A Report on the Environmental Dangers Posed to Archival Collections

By M.J. Prest
Senior Editor, Solutions

February 23, 2006 | Read Time: 1 minute

A Public Trust at Risk: The Heritage Health Index Report on the State of America’s Collections, assesses the storage conditions of historic artifacts in American museums and libraries. The survey, sponsored by Heritage Preservation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, found a need for better control of air temperature, humidity, and light in a quarter of the 30,000 archival institutes in the United States. Sixty-five percent of those institutions reported damage to some part of a collection because items had been improperly stored. What’s more, 80 percent of museums and libraries do not have contingency plans for floods, leaking pipes, and other emergencies.

Publisher: Heritage Preservation, 1012 14th Street, N.W., Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20005; (202) 233-0800; fax (202) 233-0807; http://www.heritagepreservation.org; 18 pages; available free for download on the organization’s Web site.

About the Author

M.J. Prest

Senior Editor, Solutions

M.J. Prest is senior editor for solutions at the Chronicle of Philanthropy, where she highlights how nonprofit leaders navigate and overcome major challenges. She has covered stories on big gifts, grant making, and executive moves for the Chronicle since 2004. Her work has also appeared in the Washington Post, Slate.com, and the Huffington Post, and she wrote the young-adult novel Immersion. M.J. graduated from Williams College and after living in many different places, she settled in New England with her husband, two kids, and two rescue dogs.