Comprehensive reports about the conditions and holdings of libraries, archives, and museums assaulted by natural and unnatural disasters throughout the world seldom reach the popular media. Produced by those most closely involved in the preservation and conservation of the world’s cultural heritage, the detailed reports of actual or potential risk are but a small portion of a vast and varied preservation literature. This body of mostly grey literature has not been analyzed, synthesized, or interpreted. Much of it has been criticized as anecdotal or atheoretical.
Rather than disregard the literature, this poster session will decode these texts as thick description of the values, concerns and actions of communities of practice. Their communiqués highlight networks and discourses; link individuals and institutions; and reveal logics grounded in contextual realities. Differently interpreted, the preservation literature serves to expand the practice as well as awareness and recognition of the principles and values in question.