U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Disaster Recovery and Archives Salvage Plan

Disaster Planning for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers responds to emergencies across America, but the historians in charge of documenting those responses lacked a comprehensive plan to protect the Corps’ historical materials in the event of a disaster. The History Office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (CEHO) desired a strategy for managing and responding to potential emergencies threatening the thousands of objects stored in its facilities—a plan that could be integrated with existing emergency operations plans. Central to any policy developed was the need to provide access to collections as soon as possible after an event, maintain continuity of researcher services, and reduce risk to CEHO staff.

History Associates archivists produced a disaster recovery and archive salvage plan, which identified and anticipated potential emergencies and described policies and procedures designed to minimize damage to collections and facilities. In the process of developing this “disaster plan for archives,” History Associates worked with the client to assign roles for CEHO staff members on the disaster and emergency action team who would implement the plan.

Disaster Planning and Recovery Preparedness for Archives

To reinforce the procedures, History Associates conducted a two-day disaster recovery and salvage training session, staging a mock disaster during which participants practiced the salvage and recovery of water- and fire-damaged books, documents, photographs, and recordings.

Get a Free Custom Disaster Plan For Archives Proposal

Getting started is easy, just Contact History Associates Archival Services. Call us at (301) 279-9697, or (714) 529-3953 on the West coast, or contact History Associates for customized disaster plan proposal for your archives.