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Puerto Rico's libraries, archives and museums road to recovery: A timeline of events after Hurricane Maria

December 2017

One of the problems highlighted by archivists, librarians and museum personnel was the lack of specialized training related to emergency response. The high demand of professional companies (and funding to hire them) to aid in the rescue of resources that were under threat by the unstable environment, made decision making hard as the amount of help needed across the Island was far beyond the resources available. People needed to act accordingly to what they knew and with what they had at hand.

During December we see the first specialized workshop aimed to "train the trainer" in protocols related to emergency response, personal protective equipment and safe handling of damaged resources offered by the Heritage Emergency National Task Force (HENTF). Also, there is an increase in opportunities for assessment visits by HENTF and the National Heritage Responders (NHR - a group coordinated by the American Institute for Conservation).

Moreover, colleagues continue to expose their institution's condition and a comprehensive report about the extent of damages experienced by historical properties and sites is published.

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When ArchiRED made a call for volunteers to compile data of damages, Cielo didn’t hesitate. From October 30 to December 5 she was on the road visiting 13 towns on the Northwest of the Island (Arecibo, Barceloneta, Camuy, Dorado, Florida, Hatillo, Lares, Manatí, Quebradilla, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Utuado y Vega Baja) and compiling data for 41 institutions. She also helped follow up with 8 historical archives.
Due to the high concentration of mold spores in cultural institutions experts advise to proceed the cleaning process only with proper protection. During the months of September to December, these were hard to get locally. Through ALA, Michael Dowling in collaboration with, Miriam Centeno from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, were able to allocate 100 kits which included: nitrile gloves, hair caps, aprons and N95 mask.
A team sponsored by FEMA and Smithsonian Institution which included Beatriz Centeno, Vicki Lee & Abigail Aldrich from National Archives and Record Administration (NARA); Nora Lockshin from Smithsonian Institution Archives for Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative; and Elizabeth Milnarik from National Park Service offered a whole day seminar on General assessment of building and collections/holdings with an architect; General maintenance and passive environments in institutions; Lecture on personal protection equipment (PPE), possibly respirator fit testing; Hands-on demonstration and training on cleaning of storage and display furniture, paper, books, objects, paintings, and furniture. Training took place at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez on December 12; at the Museo de Arte de Ponce on the 13 and at Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico on December 14. A total of 87 participants benefited from the training.