The unexpected cold temperatures in Texas last month caused a number of hardships to many. One institution severely impacted was the Dallas Historical Society. The pipes in their iconic building, the recently refurbished Hall of State, burst, causing major damage to the historic interiors and many of their archive and object collections. Please take a moment to watch the following video to learn more about their situation, and if you can, give to their Storm Damage Relief Fund. Thanks to COSTEP MA Executive Board Member Elizabeth Morse for sharing this video.
Hall of State Redux from Mark Birnbaum Productions on Vimeo.
Soon after this winter storm hit Texas, COSTEP MA Exec Board members reached out to offer words of support to TX-CERA (Texas Collections Emergency Resource Alliance), a group of volunteers that support disaster planning and response for cultural heritage institutions. Like COSTEP MA, they are an affiliate of the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation’s (FAIC) Alliance for Response (AFR). We shared a conference zoom call discussing the challenges and opportunities we respectively and collectively see in enhancing and supporting disaster planning and response for cultural heritage collections. Hopefully more to come.