February 16, 2001
CONTENTS:
- FBI & Chilean stolen art web-sites - New URLs
- DISASTER MITIGATION FOR CULTURAL COLLECTIONS
- Canaletto paintings to help save Venice
- East Timor: UN agency, peace mission team up on national museum project
- Court hears Mount digging fears unfounded
- Holocaust Survivors Sue Yahoo! Over Nazi Auctions
From: Jonathan Sazonoff saz@kwom.com
Subject: FBI & Chilean stolen art web-sites - New URLs
Dear Subscribers,
Just a quick note, the FBI recently changed URL's for their art theft web-site.
The new URL is: http://www.fbi.gov/majcases/arttheft/notices.htm
Also, Chile's national police has now posted stolen art on-line.
http://www.policia.cl/seguri/arterb/arterb.htm
Hope you find this information of interest.
Jonathan Sazonoff
Saz Productions, Inc.
http://www.saztv.com
Contributing US Ed.
Museum Security Network
http://www.museum-security.org
From: CCAHA@CCAHA.org
Subject: CCAHA Disaster Mitigation Workshop Series
DISASTER MITIGATION FOR CULTURAL COLLECTIONS
May 14-16, 2001
The Society of the Cincinnati Headquarters, Library and Museum at Anderson House 2118 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20008
Disaster mitigation should play a role in any institution's emergency preparedness and planning efforts. Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA)'s Disaster Mitigation Workshop Series is designed to help institutions reduce the probability of emergencies they can control, and limit the damage to collections that results from disasters they cannot control. This series will provide tools for assessing an institution's vulnerability to disaster, evaluating fire prevention and suppression strategies, and assessing health and safety factors related to disaster.
The workshops are intended for staff who are involved in collections care activities or have responsibility for the safety of collections such as librarians, archivists, curators, collections managers, stewards of historic house museums, site and facilities managers, and security and safety staff.
Although attending the entire series is not required, each workshop supports your institution's vulnerability assessment process and will strengthen its ability to minimize potential dangers to collections and staff.
WORKSHOPS' DESCRIPTIONS
Be Prepared... Conducting a Vulnerability Assessment
May 14, 2001
In this workshop, participants will learn how to conduct a vulnerability analysis and risk assessment so that they will be able to evaluate the types of emergencies that might affect their institution and its collections. This evaluation will help the institution develop effective strategies to minimize the likelihood of a disaster. The workshop speakers will also touch on the importance of business continuity for cultural institutions. A crisis communications expert will address public relations strategies for emergency situations.
Speakers:
Dr. Michael Trinkley, Chicora Foundation, Inc.
Dr. Michael Smith, Assistant Professor,
Department of Communication, LaSalle University
Be Prepared... Fire Protection and Suppression
May 15, 2001
Critical to the selection of an appropriate fire protection and suppression system is the assessment and analysis of the hazards and risks faced by a collection. This workshop will focus on the need to review current fire protection procedures and systems in historic and cultural institutions. The goal of the workshop will be to equip participants with up-to- date information to make informed decisions on fire prevention and suppression.
Speakers:
J. Andrew Wilson, Assistant Director for Fire
Protection and Safety, Smithsonian Institution
Nicholas Artim, Director, Fire Safety Network
Be Prepared... Assessing Health and Safety Risks
May 16, 2001
This workshop will alert participants to the health and safety risks present at the time of an emergency, including air quality, fire safety, electrical hazards, structural instability, chemical and biological hazards (mold, lead, asbestos, contaminated water and soil), pests, and those hazards inherent in collections themselves (arsenic, formaldehyde). The workshop will also address the psychological stresses faced by those in an emergency and the health and safety issues faced at the time of collection acquisition.
Speakers:
Monona Rossol, President, Arts, Crafts, and
Theater Safety, Inc. (ACTS)
Pam Hackbart-Dean, Southern Labor Archivist,
Georgia State University
Katherine K. Dibble, Director of Public
Services, Boston Public Library
The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) have provided subsidy for these workshops. Co- sponsors are Chesapeake Information and Research Library Alliance (CIRLA); Federal Library and Information Center Committee, Library of Congress (FLICC); Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums (MAAM); the Society of the Cincinnati; Special Libraries Association-Washington, DC Chapter; and Washington Conservation Guild.
REGISTRATION FEE:
Non-Member Fee
CCAHA/Co-Sponsor Member Fee
1 workshop: $ 60.00
$ 50.00
2 workshops: $120.00
$100.00
All 3 workshops: $170.00
$140.00
(Save $10.00):
Registration Deadline is May 1, 2001.
