The reports in "Flimsies" of major flood damage to on O&W museum collection in New York State is indeed tragic. It reinforces to us all, however, the importance of redundancy in our collecting.

Imagine if a tornado/flood/fire hit your collection tomorrow. (Many of you, sadly, don't have to imagine.)

Would railroad history lose prime examples of certain artifacts, photos, or documents? Or would they lose the ONLY extant examples of same?

When the Baltimore Chapter NRHS teamed with the Baltimore Streetcar Museum to form a library at the BSM years ago, part of the mission was to save two of every book that might be collected. The intention was that if ever there was a split between the Chapter and Museum, each could take their "half" and "go home." Over the years, however, this has become the perfect case for duplicity. The long-term plans for the library collection now include storage of the "duplicates" in a second location, just in case tragedy should strike one location. And a streetcar museum doesn't need a book on Russian steam locos any more than a RR museum needs a PCC wiring diagram, but we'll bo th hold on to both--just in case.

So what if a lot of what the PRRT&HS has in Lewistown, Pa. duplicates what's in the museums at Strasburg or at Altoona, or if some of the prime Ma & Pa artifacts remain in private hands or in Baltimore instead of Muddy Creek Forks?? More power to them!

We are certainly on the right track here, but there is also another aspect to this. Does your museum have a properly documented Disaster Recovery Plan?

A Disaster Recovery Plan is not simply a list of what you have, and where you might go to replace it, but a detailed procedure showing what to do and when to do it should be done in the event of a disaster. This allows the museum staff to react properly, and in an organized manner.

Part of that Disaster Recovery Plan could be the need for redundancy in collecting, but many items are one-of-a-kind where redundancy is impossible. The plan, in those cases, should provide information on restoration of such unique items to return them to display as soon as possible.

Lastly, the plan should include a section on disposal. None of us really wants to let go of any item, but there are times when the damage is beyond any hope of repair, and displaying the object as damaged (a viable option if it is unique enough) may not be possible or advisable. The plan can provide a path for disposal, carefully thought out prior to the disaster, to avoid quick, possibly faulty, decisions made in the heat of the moment.

The Institute for Museum and Library Services has funded the creation of a free online tool for creating a comprehensive museum disaster plan, called dPLAN. Highly recommended:

http://www.dplan.org/