California Wet Salvage Workshop (Palm Springs)

The “Ready—Or Not”: Cultural Heritage Disaster Preparedness Project provides free emergency preparedness services to California organizations that care for cultural and historic resources. This project is supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

This in-person workshop will introduce key concepts of disaster recovery including risk assessment, preparedness, response procedures, and recovery actions. Participants will talk through two disaster scenarios with their peers and practice wet salvage techniques. In-person training with a preservation expert is a kinetic learning experience that offers a powerful supplement to updating and reviewing an institution’s disaster plan. Participants will leave the training with an understanding of how a disaster would physically impact their collections and how they can be “first responders” for collections salvage.

Participants will: 

• Receive training in risk assessment and mitigation, emergency preparedness and response, and related emergency planning topics; 
• Build relationships with nearby institutions to facilitate collaboration, e.g. on policy building and supply purchases;  
• Walk through an instructor-facilitated scenario (table-top exercise) to simulate the experience of responding to a disaster;  
• Acquire hands-on experience with salvage techniques for water emergencies, focusing on formats commonly found in cultural collections, including books, documents, photographs, and audiovisual materials; and 
• Gain an understanding of how disasters can physically impact their collections and how they can be “first responders” for collections salvage. 

Who Should Attend 

These workshops are open to individuals working in California cultural heritage organizations, such as libraries, archives, museums, and historical societies; government departments; state historic parks; cultural centers; tribal nations; county clerks; and others taking care of California’s natural and cultural resources.

Advance registration is required.

Once registration is full, registrants will be placed on a waitlist.

No more than two individuals per organization may register.

Funding is available to offset travel costs.

There is 1-hour lunch break with restaurants nearby.

Location

Agua Caliente Cultural Center and Museum, Palm Springs, CA