RHSP: Essential Policies and Procedures for Cultural Collections
Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Regional Heritage Stewardship Program (RHSP) is an initiative of the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) that brings vital preservation services to regions of the country with limited access to conservators and preservation expertise. Conducted in partnership with Utah field services providers, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums’ Office of Museum Services (UA&M) and Utah Humanities (UH), the 2019-2020 RHSP Intermountain West project will bring in-person workshops, webinars, and preservation needs assessments to collecting institutions in under-served parts of Utah, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico, while UA&M and UH seek to provide basic collections care services to rural Utah, expand the curriculum used in-state, and foster local networking and communities of practice.
Fall 2019 programming in Cortez, CO will be presented by:
- Samantha Forsko, Preservation Specialist, CCAHA
- Emily Johnson, Museum Services Specialist, Utah Division of Arts & Museums
- Jennifer Ortiz, Museum Services Manager, Utah Division of Arts & Museums
An institution’s collections care and business practices are defined by its written policies and procedures. Institutional memory is often lost through staff changes, but best practices are encoded in these important documents. This workshop will provide an overview of policy and planning documents that are essential for collections care, such as environmental policies, housekeeping guidelines, and maintenance policies. Participants will learn the critical components of these documents and will receive tangible examples of how to adapt them to different institutions. Policy development, approval, and implementation responsibilities of staff, volunteer, and board will be discussed.