Remarks at the Connecting to Collections
National Conservation Summit
Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture
Dr. Anne-Imelda M. Radice
June 27, 2007
Thank you, Director Broun.
Good afternoon. Welcome to the first ever Connecting
to Collections conservation summit.
I am humbled to see all of you have made it here from
across the country. For many of you this has been a
bit of a jaunt. We want you to feel at home.
You may have noticed some distinguished men and women
walking around wearing green-and-white ribbons. These
are Heritage Preservation and IMLS staff members who
are eager to answer any questions you may have, or to
lend a hand if you need it.
This is a very exciting day. Before we begin, it is
my honor to present this special message from the First
Lady of the United States, Laura Bush.
(Video)
The next two days would not be possible without the
support, diligence, and friendship of some extraordinary
people working together.
I would like to give special thanks to Betsy Broun,
to Ellen Holtzman with the Henry Luce Foundation, and
to Deborah Marrow from the Getty Foundation for their
extraordinary generosity.
And to Larry Reger, Moira Egan, and the indefatigable
staff of Heritage Preservation, who worked with us on
the Heritage Health Index and helped to make this summit
a reality.
I would also like to thank my brothers – and
sisters – in arms at the National Endowment for
the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities,
the President’s Council on the Arts and Humanities,
and Preserve America.
And finally, thanks to Larry Gates of Metal Edge, for
its support of this summit.
All of you demonstrate that the terms ‘Washington’
and ‘working together’ are not mutually
exclusive….that teamwork can produce something
profoundly meaningful….and that the eleven most
terrifying words in the English language don’t
have to be “I am from the government and I am
here to help.”
As I thought about what to say this morning, I considered
what a gifted, dedicated, and diverse patchwork of professionals
we have in the audience.
Each of you, day after day, nurtures our nation’s
memory by so dutifully tending to the archival, museum,
library, digital, and living collections in your communities.
The fact is, the work you are doing could not be more
essential or deeper reaching. Or timelier.
By now, most, if not all, of us have seen the results
of the Heritage Health Index. The numbers are jaw-dropping.
Without immediate attention, some 190 million objects
may be lost in only a few short years. Sixty-five percent
of collecting institutions report damage to collections
due to improper storage. Eighty percent do not have
an emergency plan for their collections and staff trained
to carry it out. And forty percent have no funds in
their annual budgets for the fundamental care of their
collections.
In communities around the country, from Bridgeport
to Biloxi, museums and libraries face losing their collections
for good, because of poor conditions and everyday threats
like exposure to light, humidity, high temperature,
and infestation by things most of us would not want
to encounter in a dark alley, much less under a microscope.
In institutions with no emergency plans in place, we
have seen collections decimated because of busted water
pipes or fire fed by poor storage conditions. These
are things we sadly will never get back.
This is the reason we are here. It is not for me to
deliver a laundry list of platitudes. Instead, this
summit is exactly as it is billed: It is a call to action.
Over the next 24 hours, all of us will be presented
with a historic opportunity – not only to preserve
our ability to look at the past, but to shape the way
we look at the future.
All of us come from vastly different backgrounds, yet
share something in common: We care deeply about history
and about the legacy we leave to future generations
of learners and citizens.
And so our goals for this summit and this forthcoming
conservation initiative are four-fold. They are:
(1) To continue to provide librarians, museum professionals,
and conservators with the tools and support they need
to preserve the priceless pieces of our past.
(2) To help prepare the library and museum communities
to meet the future, through emergency training, education
in conservation techniques, partnership-building, and
by developing careers for a whole new generation of
art handlers, librarians, and digital specialists, through
efforts like the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program.
(3) To continue harnessing the power of digital technology
to democratize information and, in turn, make the documents,
the artifacts, the very fabric of our communities available
to millions of Americans via the click of a mouse.
And, finally, (4) to raise awareness among all Americans,
especially community funders, about the dire need for
conservation and preservation, both at cultural institutions
and in our homes.
I am pleased to say that, together, we have already
laid much of the groundwork for this.
Over the years, your vision and creativity have sparked
programs that have made lasting impact on your communities,
and on your nation.
We have been honored to assist in those efforts.
Since 1984, the Institute has awarded more than 5,800
grants for conservation totaling $80.6 million through
its Conservation Project Support grants and Conservation
Assessment Program.
All IMLS programs can and have supported some aspect
of collections care.
These are grants that have helped small- and mid-size
institutions save millions of brittle documents, precious
artworks, and archaeological and living specimens from
decay….develop disaster preparedness plans….and,
in the wake of Katrina and Rita, to help restore service
and staff to dozens of Gulf State libraries ravaged
by wind and water.
In Claremont, California, Scripps College is using
a conservation grant to treat a series of important
Chinese paintings and introduce the public to the delicate
practice of conserving Asian art.
In Deadwood, South Dakota, the Days of ’76 Museum
is using a conservation grant to save its wealth of
endangered Native American and Old West artifacts still
housed in an old pole barn.
