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When Disaster Strikes: Lessons Learned (and survived) “Which painting in the National Gallery would I save if there was a fire? The one nearest the door of course.” — attributed to George Bernard Shaw When I first heard about Brazil’s loss my mind recalled the evening of December 17th, 2003. I received a phone call that the Oshawa Museum was on fire and I needed to attend the scene as soon as possible. Fortunately, in our case the damage was restricted to the office areas of the building, and largely spared the archival collection. However, the experience of dealing with a disaster of this scope taught me important lessons which I think would be useful to the museum community. Have a disaster plan and update it regularly. A current disaster plan is crucial to deploying a rapid response in the face of a disaster. At the very least have a list of staff contacts and local colleagues you can call on at any time of the day or night for help. Set clear priorities. Create a list of the most important artifacts in each room of the museum. Mark the significant artifacts in the archives with fluorescent stickers on their storage boxes for easy identification. As the first staff member on the scene, you may be asked by the fire personnel what they should save if possible. Invest in good quality storage materials. There is a reason why archival grade storage boxes are so expensive and that is because they work. Convince your board or those making budget decisions that a good quality storage options are necessary; they can be the difference between your artifacts surviving a disaster or being lost. The fire at the Oshawa Museum was without a doubt the most challenging time of my career, however we were able to come out the other side stronger and better than before. Of course, there is no way to prepare for every potential disaster but situations such as the devastating loss in Brazil should act as a catalyst for change on the local as well as the federal level to ensure our nation’s heritage is safeguarded across the country. M |
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