Disaster Preparedness and Recovery for Museums: A Business Recovery Model

Abstract

Museums are critical to the cultural value of our society. By reserving and displaying artistic, scientific and historical objects, museums serve the public through education. Comprehensive disaster planning is essential to the survival of cultural institutions. The purpose of this research is to (1) describe the ways that any museum can prepare for and recover from a disaster and (2) develop a model disaster plan emphasizing business recovery, (3) gauge the opinions of Texas museum professionals on the current state of museum disaster planning and (4) using the model and survey results, make recommendations for more effective planning. A survey was sent to museum directors and curators in Texas seeking their knowledge of the state of disaster planning today. The results concluded that museum professionals believe comprehensive planning is not a priority and museum disaster plans need more emphasis on communication, team building, insurance, collection restoration and business recovery.