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This toolkit is adopted from two hybrid online/in-person courses that were offered to twelve Puerto Rican collecting organizations in 2024. The course was developed and facilitated by the Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) and Centro de Conservación y Restauración de Puerto Rico (CENCOR). Funding and support for the courses and this toolkit were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).
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This toolkit, supported by lectures and exercises, provides a process for identifying risks to cultural heritage collections and creating a long-term preservation plan. The focus of the toolkit is paper-based collections (documents, books, artwork on paper, and photographs), but many of the topics covered are applicable to all types of cultural heritage collections found in museums, libraries, archives, and even personal collections. Content in the toolkit is organized into modules that cover all of the basic aspects of preservation: planning, the building, the environment, storage, collections care, and emergency management.
The intended audience of this content is people working hands-on with collections that are accessible to the public. For those who are interested in learning about the preservation of their personal collections, see the Caring for Family Treasures guide that was compiled for this project.
Once you have completed the Modules and the corresponding sections of the PNA Pre-Survey Questionnaire, organize your findings and recommendations using the Preservation Needs Assessment Report Template linked below.
EN_PNA Training_PNA Template.docx
ES_PNA Training_PNA Template.docx
For many organizations, a Preservation Needs Assessment (PNA) Report is a useful tool for identifying potential grant projects. Your report may also be used as a supporting document in grant applications. CCAHA’s Director of Business Development, Daphne Mayer, is available to provide guidance about resources and fundraising for your collection care needs. You can contact her at [email protected] with any questions you may have or to schedule a one-on-one meeting to discuss your collection. If you decide to pursue a funding opportunity that involves CCAHA’s services such as conservation treatment or housing, assessments/surveys, digitization, or training workshops as part of the project, Daphne can also help with the application process.
Preservation Needs Assessment Reports may also be used as an advocacy tool with board members, leadership staff, and potential programming partners or as a fundraising tool with potential donors.
The recommendations in this report can be used to identify and plan for discrete preservation projects, and the full report can be used as a framework for a Preservation Plan. A Preservation Plan is a holistic set of guidelines catered to an institution's collections and capacity. Like a strategic plan for collections care, this long-range document sets a framework for preservation goals, laying a roadmap of action items for several years.