Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, in partnership with Wisconsin Library Services, the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's Division for Libraries and Lifelong Learning, and the Wisconsin Federation of Museums, will address the most urgent needs of the state's collecting institutions through a series of targeted trainings and expanded access to resources. Workshops in risk assessment, disaster planning, and salvage for 200 institutions across the state will result in tangible draft disaster plans and partnership in regional networks of institutions experienced in salvage techniques following disasters. More than 300 collecting institution staff will receive instruction in low-cost, practical measures to improve the foundations of their current collections care protocols, as well as instruction in the use of a preservation self-assessment tool delivered to the attendees at 13 statewide organizational and regional conferences. The major grant partners will collaborate to promote a short, reliable list of preservation information sources to all collecting institutions in the state through the broad use of their newsletters, websites, and listservs, and the public will benefit from improved overall preservation and care of the collections held in trust by Wisconsin's cultural heritage organizations.