Twenty Years of Conservation
Improvements through CAP
Adams Museum & House |
CAP Year: 1996 |
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Adams Museum Exterior |
The Adams Museum & House, Inc. (AM&H) in Deadwood, South Dakota is the Black Hills’ oldest history museum with significant humanities-based collections, including 13,000 historic pho tographs, 2,000 archival materials, and 9,000 historical artifacts. In 1996, AM&H went through the Conservation Assessment Program. The assessment was conducted by conservator Helen Alten and architect James Rose. One of the short-term goals identified was the need for the museum to create a Disaster Preparedness Response and Recovery Plan. To assist with the process conservator Terri Schindel was hired as a consultant, and AM&H completed the plan in late 1996. Since that time the plan has been updated on a quarterly basis, but was not put to practical use until June 29, 2002 when the City of Deadwood, a National Historic Landmark District, and the neighboring town of Lead, were evacuated as the result of an out-of-control forest fire. Fortunately the towns and their museums survived the fire and the ensuing mudslides and flooding. However, the narrowly-averted disaster was a reality check for the organization.
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The Adams House Before CAP
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The Adams House After CAP
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After the fire, AM&H staff resolved to examine what could have been done to be even better prepared and to find ways to work in unison with other heritage organizations in the area. It was decided that hands-on training in response, salvage, and warning systems was warranted, and that other organizations should be helped to write disaster plans.
In 2003 the AM&H received an NEH-funded Preservation Access Grant. The main features of the project included an on-line training session offered by Terri Schindel and facilitated by the AM&H for local historical organizations to assist them with the creation of disaster and response plans. The AM&H then hosted an on-site training workshop entitled, "Response and Recovery for Fire and Water Damaged Collections." As a result of the project, area organizations are now talking to each other about steps that must be taken to protect the area’s historic resources.
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Restored Parlor |
Director Mary Kopco told the CAP staff of the museum’s additional achievements in collections management that had been accomplished by summer 2009. One of their biggest achievements was being awarded a Museums for America grant to purchase PastPerfect collections management database software, which they are currently filling with the catalog records and photographs of each artifact. The museum is also nearing the end of a capital campaign to renovate a former manufacturing building to house the collections of the Homestake Gold Mine (a local business whose recorded history was donated to the AM&H in 2005) and Adams archives in a climate-controlled and secure facility.
Kopco says that she always encourages her peers to apply for CAP. For those who participate, she encourages them to incorporate the CAP recommendations into the museum’s strategic plan, just as she did at the Adams Museum & House.
Thanks to Mary Kopco for her help with this article.
Photos courtesy of The Adams Museum & House
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