Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative

Registration open now: Focus on Conservation 2024: Disaster Risk Management for Cultural Heritage. A virtual event that takes place December 2-5, 2024. We look forward to seeing you there. Participation is free but registration is required: https://lnkd.in/eFAieq6j

The SCRI team members Stacy Bowe and Colleen Carroll joined Cori Wegener at the Army Monuments Officer Training course this week! The team led sessions on the fundamentals of disaster response for cultural heritage including risk assessment, documentation, evacuation, and salvage.

The Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative was honored to participate on a panel about teaming to protect cultural property at the 2024 Civil Affairs Association Symposium in Newtown, Pennsylvania. We were particularly pleased to include international cultural property protection officers from Lebanon and the United Kingdom.?

Day: 1 of the British Army Cultural Property Protection Unit’s delivery of their Cultural Property Protection Special Arm Course at Carlisle Barracks. Training kicked off on CPP topics related to international humanitarian law, international intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, military obligations to the 1954 Hague Convention, & operational variables. Representatives from U.S. Blue Shield, UNESCO, UK Department for Culture, Media & Sport provided information to 38G & 38A/B Soldiers from 350, 351, 352, 353 Civil Affairs Commands & the Lebanese Armed Forces. USACAPOC Airborne U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command United States Army Reserve PKSOI-Peacekeeping & Stability Operations Institute-US Army Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative

Today we celebrate the work of the Army Monuments Officer Training (AMOT) program with a look back at AMOT participants touring the military history collections at the National Museum of American History. We look to the past to help us imagine the future. The 2024 AMOT course begins today. The course is co-organized by the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne) and being hosted at the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute at Carlisle Barracks, PA. The SCRI teaching team will join SCRI director, Cori Wegener, there next week. Stay tuned for more!

The Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab (CHML) at the Virginia Museum of Natural History together with the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (SCRI) has published a new rapid report reviewing potential impact to cultural heritage sites from Hurricane Helene, Western North Carolina, USA. This review was undertaken after reports from national media and weather services of extensive damage to civil infrastructure following heavy rains and subsequent flooding. https://bit.ly/3O7Wli2

SCRI was honored to help our colleagues at the Roswell Museum and provide expertise after an October 19th storm. If you would like to read more about the museum’s recovery, this article has more information: https://bit.ly/3NJ8TfN

On Monday October 14, 2024 Shannon A. Brogdon-Grantham, Photograph and Paper Conservator, participated in the Paul R. Jones Annual Distinguished Lecture hosted by the University of Delaware Department of Art Conservation. The lecture was entitled "A Conversation about Cultural Heritage" and was a moderated discussion between Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch, LaStarsha McGarity (Director of The Legacy Museum at Tuskegee University) and Shannon.

Together with our research partners, НеМо: Ukrainian Heritage Monitoring Lab, Penn Cultural Heritage Center, the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at the Virginia Museum of Natural History, and University of Maryland, SCRI has published a new rapid report documenting damage to museums in Mariupol, Ukraine. This review confirms damage to the Kuindzhi Art Museum, Museum of Folk Life, Mariupol Museum of Local Lore, the Kharabet Museum of Medallion Art, and the Kuindzhi Center for Contemporary Art & Culture. Read More: https://bit.ly/3NnYMNg

What a great week working with so many dedicated cultural heritage professionals. I can’t wait to see what they do next! Thanks Cultural Emergency Response for being such a great partner.