FLOODING THREATENS SMITHSONIAN

 

President Warren Harding's blue silk pajamas. Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves. The Star-Spangled Banner. Scripts from the television show "M*A*S*H."

Nearly 2 million irreplaceable artifacts that tell the American story are housed in the National Museum of American History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, the biggest museum complex in the world.

Now, because of climate change, the Smithsonian stands out for another reason: Its cherished buildings are extremely vulnerable to flooding, and some could eventually be underwater.

At the American History museum, water is already intruding.

So far, the museum's holdings have escaped damage. But we're kind of in trial and error, said Ryan Doyle, a facilities manager at the Smithsonian. It's about managing water.

An assessment of the Smithsonian's vulnerabilities, released last month, reveals the scale of the challenge: Not only are artifacts stored in basements in danger, but floods could knock out electrical and ventilation systems in the basements that keep the humidity at the right level to protect priceless art, textiles, documents and specimens on display.

Of all its facilities, the Smithsonian ranks American History as the most vulnerable, followed by its next-door neighbor, the National Museum of Natural History.

To read the complete article, see:
Saving History With Sandbags: Climate Change Threatens the Smithsonian (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/25/climate/smithsonian-museum-flooding.html)

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