A friend of mine is a senior conservator with the National Park
Service.  She has asked me to share this note with you to clarify some of
the items in the newspaper coverage:


From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Jamestown disaster
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
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Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 13:18:44 -0400
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To:  Museum Discussion List

Because disaster preparedness and recovery is such an important topic in
the museum community today, I would like to respond to the article from The
Daily Press regarding the recent Jamestown disaster that was posted on the
Museum Discussion List.  Upon reading the article, I realized that the
reporter was unaware of National Park Service recovery efforts immediately
after the disaster.  I was a member of the first recovery team on-site, and
the Museum List readers might be interested to learn of the sequence of
events in the recovery effort.

     The site was hit by Isabel's full force late on a Thursday night, and
    when the park staff was able to reach the site on Friday afternoon, the
    Cultural Resources Management Specialist called the Northeast Museum
    Services Center (NMSC) for immediate assistance.
    The Northeast Museum Services Center contacted the Northeast Document
    Conservation Center Field Services and upon their recommendation, BMS
    CAT, a professional disaster recovery organization based in Fort Worth,
    Texas, (who were contracted for the salvage of the Pentagon Library on
    September 11 among other large projects) was contracted Friday night for
    on-site salvage.
    BMS CAT was contracted and by Friday night, a truck with generator,
    basic salvage equipment and a team of professionals experienced in
    post-disaster security and recovery left for Jamestown.
    An NMSC  team consisting of two archivists, an archeologist, an objects
    conservator and a lead curator, all with training in disaster recovery,
    was organized on Saturday and deployed to Richmond on Sunday.  The team
    purchased supplies in Richmond and drove to their  Williamsburg area
    motel where they were joined by another archivist from Gettysburg NMP.
    BMS CAT arrived at the site Sunday night, set up generators, wired
    lighting,  pumped the 6 to 8 inched of water that remained from the five
    foot high water level when the tidal water receded, and began to
    dehumidify the building with forced hot air ducted through plastic sheet
    duct work.
    The NMSC team arrived on Monday morning and began triage of collections
    at highest risk for loss.  The most vulnerable collections were
    paper-based and film-based  collections. Paper collections, due the 48
    hour window from wetting to widespread mold,  metals due to their
    vulnerability to  accelerated galvanic corrosion in saline water, and
    porous materials such as decorative oyster shell plaster and refitted
    ceramics due to their vulnerability to damage by salt hydration cycling
    causing efflorescence and spalling were the focus of the initial
    response effort.
    Paintings and rare oyster shell ornamental plaster were immediately
    removed from the basement.
    APVA archeologists and Jamestown Rediscovery Curator arrived at the site
    on late Tuesday morning to volunteer assistance and equipment  and were
    teamed with NMSC staff to continue the recovery effort.   The recovery
    plan was in place before they arrived.
    Work space was organized outside for drying washed metal and sturdy
    ceramics in the sun.
     Large paper memorial documents and prints were washed and wick dried.
    On Tuesday afternoon, NPS professional staff from the Museum
    Archeological Repository Storage (MARS) facility came down from Maryland
    with a truck full of additional triage and packing supplies.
    On Tuesday afternoon, the BMS CAT deionized water truck arrived at the
    site to facilitate continued washing.
    On Wednesday morning, a freezer truck arrived and all paper-based and
    film-based collections now submerged in clean water were loaded.
    On Wednesday morning, the NPS Incident Management Team arrived on-site .
    It was determined that the building be closed and all objects in storage
    and exhibit be moved to a warehouse adjacent to Petersburg National
    Battlefield in Virginia,
    A packing protocol for large ceramics was developed and demonstrated to
    APVA volunteers and designated BMS CATstaff.
    Three NMSC team members returned to Boston on Wednesday night after
    three 12 hour days without break.  The fourth returned on Friday after a
    cross-over and information exchange with the newly arrived NMSC Director
    and Chief Curator of the NPS National Capitol Region who are still
    on-site in Petersburg directing the continued recovery effort.

The sustained effort of the NPS recovery team during the crucial early days
following the disaster means that  virtually all of the objects will
survive.  The disaster response began on Friday directly after the call
from the Park .  The paper-based material at highest risk of loss is now at
the BMS CAT in Fort Worth for freeze-drying.  Film-based material is at a
specialized conservation facility in Gaithersburg MD.  The archeological
collections now at Petersburg are being systematically washed, dried,
repacked and inventoried.  At this time, the triage effort in Petersburg is
2/3 completed.

Brigid Sullivan
Chief Conservator, Collections Conservation Branch
Northeast Cultural Resources Center
(978) 970-5160
FAX (978)970-5121
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Susan Cronin Ruderman, Ed.M., Vice President
VERITAS INFORMATION SERVICES, 9 Alton St., Arlington, MA  02474
(781) 643-7811; (781) 643-1136 (fax) mailto:[log in to unmask]
Fundraising Research Consulting http://www.veritasinfo.com
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