AIC's 44th Annual Meeting

Soon after the planes hit the twin towers in New York City in 2001 the Disaster Preparedness Team was re-established at the MFA, Boston. I have been fortunate to be included in this committee and have worked hard to help establish and move our goals forward. Disaster Planning is an extra but necessary task for all of us at the museum. The focus of the Emergency Disaster Committee has been divided into three categories: • Updates and Revisions of The MFA Disaster Preparedness Plan • Preparedness: Training and Supplies • Communication This presentation will initially look at disaster planning through a broad spectrum. Examining items important to the overall plan that directly link to the individual Emergency Action Plans for each division. Examples to be included are: • Inclusion of FEMA’s, Incident Command Structure • Human Resource integration into the Logistics Division of the plan • The inclusion of both information services and security for communication both on a MFA global level as well for the team itself • Most importantly the support of the administration and the MFA community, both fiscally and verbally. The MFA, Boston includes the challenges of an off-site facility, where a third of the textile and costume collection are stored, equally important to our task. The Disaster Plan at the MFA needs to always be seen as a document in process, adapting to changes set forth by personal, state and governmental modifications., often due to lessons learned along the way. This document includes Emergency Action Plans for individual departments but also for each division of conservation, of which there are seven. The department of Conservation and Collection’s Management has been an important contributor over the years to our preparedness goals. Many individuals at this meeting today have been instrumental in establishing and acquiring needed supplies, stored throughout the building. This includes supplies necessary for our “Backpack Team”, ready at a moment notice to quickly get to an individual incident or gallery around the building. I will illustrate how our Emergency Action Plans work using the plan for the collection of Textiles and Fashion Arts. This is an example of where conservation and curatorial have constant communication on a regular basis, both due to location as well as oversight of the collection. Working together has been essential over the years for both training as well as during individual incidents. This paper will conclude with a discussion of recovery guidelines for textiles established in this EAP.