EVENTS

Sponsor/Host:  Midwest Art Conservation Center

Session 1: Wednesday, February 11, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central
Session 2: Wednesday, February 18, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central
Session 3: Wednesday, February 25, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central

Cost: FREE for MN Residents Register, $400 Non-MN Residents Register

This 3-session online course will cover the fundamentals of Emergency Preparedness, explain the essential components of an Emergency Plan, and walk you through the steps to develop a plan for your organization. Provisions for both major and minor emergencies will be discussed, as will extended closure, and how to address an emergency within a larger disaster. You will work with an emergency plan template and will customize it for your own needs and risk factors. You will be encouraged to complete a risk assessment questionnaire (time estimate 2-4 hours) and work on your own institution’s plan (time estimate 4-6 hours) between the sessions. You will conclude with a draft of your new Emergency Plan to share with your institution and board.

Thanks to funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Sponsor/Host:  Midwest Art Conservation Center

Session 1: Wednesday, March 11, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central
Session 2: Wednesday, March 18, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central
Session 3: Wednesday, March 25, 2026 10:00 AM-12:00 PM Central

Cost: FREE for MN Residents Register, $400 Non-MN Residents Register

A Long-Range Preservation Plan (LRPP) prioritizes preservation needs and develops concrete goals for the short-, medium-, and long-term. In this 3-session online course you will draft your own LRPP and learn how to use it to achieve conservation treatment goals and to submit competitive grant proposals for state and federal funding. This foundational course will focus on preservation fundamentals, how to assess and prioritize collections care goals, and is designed particularly for small institutions. This workshop includes group participation activities and a recommended 4-6 hours of independent work time outside of class.

Thanks to funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society.

Sponsor/Host:  Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums & Pope County Historical Society
Date: October 6, 2025
Location: Glenwood, MN
Time: 10am-3pm
Cost: $30 MALHM Members/$40 Nonmembers

The MALHM Curator's Affinity Group to learned more about wet salvage techniques, mold remediation, choosing proper personal protection equipment (PPE) and accessing statewide emergency caches with discussion and hands-on activities.

The Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums (MALHM) serves 500+ local history groups throughout the state. MALHM offers: professional training and networking, awards for excellence, mutual assistance in times of disaster, and more. Click here for more information.

Sponsor/Host:  Minnesota Alliance for Heritage Response - ZOOM
Date: Monday, March 17
Time: 12-1pm CST
Cost: FREE - watch recording here

Todd Topper will share his experiences from Fall of 2012 when an 8" water main failed under a North Denver off-site museum storage facility. This broken pipe resulted in extensive flooding and an exterior wall collapse. Todd will discuss how preventative measures in warehouse storage system design and emergency response procedures -- as well as some luck -- prevented a complete collections catastrophe.

Todd Topper is the Senior Manager for Collections at the Minnesota Historical Society. Since 1995, much of his work has focused on collections management and registration. The work has taken Todd from his hometown museum in Evansville, Indiana to Atlanta, Georgia, Denver, Colorado, Columbus, Ohio and now St. Paul Minnesota.  Within collections management, Todd specializes in storage systems, vault design, and large collection relocations. He recently assisted the Ohio History Connection with their new collections care center design and object relocation planning. When not thinking about museum storage solutions, he is a landscape and still life painter and collage artist.

Sponsor/Host:  Minnesota Fire Museum, 664 22nd Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418
Date: Tuesday, August 20, 2024
Time: 1pm - 4pm CST
Cost: FREE - Register Here

Librarians are frequently the first line of response when an incident occurs inside the library. It’s crucial that staff have the skills and knowledge they need to respond to emergencies when they happen. Additionally, more information about preparedness and planning can help prevent emergencies from happening in the first place. Join us for an afternoon of hands-on emergency response and planning focused on libraries, hosted by the Minnesota Alliance for Heritage Response (MN-AHR) and the Minnesota Fire Museum. 

The Minnesota Alliance for Heritage Response (MN-AHR) is a statewide network of museums, archives, libraries, performing arts organizations, historic preservation groups, and emergency responders dedicated to preparing for and responding to disasters affecting collections and historic properties. This afternoon session will include: 

• An introduction to MN-AHR and local emergency response resources available 

• Fire safety for libraries

• Hands on fire extinguisher practice

• AED training

• Emergency planning for libraries

• Tour of the Minnesota Fire Museum

This is a free opportunity for any person who works or volunteers in a library. There is a registration cap of 30 people. Please register in advance at this link: https://forms.gle/v9aYRzNnurWGEnkT9

Sponsor/Host:  Association for Preservation Technology (Register)
Date: Tuesday, June 25, 2024
Time: 2pm - 3:30pm ET

Unexpected disasters can be overwhelming and challenging. Disaster recovery effectiveness can be improved with prepared collaboration in the chance a traumatic event occurs. This presentation will discuss ways that design professionals and stewards of historic buildings can work better together before, during, and after disasters. The speakers – an engineer and architectural historian and conservator – will share lessons learned from decades of combined experience responding to earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, and how they work together to get the best outcomes for the sites they serve. Topics covered will include: the stages of disaster recovery, how to raise money for resilience and repair projects, working with insurance companies to get the best outcomes, and how design professionals can define scope of work and create biddable documents that help building owners write better grants and cases for support.    

• Learning Objectives: 

• Describe the three stages of disaster recovery.

• Understand how to save money, fund projects, and work with insurance companies.

• Articulate owner/steward’s needs for scope of work, biddable documents, grant requests.

• Know what they should ask the owner: drawings to mark up (HSR), photographs (100s), full laser scan.

Must be a member of APT to participate. Learn more.

The Minnesota Alliance for Heritage Response (MN-AHR) is a statewide network of museums, archives, libraries, performing arts organizations, historic preservation groups, and emergency responders dedicated to preparing for and responding to disasters affecting collections and historic properties. In this session, presenters from MN-AHR will introduce our organization and will discuss Emergency preparedness and the importance of relationships for effective emergency response. Representatives from the Fire Department will talk about fire safety response/training opportunities. If time allows, the fire department would go through some hands on fire extinguisher training. Additionally, we will provide resources for creating emergency plans and salvage/recovery methods and supplies.

Event: Minnesota Alliance of Local History Museums' 2024 Conference & Annual Meeting (Info & Registration)
Date: April 24 & 25, 2024
Location: Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, Duluth MN

Session: Wet Salvage Training Demonstration
In the fall of 2023 MALHM members received wet salvage training from the Minnesota Art Conservation Center. The training involved learning how to safely remove documents, photographs and artifacts from water and then techniques for drying those items. This session will demonstrate some of these techniques and allow attendees the opportunity to get their hands wet and learn salvage techniques for themselves.

Presenters:

• Adam Smith, Minnesota State University, Mankato

• Ann Grandy, Pope County Historical Society

• Jenna Collins, Olmsted County Historical Society

• Jess Edberg, Dorothy Molter Museum

• Petra Gunderson-Lieth, Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County