On the digital front, the North Carolina ECHO website
already connects Tar Heels to the special collections
in their state’s libraries, archives, museums
and historic sites.
It is now using grants to dramatically expand its online
digital library, and to mount a treasured series of
World War II photographs from a local artist for public
viewing.
And in the field of preparedness, the Northeast Document
Conservation Center in Andover, Massachusetts, is using
a National Leadership Grant to develop a model for statewide
disaster planning and distribute it to all state libraries
and archives.
These are but a few of the many excellent, deep-reaching,
and forward-thinking programs you are bringing to the
citizens of your states.
But just as this summit is an occasion to celebrate
all that you are doing, it is also a launching pad from
which we will look to the future.
This summit marks a turning point, and for the first
time, the beginning of a national dialogue on the way
we conserve our communities’ most cherished collections.
Today, it gives me great pleasure to announce a series
of bold new steps IMLS will introduce over the coming
year.
Beginning next January, we will convene the first of
four conservation summits in major cities across the
nation….each addressing a key challenge faced
by conservators.
The first, to take place in Atlanta, will focus on
care for African American, Native American, and historically
underserved collections.
A summit in San Diego, at the world famous San Diego
Zoo, will focus on care for living collections.
A summit in Denver will concentrate on new technology
and on building strategic partnerships between libraries
and museums.
And a summit in Buffalo will focus on training for
conservators at all levels of experience. In the case
of each summit, those who are unable to attend will
be able to access them via webcast.
In addition, starting today with each of the state
representatives in this audience, we will award an IMLS
Connection to Collections Bookshelf to 2,000 small-
and mid-size museums around the country.
These core texts, DVDs, and wall charts – made
possible with the generous assistance of the Getty Foundation
and the Henry Luce Foundation – will go to keepers
of living and non-living collections.
They will cover everything from the philosophy, ethics,
and handling of collections, to emergency preparedness.
You will be the first to receive these bookshelves,
and we will be shipping them out to you as soon as they
are available, with the help of our partners at the
American Association for State and Local History.
Next February, IMLS will begin awarding planning grants
of up to $40,000 to each state. These grants are just
as advertised – a catalyst to help spark statewide
conservation planning for the future.
After the planning phase, the Institute will offer
a limited number of $500,000 implementation grants for
the most promising plans.
Finally, I am pleased to announce the launch this October
of an annual lecture on leadership. Over the coming
years we will present a dynamic lineup of speakers whose
mission is singular: to inspire all of us to innovate,
to think outside the box in the way we address challenges
facing the museum and library communities.
This year’s speaker will be Robert Dilenschneider,
principal of The Dilenschneider Group, and one of our
nation’s preeminent strategic geniuses.
Mr. Dilenschneider is a former President and CEO of
Hill and Knowlton Worldwide, and has published eight
books on the subject of leadership, including the soon-to-be-released
“Power and Influence: The Rules Have Changed.”
We’re thrilled to have him inaugurate this special
series of lectures.
I said at the beginning that this summit was a call
to action. It is.
If the aftermath of Katrina, or more recently, the
Georgetown library fire here in Washington, DC, has
taught us anything as cultural institutions, it is how
fragile the collections are that we hold in our trust,
and how quickly they can be taken away.
They have also taught us how vital history and culture
are to giving a community a sense of place and identity….and
how crucial the jobs are that you perform.
In 1823, Thomas Jefferson would write that it was “the
duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities
which occur to him… or her, for preserving documents
relating to the history of our country.”
He was right, of course.
And that is what all of you are doing. By conserving
the documents, the artifacts, the artwork….by
caring for the living collections that tell our national
story, you perform acts not just of scholarship and
stewardship, but of profound citizenship.
Over the next 24 hours you will meet some of our nation’s
foremost experts on conservation.
You will hear from our fantastic national archivist
Allen Weinstein on the import of saving collections.
You will hear from the dynamic Francie Alexander, of
Scholastic, Inc., about conserving and making those
collections accessible to our youth.
And you will hear from a special group of Girl Scouts,
who’ve taken on an eye-opening service project,
and learned that, yes, human spit may well be the best
solvent to clean dirty oil paintings.
And then it is our hope that you will return to your
states and communities invigorated….so that five
years from now, when we perform another Heritage Health
Index, we will see a dramatically different picture.
The jobs we perform may not always be chronicled on
the celluloid of an Indiana Jones film or in the next
sequel to “National Treasure.” But have
no doubt of their value both to your community and to
your country.
As representatives of your states’ cultural foundations,
you are ambassadors of knowledge for future generations
of learners.
The collections you keep are the building blocks of
our heritage and our legacy as Americans.
In these quilts, recordings, paintings, and botanical
gardens, we find a window to our past, and a looking
glass to the future. By conserving them and making them
accessible to your communities, they become a storyteller
whose memory never fades.
You have made, and will continue to make, a profound
contribution to the cultural life of the nation which
makes our work possible. And on behalf of the Institute
of Museum and Library Services, I thank and salute you.
Thank you.
