I have nothing but the highest regard for Brigid Sullivan and all of the
staff conservators who work for the National Park Service (NPS). I appreciate her
informing the list as to the particulars of the response to the recent
Disaster at Jamestown. I have been involved in a couple of disasters with flooded
collections and I really can attest to the professionalism and dedication of
everyone who responds in times of crisis.

My only commentary about the situation that occurred at Jamestown echoes that
of many of the archaeologists who were quoted in the article, many of whom I
know personally, is that this event was a foreseeable circumstance. I lived
near Jamestown for almost twenty years and for several of them I lived directly
across the James River and could view the island from my house in Scotland
Wharf. Jamestown island exists at sea level or a few scant feet above. It has
suffered from repeated flooding and erosion from the James River which is almost
a mile wide at that point. Eastern Virginia always has a near miss with a
hurricane or two every year and was overdue for a direct hit - and the track of
hurricane Isabel was classic - this was not a storm that took a sudden and
unexpected turn.

To have a visitor center within yards of the riverfront and house the core of
the collections in a deep basement which has a row of windows and a door on
it's north side is inviting a disaster. Small scale floods into that basement
were a regular occurrence. Sandbags have been positioned outside of the
building for years. The neighbors of the NPS on the Island is the Association for the
Preservation of Virginia Antiquities (APVA) and they recognized the threat
from flooding to their collections and exercised the due diligence to raise the
funds and build an engineered storm vault to house their collections. I also
know that several of the Park's personnel had concerns about the situation,
yet, for whatever reason within the hierarchy of the NPS, no action was taken to
anticipate an event such as Isabel. This was not a hidden disaster that had
more subtle origins such as a water pipe hidden by a drop ceiling - it would not
take a theoretical physicist to guess that a major flood or storm had the
likely potential to slam this collection. I know that the NPS in partnership with
the APVA was just starting on a new visitor center and collections building -
but this was driven by the upcoming 2007 anniversary of Jamestown's founding
and not on the threat to the collection. Even if you are planning a new
building with vast improvements in storage that does not lift you from your
responsibility to prevent what could occur now, instead of years from now.

I also recognize that due to the swift and professional response that there
is a good likelihood that no artifacts will be "lost", but they are certainly
seriously impacted, both in terms of access and future preservation. A disaster
is still a disaster. And the estimated cost to the US taxpayers has been
estimated in the millions.

Certainly it is responsible to ask questions about whether a realistic risk
assessment was in hand and in how prepared the NPS was for this "bad luck"
storm. I read today that the Cultural Resource Protection Service of the NPS has
launched an investigation and will be producing a public report on the issues
raised in this disaster.

As many of you can tell, I rather dislike seeing collections and collections
intensive areas (such as conservation) placed in basements. Throughout the
past century museums and cultural institutions have added vastly more functions
to our buildings - what once was a repository of collections and scholars and
galleries has become a gift shop, restaurant, theater, and sometimes IMAX
mega-movie house. In the politics of planning of these buildings often collections
storage and associated functions get relegated to the lower regions with the
rationale being that the sexier functions that attract and keep audiences
should be first and foremost and that administrative offices are also needed above
the water table. Buildings are certainly compromises between various interests
but I think that we are all educated enough to understand that if you
build-in a risk that one day it may visit you when you don't expect it - after all,
who expects "bad luck"?

So again, I propose that the real issue and lesson of this lies in risk
assessment and preparedness and not in response. As a matter of fact, I think that
cultural institutions have gotten quite skilled at response, but that is
ultimately an exercise in the cat chasing its tail.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
[log in to unmask]

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).