Each year cultural organizations set aside May 1 to participate in MayDay, an initiative to protect cultural heritage from disaster. For our 2013 campaign, we collected examples of the simple preparedness steps that cultural organizations undertook this spring.

More than 30 organizations participated! See what they accomplished here.

Ross Merrill Award Recipients
We’re pleased to announce this year’s recipients of the Ross Merrill Award for Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections—the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Learn more about this year's award here.

Heritage Preservation just wrapped up the fifth course in its online series Caring for Yesterday’s Treasures—Today, focused on the preservation of archival and historical collections. Since its launch, the series has seen over 2,000 participants and given out more than 1,500 certificates of completion. Webinars associated with each course are now available online. Heritage Preservation is planning the second part of this series—which will consist of three new courses—for the fall. Registration will open in August.

The Heritage Emergency Partnership

Partnering with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), Heritage Preservation received a two-year IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program Continuing Education grant to promote the development of state-level cultural heritage emergency networks. We have completed two successful forums in Philadelphia and St. Louis, with a third planned in Portland, Oregon. These forums provide an opportunity to create lasting relationships between state cultural stewards and their respective state emergency managers, many of whom had never met before. These relationships will enable state agencies to communicate, collaborate, and coordinate more effectively when preparing for and responding to disasters. For more information, click here.

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 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.

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.