This is a post Loma Prieta earthquake (Oct. 1989) investigation project in learning from this damaging event. This projects will study the damage and document the museum contents losses during the earthquake in terms of both value and failure mode. Several critical museums will be selected and their site- specific art object/support system response criteria will be determined from the recorded ground motions. The response criteria and damage survey will then be used to develop recommendations for future seismic loss mitigation measures for museum contents. This study will improve our ability to reduce the losses of museums in their irreplaceable collections due to earthquakes.
