Each year cultural organizations set aside May 1 to participate in MayDay, an initiative to protect cultural heritage from disaster. What will your organization do this year? Tell us and enter to win disaster supplies from Gaylord Brothers. Learn more about this prize drawing, MayDay project ideas, a special MayDay sale, and more here. All Heritage Preservation MayDay activities are sponsored by Polygon Group.

Our series of free, online courses about the preservation of archival and historical collections, Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures—Today, is well underway. The courses are tailored to the needs of staff and volunteers at libraries and archives. Each course includes four to six interactive webinars presented by preservation experts. The courses are hosted on the Connecting to Collections Online Community. The next course in the series is Caring for Photographs.

The popular ERS: Emergency Response and Salvage phone app is now available for BlackBerry users. In April 2012, Heritage Preservation, in partnership with the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, released its Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel as a free app for Apple devices running iOS 5.1 or later. Since its release, ERS has been downloaded from the App Store more than 1,700 times. Now, the app is available for BlackBerry users and can be downloaded through BlackBerry World. The app is also available for Android devices through Google Play. All versions are free.

The Heritage Emergency National Task Force, along with FEMA and numerous New Jersey State partners, cosponsored a workshop on applying for FEMA public assistance. The workshop was held at Monmouth University on December 15.  Learn more here.

In addition, the Task Force has prepared a list of resources to help the public and collecting institutions recover from flooding. Learn more about the Task Force and available resources.

The deadline to submit an application to the 2013 Conservation Assessment Program (CAP) has now passed. To be notified of the availability of the 2014 application, please email us. And to help you prepare for the 2014 application, we've provided a sample application here.

Please note, if your museum sustained damage to collections or historic structures as a result of Superstorm Sandy, you may still be eligible for an emergency CAP assessment. To qualify, museums must be located in a federally declared disaster area. For more information, or to discuss your museum’s options, contact the CAP staff at 202-233-0800 or email us.

Help Heritage Preservation Meet a Challenge. The Bay and Paul Foundations have awarded a major challenge grant to build Heritage Preservation’s financial base.  We need your help to match this grant and strengthen Heritage Preservation’s long-term future. To contribute and become a Preservation Partner, click here or call 202-233-0800 for additional information.

Learn more about our Strategic Plan.