MayDay 2018

Preservation Week and MayDay activities highlight strategies to extend the usability of cultural heritage materials in daily life as well as in the wake of disaster. MayDay encourages cultural institutions to do one simple activity to protect the art, artifacts, records, and historic structures they hold in trust. The Beaufort District Collection has been participating in MayDay since 2008.

The Society of American Archivists (SAA) created the MayDay initiative in 2006 to better protect cultural heritage materials from disasters. Continuing in the tradition established by SAA and Heritage Preservation, the Foundation of the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (FAIC) took on the task in 2016 of encouraging libraries, museums, archives, historical societies, and preservation organizations to set aside May 1 to participate in MayDay. MayDay is a time when archivists and other cultural heritage professionals take personal and professional responsibility for doing something simple – something that can be accomplished in a day but that can have a significant impact on an individual’s or a repository’s ability to respond to emergency circumstances. By extension, we want to encourage our readers to make May 1 the day that you do just one thing to improve the status of your family treasures in case of an emergency event. 

Beaufort District is not immune to disasters: The earth moved beneath us in the 1886 Earthquake; Hurricanes frequent the area more often that the tourist brochures may indicate (ones in 1893, 1911, 1940, 1959, 2016 come immediately to mind); Fires consumed residential homes and commercial districts in 1863 Bluffton and 1907 Beaufort; Tornadoes have caused death and destruction locally in the past. Given that life happens on a daily basis and disaster is too often a part of life, then we must ready ourselves for the likelihood that today a disaster could befall us and try to prepare as best we can to mitigate the risks, survive the event and go on to thrive in its aftermath.

A great place to start is to learn all you can about preservation and risk mitigation. Here are just a few recommended web resources to get your started on the path towards protecting your own family treasures:

• "Save Your Treasures the Right Way" by Heritage Preservation, provides advice on how to best cope with natural disasters.  
• Because we live in a county with only Zone A hurricane evacuation codes, you will need to think ahead about what you'll need to take with you the next time we are under hurricane threat. The Georgia Archives created a wonderful checklist in its "Essential Records for Families" brochure.
• A somewhat similar guide by FEMA "Emergency Financial First Aid Kit"  is on the Beaufort County Emergency Management Division website.
• To educate yourself about how to better prepare yourself and your family, FEMA offers a host of resources on their "Are You Ready" website. 
• Local Emergency management offices can help identify the hazards in your area and outline the local plans and recommendations for each. Be sure to share the hazard-specific information with family members and include pertinent materials in your family disaster plan.

Remember, all that is asked of you is to take one simple - completed in a day - step to increase your emergency preparedness and thereby protect your family treasures.