HAITI: Quisqueya University Cultural Conservation Center Workshop

Since the founding of the Quisqueya University Cultural Conservation Center after the 2010 earthquake, SCRI has maintained a close relationship with those who manage it. In October 2017 we co-sponsored a conservation workshop for thirty Haitian participants from fifteen different cultural institutions participated, a robust mix of organizations with different conservation needs.

Workshop topics included, organizing inventories and documentation, conducting collection condition assessments, examining space, storage, and security and safety conditions, performing conservation first aid and long-term care, and planning for disasters. Participants learned about condition assessment, collection documentation, developing a disaster plan, and creation of long term institutional plans and preservation strategies to protect collections over the long term.

The workshop also highlighted the Center’s development of training programs and improved storage facilities. It allowed for continued joint work between the Smithsonian and the Center.  Facilitators and participants shared their both knowledge of object conservation and of the importance of the stories the objects hold of struggle and accomplishment—showing a respect for a diverse and shared humanity.