The Long and Winding Road (to Recovery): status of Glasgow School of Art's archives, museum and library special collections since the 2014 fire

Abstract

In May 2014 a fire severely damaged areas of Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh Building. The School’s archive, museum and historical library holdings were housed in this building and were also badly affected by this event.

The weeks immediately after the fire saw an intensive period of rescue and stabilisation work for these collections. This was followed by an opportunity to review the status of this material, the functionality of disaster preparedness activities, and to consider how best to undertake a longer-term recovery project. As well as looking at conservation requirements, all areas of collection work were reviewed including acquisitions; cataloguing and digitisation work; packaging and labelling procedures; and user engagement. This was with a view to ensuring the future usability and resilience of these collections and indeed enhancing these attributes.

This paper will provide an overview of the impact of the fire on GSA’s collections. It will explain how the initial recovery of materials from the building has informed the School’s longer-term recovery plans, providing examples of lessons learnt and actions undertaken so far. It will also discuss the current status of collections and visitor services two years on from this event, and it will explain what recovery activities are planned for the next 3 years.