Know Your Neighbor Summit

Who do you call when you have a collections question? Who do go to if your storage space floods? Are there people in your community or other communities in the North Country and Lakes Region that are dealing with the same questions and concerns you have? 

The Know Your Neighbor Summit will bring together cultural heritage organizations from Coos, Grafton, Carroll, and Belknap counties with the hope of building a network to share information and resources about cultural heritage preservation and emergency preparedness. The Summit will feature guest speakers from the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC) and the Collections Care & Conservation Alliance (CCCA) who will share their knowledge about preservation, collections care, emergency preparedness and community building. 

At present, New Hampshire has no statewide disaster network for the cultural heritage sector. Our goal is to determine the path forward to establishing a regional network. Vermont launched in 2019 the Vermont Arts & Culture Disaster & Resilience Network (VACDaRN), which serves as our inspiration and model for the North Country/Lakes Region network. Key players from VACDaRN are advising us and will be present at the Summit on June 11th. 

The Museum of the White Mountains and Lamson Library of Plymouth State University are the main sponsors of the Summit and will absorb the event’s cost. Registration will be free, and lunch will be included. Donations are welcome to help offset the cost of lunch, which is $13 per person. All speakers have generously donated their time and travel to participate in the event.

To register for this event, please complete our form HERE. RSVP by May 15.

This event will be hybrid. To receive a Zoom link, please register HERE.

Event Schedule 

9:30 – Registration with coffee, MWM Open Lab 

10:00 – Opening Remarks, Meghan Doherty (Director, Museum of White Mountains) & Rodney Obien (Board Member, Squam Lake Archive Center) 

10:20 – Jesse Keel, Associate Preservation Specialist at the Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), “Emergency Planning and Response 101” 

12:00 – Lunch at Prospect Dining Hall (Newfound Room) 

1:00 – Rachel Onuf, Director, Vermont Historical Records Program (VHRP), Vermont State Archives & Records Administration, “Reflections on the formation of the Vermont Arts & Culture Disaster & Resilience Network (VACDaRN)”

1:45 – Collections Conundrums with Darlene Bialowski (President, Collections Care & Conversation Alliance), Brian Burford (retired State Archivist), Meghan Doherty, Alissa Helms (University Archivist & Special Collections Librarian, Plymouth State University), Jesse Keel, Rodney Obien, and Rachel Onuf 

2:45 – Wrap Up and Next Steps 

Emergency Planning and Response 101 

With increasing occurrences of climate related disasters and the constant risk of other emergencies, cultural heritage organizations need to be prepared to work together to keep their collections safe. This presentation will give an overview of the emergency planning cycle including risk assessments, disaster planning, and basic recovery steps. We will then walk through a potential emergency scenario together to test some of the planning concepts. The session will wrap up with time for Q&A and an emergency planning resource guide aimed to help participants take the next steps in emergency planning.  

About NEDCC 

Founded in 1973, NEDCC is the first independent conservation laboratory in the nation to specialize exclusively in treating collections made of paper or parchment, such as works of art, photographs, books, documents, maps, and manuscripts. Today, the Center offers conservation treatment, digital imaging, and audio preservation services, as well as preservation training, assessments and consultations, and disaster advice on collections. NEDCC is a trusted resource worldwide for information on the preservation of paper-based and digital collections. 

About Jesse Keel 

Jesse Keel is based in NEDCC’s Andover, MA office and is a New Hampshire resident. She provides preservation consultations, training programs, assessments, and disaster advice to a variety of cultural heritage organizations nationwide. Prior to joining NEDCC in 2023, Jesse was the Exhibits and Collections Manager at Hildene, The Lincoln Family Home, where she previously served as House Manager. In addition, she has pre-professional experience in a historical society and a university library. Jesse earned an MA in English from the University of Vermont and an MLIS with a concentration in Archives Management from Simmons University.

About Rachel Onuf

Rachel Onuf is the Director of the Vermont Historical Records Program, based at the Vermont State Archives & Records Administration. She serves as a Director of the Collections Care & Conservation Alliance, a co-lead of the Vermont Arts & Culture Disaster and Resilience Network (VACDaRN), and as a member of the Vermont Suffrage Centennial Alliance and the NEDCC Advisory Committee. Rachel received her BA from Swarthmore College, an MA in Library & Information Science from the University of Michigan and an MA in American History from the University of Virginia. Past jobs include serving as Roving Archivist for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Director of Archives at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. She taught as an adjunct for Simmons College School of Library and Information Science and worked as a consultant for many years. She lives on a sidehill farm near the village of East Orange.

About Collections Care and Conservation Alliance (CCCA)

Collections Care and Conservation Alliance provides information and education to individuals and entities caring for art, artifacts, historical records, and other collections, including cultural institutions, artists, private collectors, and municipalities to help improve collections care through a network of conservation and preservation professionals. 

About Darlene Bialowski

Darlene Bialowski, a contract museum registrar and a fine & decorative arts appraiser, has been in the cultural heritage preservation field for more than twenty-five years. She was the sole registrar for a 5 museum association and handled rotating exhibitions for two Smith & Wesson facilities. She has a BA in Anthropology with an emphasis on Archaeology and an Associate’s in the Administration of Criminal Justice both degrees conferred simultaneously from the American University in Washington DC. Darlene also is a certificated Paralegal achieved through the University of New Hampshire, a graduate of the Winterthur Institute, and is an accredited member of the Appraisers Association of America.