Archival and museum curatorship challenges for RK&M preservation

Transcription

1 Archival and museum curatorship challenges for RK&M preservation Constructing Memory Conference Verdun, Limonade & Co Agence coopérative de gestion des connaissances et des expériences

2 Purposes of the study Provide a state of art of worldwide institutional curators sustainability Start a more prospective study on how long term conservation is taken into account today by institutional curators 2

3 Scope of the study Archives Scope of the study Libraries Museums / Monuments Intangible Heritage 3

4 Steps of the work Beginning of the prospective study Writing of the study report (state of art) Bibliographical study on heritage losses documented into history 4

5 step 1 STATE OF ART BIBLIOGRAPHY 5

6 Sources Identification of specialized bibliographies Searches within national and specialized bibliographic databases Specialized resource centers catalogs 6

7 Bibliography 7

8 Some figures Time periods distribution of bibliographical references 8

9 Some figures Africa Afrique Americas and Carribean Asia and Pacific Amériques et Caraïbes Asie et Pacifique Europe Geographic areas distribution of references 9

10 Some figures Musées Archives Bibliothèques PI Monuments Généralités Museums Libraries IH General Type of institutional curators distribution of references 10

11 step 2 STATE OF ART STUDY REPORT 11

12 Institutional curators lifecycle Each «age» has its own vulnerabilities. Institutionalization Establishment Conservation Transmission 12

13 Considered Hazards Natural hazards Climate change (8) Earthquake, volcanic eruption (12) Forest fires (1) Floods (36) Landslides (5) Insects / Infestations (3) Hurricanes and storms (24) Degradation of materials (18) 13

14 Anna-Amalia Library, Weimar (Germany), 2004 Some 40,000 volumes damaged in the fire. 14

15 Considered Hazards Political and geopolitical hazards Terrorism (9) Times of war (58) Armed conflicts (29) Genocides (4) Authoritarian and dictatorial regimes (5) Revolutions and political regime changes (28) 15

16 Cellist Vedran Smajlovic in the ruins of the Sarajevo library Source : 16

17 Considered Hazards Economic and social hazards Economic recession (4) Looting, theft, vandalism (50) Censorship and book burnings (14) Societal and demographic changes (14) Patrimonialization 17

18 Detail of a Pedro Berruguete painting of a disputation between Saint Dominic of Guzman and the Albigensians (Cathars) in which the books of both were thrown on a fire, with St. Dominic's books miraculously preserved from the flames. Source : Wikipedia 18

19 In 1933, Nazis burned works of Jewish authors, and other works considered "un-german", at the library of the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft in Berlin. Source : Wikipedia 19

20 Islamist rebels in Timbuktu reportedly burned two libraries containing thousands of the Timbuktu Manuscripts on January 2013 Source : 20

21 Considered Hazards Everyday hazards Small scale floods and fires (61) 21

22 Institutional curators protection Actors Professional arrangements technical organizational human resources Institutional arrangements Individual initiatives Awareness Answers: Organizational arrangements Legal arrangements: National level International level Society 22

23 Institutional curators survival factors Identified factors Institutions able to keep a role despite societal changes: manage to keep a meaning in the eyes of its contemporaries Professionals identify and anticipate those changes Major role of professional organizations, as «tutors of resilience» 23

24 Institutional curators capacities of resilience How to evaluate it? Ability to prevent risks Ability to learn from past disasters In case of disaster, ability to preserve integrity of the heritage that society confied to them 24

25 Societal evolutions / institutions Widespread effects Capture and flow of information technologies Lengthening of life - Progress of Education Administrative and political developments Changes in attitudes 25

26 Societal evolutions / institutions Sudden effects Conflicts and civil wars Change in political regimes / ideologies Economic crisis 26

27 Societal causes with sudden effects Source : R. Knuth, Libricide,

28 Growing role of communities Establishment / collection Institutional curators Which roles can and will play communities (NGOs, etc.)? 28

29 step 3 PROSPECTIVE STUDY SURVEYS AND INTERVIEWS 29

30 Awareness of current and future risks International survey Resilience developed through past disasters? Preparedness and strategies to reach long term scale duties 30

31 31

32 Many thanks for your attention Christophe Jacobs - christophe@limonadeandco.fr