American Museum of Natural History

Purpose: Sustaining Cultural Heritage The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) will conduct a two-year scientific collections risk-assessment project-a comprehensive analysis and prioritization of the risks to the AMNH collections of more than 31 million specimens and artifacts that will serve as a blueprint for future risk-mitigation and conservation strategies in a context of limited resources. The primary goal is to strengthen museum capacity for institutionwide conservation planning, recognizing the importance of preserving and sustaining one of the preeminent repositories of the nation's cultural heritage. The methodology-implemented by a team of senior-level participants from AMNH science, conservation, and operations staff-is based on a quantitative risk-assessment model developed by the Canadian Museum of Nature and pilot tested at AMNH. The resulting report will allow the museum to prioritize collection needs in an objective and relational way, providing the foundation of a long-term plan for the most effective use of resources to address the highest conservation priorities. The information derived from this project will be made available to other collections-based institutions as a broadly applicable example of a successful methodology.