In the interest of preserving and salvaging heritage artifacts in the event of environmental crises, the Burnaby Village Museum co-hosted an online workshop to share some history-preserving techniques.
Last weekend the museum’s conservator, Liz Czerwinski, co-hosted the four-hour workshop presented by New York University where participants did a hands-on salvage of a mini emergency. The session was led by members of the British Columbia Heritage Emergency Response Network (BC HERN), an association of cultural institutions that believe the best line of defence in an emergency is preparedness, salvage training, and mutual support.
According to a Facebook post documenting the workshop, the Burnaby Village Museum has supported the BC HERN since 2016. Czerwinski is a founding member and zone lead for Lower Mainland East and Lower Fraser Valley. As such Czerwinski is responsible for maintaining salvage supplies in a shared emergency response kit and for providing support and contact for cultural organizations within the zone.
“We are now living with COVID and the impact that has on our personal life and our cultural community,” the BC HERN website reads. “As a result of climate change, wildfires, floods, and destructive storms are becoming common events, adding to the known risk of earthquakes in British Columbia. All of these pose a serious threat to museums, art galleries, and other cultural institutions.”
Participants of the workshop walked through what constitutes an emergency for a museum and what goes into the four provincial BC HERN salvage kits deployed throughout BC. Pending successful funding, another two kits will be added this year.
The kit contains various supplies including PPE supplies that will help responders stay physically safe; tools and supplies to create a safe workspace for triage and salvage; and packing materials to help safely refrigerate and freeze collections that need to wait for specialized care.
If you would like to learn more, BC HERN is hosting its own workshop on April 18-19. For more information, you can check out BC HERN's website.
