October 16, 2014
The devastation wreaked on New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina had a profound effect on the city’s museum collections and historic sites. More recent political instability in the Middle East has threatened archaeological sites and museum collections in several countries.
This workshop will examine past practices and explore potential future responses to extreme (but not necessarily unpredictable) events such as hurricanes, floods, fires, earthquakes, war, and terror. What steps can museums and other professionals take to safeguard collections and sites in advance of such incidents, and how might we best respond in their aftermath? What resources for assistance (both public and private) are available before, during, and after such crises? What lessons have we learned from recent events, and what recommendations can we make for the future?
MODERATORS: Laetitia La Follette, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Vice President for Professional Responsibilities, and Kenneth Lapatin, Chair, Museums and Exhibitions Committee
PANELISTS: Dawn Hammatt, Jerry Podany, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Susan Taylor, New Orleans Museum of Art, Michael (Sonny) Trimble, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Center of Expertise for Curation and Management of Archaeological Collections, Rachel Watson, Louisiana Office of Cultural Development, and Corine Wegener, Smithsonian Institution
