CONSERVATION COLUMN

Q:
IF A DISASTER OCCURS IN MY ARCHIVES, HOW WILL I KNOW WHAT TO DO?

by Cynthia Ball

The May 1997 issue of the Western Association for Art Conservation (WAAC) contained two valuable emergency recovery tools -- an article entitled "Salvage Operations for Water Damaged Archival Collections: a Second Glance" and a 17" by 22" summary chart entitled "Salvage at a Glance". This material was first created as part of the British Columbia Information Management Services (formerly the B.C. Archives and Records Service) disaster preparedness plan and has been further developed by Betty Walsh, conservator for British Columbia Information Management Services.

The article and chart reflect a compilation of both research about and experience with water-damaged materials. The article provides general advice about how to begin to deal with disasters of various scales. This is followed by detailed guidelines for the packing of various archival materials. The overview of drying operations and specific recovery methods for each type of media will simplify the decisions that have to be made by an emergency response team.

The "Salvage at a Glance" poster provides a concise, yet detailed description of handling precautions, as well as packing and drying methods for a wide variety of archival materials, including paper documents and manuscripts, maps, books, parchment and vellum manuscripts, works of art on paper, paintings, computer media, compact discs, photographic materials, and microforms. AND the chart is printed on Kimdura, a synthetic paper which is waterproof as well as resistant to stains, grease, ultraviolet radiation, and tears.

The article and summary chart will be available from a Canadian source early in 1998. In the meantime, a copy of the May 1997 issue of the Western Association for Art conservation newsletter can be obtained for $10.00 U.S. from: Chris Stavroudis, 1272 N. Flores Street, Los Angeles, California 90069. Cheques should be made payable to WAAC. This dynamic duo, the article and chart, would be a valuable resource for any archives!