STIPENDS:
Financial assistance of up to $900 will be made to defray travel, lodging, and registration costs for individuals who are interested in attending the entire series. Consideration will be given to stipend requests for up to $300 (per workshop) for participation in one or two of the workshops, but preference will be given to participation in the entire series.
To be eligible, individuals must work with historic and cultural collections that are available to the public in non-profit institutions with total annual institutional operating budgets of $500,000 or less. Applications from more than one person at an institution will be considered.
Applications for stipends must be postmarked no later than March 26, 2001.
For additional stipend information, workshop registration forms, and information about CCAHA, its programs, and services, please visit our website at http://www.ccaha.org or contact CCAHA's Preservation Services Office at 215.545.0613 or ccaha@ccaha.org
Canaletto paintings to help save Venice
Experts battling to save Venice from the effects of sinking and the devastating floods are receiving help from an unusual quarter. Scientists have turned to the work of the 18th Century artist Canaletto whose paintings of Venice contain what they believe to be highly accurate clues as to what the sustainable water level in the city should be.
They are hoping that they can use that information to establish an optimum flood level if - as conservationists hope - the government decides to build huge flood barriers on the entrances to the Venice Lagoon.
The city is frequently beset by floods
Canaletto's pictures are extremely accurate since he used a camera obscura to project the image onto a canvas before tracing the contours with a pen.
"We can measure today in the picture what the tide level was some three centuries ago," said Dr Dario Camuffo, a climate change specialist working with the Italian National research council on the project.
By mapping the tide levels in the past it is hoped that they will be able to predict, and prevent, flooding.
Rising sea levels
"You can do a projection with the information from the past because the past is the key to interpreting the future," Dr Camuffo said.
Venice's problems are two-fold, it is falling victim to rising sea levels brought on by global warming, and the subsidence of the soil supporting the city.
The people of Venice have been angry at the authorities' failure to act over the city's problem with flooding.
A plan to create giant flood defences devised in 1994 and approved by an international panel of experts was blocked by environmentalists.
They say shutting the lagoon during high tides would have catastrophic consequences.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
East Timor: UN agency, peace mission team up on national museum project
15 February - The United Nations peace mission in East Timor and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have agreed to cooperate in the restoration of an 18th century building in Dili, which would become the future East Timor Cultural Center and National Museum. The agreement on the project was signed today by Sergio Vieira de Mello, the head of the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), and is expected to be signed by UNESCO in the coming days. The building, known as Uma Fukun or "Central House," is the former Portuguese Garrison Building. According to the agreement, UNESCO pledges to provide supervision and expertise, monitor the construction and establishment of the center and museum, as well as train local entrepreneurs. To advise and help implement the project, which is expected to be completed by September, UNESCO has hired a Portuguese military engineer specialized in colonial military building structures and a Portuguese historian.
http://www.un.org/News/
Court hears Mount digging fears unfounded
By Dan Izenberg
JERUSALEM (February 15) - The diplomatic adviser to Internal Security Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami told the High Court of Justice yesterday that the allegations contained in a petition by the Temple Mount Faithful regarding Wakf construction on the Temple Mount are largely groundless.
The adviser, Emanuel Gluska, was recently appointed by the government to head a committee to routinely monitor developments on the Temple Mount, which is administered by the Wakf. Since September 28 - the date commonly seen as the beginning of the current intifada - the Wakf has barred Jews from visiting the site, including representatives of the Antiquities Authority, which is responsible for protecting archeological resources. Even before that, the Wakf carried out construction projects without approval from Israeli authorities.
More
http://www.jpost.com/
Holocaust Survivors Sue Yahoo! Over Nazi Auctions
By Lori Enos
http://www.EcommerceTimes.com
Despite Yahoo's decision three weeks ago to end auctions of Nazi artifacts on its Web site, a group of concentration camp survivors has sued Yahoo! chairman and chief executive officer Tim Koogle in France over the controversial auctions, according to published reports. The suit reportedly accuses Koogle of justifying war crimes and crimes against humanity, and asks for symbolic damages of 1 franc, or 15 U.S. cents. The plaintiffs, who include survivors of the infamous death camp Auschwitz, are also asking that if Yahoo! loses the lawsuit, it be required to publicize the decision on the Internet and place advertisements about the case in major U.S. and French newspapers. "If you organize a system like an auction where people bid for the best price, you excuse these crimes, and they become commonplace," Charles Korman, a lawyer representing the death camp survivors, said in published reports. What a Tangled Web Yahoo! has been facing criticism and lawsuits over auctions of Nazi and other hate-related material for almost a year.
More
http://www.newsfactor.com/