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May 2017September 2017 workshop announcement
Assessing and managing risks to your collections A two-day workshop with R. Robert Waller Protect Heritage Corp. in association with the National Museum of Denmark September 1st and 2nd 2017 Workshop announcement Today, preventive conservation has become a leading theme in all fields of cultural property. Useful scientific and technical knowledge continues to grow but is often incorporated in current practice slowly, incorrectly, or not at…
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Dec 2015Natural Hazard Teaching Materials
NBC Learn, in partnership with the National Science Foundation and The Weather Channel, has recently made 10 short (about 5 minutes) videos available. Each segment explains the basic science behind the world’s worst natural disasters. These could be useful as additional citations for a conservation report or as insertions into talks about emergency preparedness. They are well-produced and entertaining, as well as informative. The videos are available…
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Nov 2015Protect Your Future
There are many popular expressions encouraging us to prepare for emergency situations to reduce their impact. As Malcolm Sparrow has well explained in his book The Character of Harms, a major challenge in loss prevention fields of any sort is ensuring continued support for investments that lower risks. The continuing outlay of resources that ensure (bad) things don’t happen seems less attractive than investing in…
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Oct 2015Congratulations to AAMD: a new initiative to safeguard heritage
In consideration of the scale of destruction of cultural property in recent times the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) has recently published protocols for Safe Havens for Works of Cultural Significance from Countries in Crisis. These provide a guide to help cultural institutions safeguard irreplaceable artworks and archaeological treasures from damage, destruction, and looting during violent conflicts and other crises. They provide for safe…
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Oct 2015Foundations of Risk Analysis
The Society for Risk Analysis invites you to take advantage of free access to a Special Virtual Issue of the Journal Risk Analysis: “Foundations of Risk Analysis.” This will be freely available through the remainder of 2015 at the Wiley Online Library site here. This special issue, edited by Terje Aven and Louis Anthony (Tony) Cox, Jr., includes 28 contributions from past issues of Risk…
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Dec 2014Dissociation – losing our mind(s)
or the importance of professional collection care Preserving objects requires: seeing the objects as having value keeping the objects safe and secure Human remains are almost universally seen as having value, certainly in a Western culture. So how is it possible that approximately 100 human brains were lost? Or, as clarified in a press release (December 3, 2014), how could these samples have been deemed biological waste…
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Oct 2014World Disasters Report 2014 – Focus on Culture and Risk
Learning about multiple rationalities and risk reduction All over the world, communities live exposed to hazards and disasters. And each community has its own cultural heritage to protect. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) released its World Disasters Report 2014 – Focus on Culture and Risk on October 16. These reports, which focus on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), are a…
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Jun 2014Is your investment in emergency preparedness growing with the challenge?
Over just the last three decades, the average annual cost of natural disasters has quadrupled. At the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction and Management, Kristina Georgieva — European Commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis response — reported that only 4% of spending on natural disasters is directed to preparedness. While we don’t know what the investment ratio is for heritage organizations,…
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May 2014Cyber Attacks: The Newest Threat to Cultural Property
In the digital age, a new threat presents risks to our cultural collections. With the rise of cyber attacks, heritage protection professionals must ask new questions to ensure the safety of their collections. Is your collection’s digital data backed up and safeguarded by up-to-date security? Meticulous records and digital files can be swept away, impossible to recover or replace. Within the comprehensive Cultural Property Risk…
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Mar 2014Protect Your Collection from Adverse Environmental Conditions – Sustainably!
Are you a small institution with a mixed collection? Do you want to better understand temperature and humidity requirements for your collection? Are you committed to a sustainable future? Protect Heritage is pleased to announce the launch of a new service! Environment impacts every aspect of collection preservation. Without an organized understanding of your collection’s environmental requirements, you may be spending unnecessary energy and resources, or…