We are in the ‘forever’ business
Take long view to protect America’s treasures
The flames that engulfed the 856year-old Notre Dame Cathedral are a shocking reminder that the world’s most enduring cultural and religious monuments are fragile despite their bedrock appearance. This tragedy has devastated those of us who preserve architecture, history, and cultural and religious heritage. Our thoughts are with the citizens of France, the Catholic community, and everyone who reveres our global historical legacy.
Like the fire that ravaged the National Museum of Brazil in September, the Notre Dame blaze threatened irreplaceable cultural heritage, including the cathedral’s rose windows, Saint Louis’ tunic, and the Crown of Thorns. Fires like these are more common than we think. According to the National Fire Protection Association, in the U.S. there are 70 museum fires on average each year.
Those of us who lead national cultural and heritage institutions must rigorously assess our ability to secure our national collections, identify threats, and prevent such tragedies. It has been said that cultural institutions are in the “forever” business. That remains true despite our need to manage modern expectations in the digital age. To serve the public most effectively, we must think beyond the next fiscal year to the decades ahead.
Through renovations and improved construction practices and technologies, the Library of Congress, the U.S. National Archives, and the Smithsonian Institution have strong fire-prevention approaches. While there is no such thing as an indestructible facility, we have all invested heavily in retrofitting our historic buildings with fire-suppression systems.
Lessons from fire
We have adopted stringent fire-retardant construction and implemented strategies to help us avoid similar catastrophes in our collections, which include such irreplaceable treasures as the Charters of Freedom, the Gutenberg Bible, and the Apollo 11 Command Module, “Columbia.”
We are also at the forefront of cultural preservation and conservation — sometimes due to expertise gained from unfortunate firsthand experience.
In 1973, a fire ripped through the National Archives’ National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, destroying 16 million to 18 million official military personnel files. The massive recovery and reconstruction effort taught lessons that are still paying off more than 45 years later. Today, the Archives’ experts remove and salvage records damaged by water and fire using new technologies to retrieve information.
At its National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, the Library of Congress is digitizing the sound recordings and movies that the library has been collecting since the turn of the 20th century, many of which are falling victim to the ravages of time.
Helping others prevent damage
In addition to digitizing collections and maintaining a systematic collections management plan, the Smithsonian’s Cultural Rescue Initiative and Museum Conservation Institute work with internal partners, foreign governments, and global non-profits to improve outcomes after disasters like fires, earthquakes, and strife damage cultural artifacts. The project has conducted disaster training in Haiti, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Mali, Nepal, and the U.S.
Despite the successes we have each had, it is important we continue to prepare for anything that threatens our capacity to manage and protect our collections. Fire is not the only risk. Building maintenance backlogs are a threat, diverting resources from future projects to deal with immediate or imminent needs. Water damage and many other risks need to be considered and prevented through robust maintenance programs. We are doing so, but we need to do better.
In buildings that are decades old, a common risk of water damage comes from pipes often as old as the building itself. Whether the risk is fire, water or obsolescence, funding must always keep pace with our collections’ needs or we risk losing them.
Michael Lewis’s recent book, “The Fifth Risk,” refers to “the risk a society runs when it falls into the habit of responding to long-term risks with shortterm solutions.” The Notre Dame tragedy reminds us that seemingly eternal monuments can be gone in an instant if we do not rigorously protect them.
As cultural institutions responsible for preserving the nation’s memory in perpetuity, we have to take the long view. We cannot afford to look at shortterm solutions. Our cathedrals of learning, culture and history depend on it.
David S. Ferriero is archivist of the U.S., Carla Hayden is librarian of Congress, and David J. Skorton is secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.