Museums have a responsibility to the preservation of the objects in its collection. For that reason, every museum should have a disaster plan in place. Included are the major components that should make up a museum's emergency plan. This plan should be produced in multiple copies and given to key staff members who are responsible for the collection. Keeping a copy at home in case the museum isn't accessible in an emergency is a good idea.
Make a phone tree. Identify who are the primary emergency coordinator, building supervisor, facilities staff, artifact recovery team, conservators, local emergency management office, fire and police departments and insurance representative. Keep this list up-to-date.
Create a list of the types of material that is in collection. Textiles, photographs, film, fossils, taxidermy, rare books; these are just a small sampling of the diversity of materials stored in a museums collection. The disaster plan should outline how to handle salvage and conservation for different types of objects in the collection.
Make sure insurance documentation is available. Keep this information available in a safe off-site location.
Think through what types of disasters can occur. Examples include fire, flooding, mold, pests, earthquake, volcanic eruption, theft. Each of these different topics need to be addressed in the disaster plan.
Put together a disaster kit that includes plastic sheeting, brooms, boxes, fans, camera, flashlights, garbage bags, wet dry vac--anything you can think that might come in handy during an emergency.
Photograph the objects in the collection. Having photographs of each of the objects can help the recovery team identify items and may be necessary for insurance purposes.
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