deteriorated materials are exceptions
• Handling may be biggest issue for glass & heavy stone objects

Begin Salvage Process!

AIC-CERT

American Institute for Conservation

Collections Emergency Response Team

Introduction of AIC-CERT for FAIC Emergency Planning and Mitigation Strategies Workshops 2012.

Prepared by Beth Antoine, AIC-CERT Coordinator.

Ceramics

Additional resources:

Sensitivity

• Ceramics are generally less vulnerable
• Lower-fired ceramic object is more vulnerable to water damage

Salvage priorities

3-D objects

• Furniture/Wood
• Paintings
• Metals/Stone/Glass/Ceramics

Natural History

Skin and Leather Products

Natural History Collections

Sensitivity

• Many minerals are water soluble
• Restored fossils may separate at repair lines, bones may crack
• Herbarium specimens may come loose from sheets
• Labels come loose from objects

Concerns

Establishing Priorities

Sample Priority List & Floorplans

Skin and Leather

Sensitivity

• Untanned, semi-tanned or fully tanned can all be damaged by water
• Untanned will shrink, stiffen, thicken, cockle & discolor or disintegrate / gelatinize
• Semi-tanned leather can be just as sensitive as untanned

Salvage priorities

Paper-based Materials

• Books
• Documents
• Art on paper
• Photographs

Media (Inks, etc.)

Textiles

• Collections that most directly support the institution's mission
• Items on loan to the institution
• Collections needed for continuity of operations--vital records, administrative records, reference collections, information not available electronically
• Unique or difficult-to-replace collections or items
• Research collections
• Monetarily valuable items
• Provenance
• Other criteria?

Severity of Damage

Photographs: Potential Problems

Paper

Media

Salvage: What To Do

Photographs

Books

Books: Potential Problems

Thank you!

Modern vs. Historic

The Big Question: Glossy vs. Uncoated

• Damage to image layer
• Curling
• Blocking
• Warping/tearing
• Mold growth

Some Types:

• Printing inks
• Writing inks
• Graphite (pencil)
• Pastels/Charcoals
• Watercolors

• Silver gelatin
• Color prints
• Digital prints

• Composite
• Functioning
• Porous
• Hygroscopic

• Loss of function
• Stench
• Staining/tidelines
• Loss of media
• Blocking
• Cockling/warping
• Mold growth

• Albumen
• Collodion
• Dageurrotypes
• Tintypes
• Ambrotypes
• Etc.

Potential Problems:

• Blocking
• Cockling
• Staining/tidelines
• Loss of media
• Mold growth

• Time

few hours--half day--one day--days/weeks

• Type of damage

sooty/dirty--physical damage--wet--moldy/charred/crushed

• Extent of damage

dirty & dry--damp & muddy--soaked & caked in mud

dented--warped & failing--in pieces

• Air dry
• Blotter dry
• Interleave
• Freeze

Sensitivities:

• Light-sensitive?
• Water-soluble?
• Friable?

Potential Problems:

• Fading
• Haloing/Bleeding
• Flaking/Loss

Hilary Seo, Head of Preservation

Iowa State University

hseo@iastate.edu

Pete Sixbey, Conservator

State Historical Society of Iowa

Pete.Sixbey@iowa.gov

Melissa Tedone, Conservator

Iowa State University

tedone@iastate.edu