Mary Jane,

The recovery of historic objects and structures, and art objects from
the aftermath of a fire and the discharge of water systems and
extinguishers is really best left for conservators to perform a quick
survey, triage, and to manage what needs immediate attention and what
can wait. The approach really depends on the materials invovled and
there is not one approach that work for everything in a collection and
historic building. Often insurance companies will push commercial
firms into the main recovery role often to the detriment of
collections and structures because their approaches are often suited
for the average home. This is why having a disaster plan (with a list
of recovery companies experienced with art and cultural materials
resources) along with doing disaster recovery training and drills can
really pay off when that 100 year event happens.

Here is a link to the Heritage Preservation Emergency National Task
Force Resources web page with a lot of good information. Your
colleague can contact a conservation in their region to advise them -
if they do not know a local conservator or regional conservation group
they can use the free guide for services section of the AIC (American
Institute for Conservation) web site at:

www.aic.stanford.edu

Follow the link for "Guide for Services"

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, CA

On 10/23/07, Miller, Mary Jane (PHMC) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I am posting this for a colleague - one of our historic sites is
> building a new collections storage building.
>
> Please respond off-list to [log in to unmask]
>
> 1. Has anyone had to do dry chemical cleanup on collections after a
> fire?
> 2. Has anyone had an experience at their museum of a dry pipe sprinkler
> system discharge and cleanup?
> 3. Does anyone have a cleaning protocol for dry chemical fire
> extinguishers at their museum?
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Mary Jane H. Miller
> Head of Collections Management
> Bureau of The State Museum
> Pa Historical and Museum Commission
> Phone 717-783-9232
> Fax 717-772-2324
> [log in to unmask]
>
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