REALM Project

Crisis management planning: Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site

Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site (ESP), located in the heart of the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia, is an unusual cultural heritage institution in that it both houses collections and is, itself, a curated object. The world’s “first true penitentiary,” ESP operated from 1829 to 1970 and then was abandoned for two decades. In the mid-1990s, it was reopened as a museum and historical site, thanks to efforts by a nonprofit. However, the years of neglect took the form of water damage, vegetation growth, roof damage, and more, which continue to require ongoing repairs across the 11-acre property.

From the outside, ESP could be just another stone building in the neighborhood. On the inside, though, it’s a different story. Imposing, sloped walls, labyrinthine grounds, and fifteen shadowy cellblocks provide visitors with stark reminders of the harsh life experienced by those who were incarcerated within. ESP is designed as a wagon wheel, with long corridors that radiate from a central rotunda surveillance area and outdoor courtyards. The initial intent was to keep prisoners in silent isolation to encourage “penitence.”

Now designated a “stabilized ruin,” ESP is looked after by staff who walk a careful line between implementing repairs to stabilize or keep the institution safe and running, while also trying to place as light a footprint as possible to preserve the experience of being in this sobering edifice. To keep the building more or less as it was found, Erica Harman, manager of archives and records at ESP, is in charge of all the historic, person-made crafts, the uniform pieces, documents, photographs, etc., that date to when prisoners served time at ESP, and Liz Trumbull, senior director of preservation and operations, oversees the construction that happens on-site, from big capital projects to the everyday maintenance that is completed by the in-house facilities team. Their philosophy of prioritizing immediate repairs to ensure visitor and staff safety, while also maintaining the character of the place, shows through in the ways they approach crisis and disaster planning.

The building houses different types of collections. One features items that people have donated or that the museum has purchased and are in good shape, known as the “new collection.” The other is an abandoned collection of items left behind when the building closed in 1970. Each collection is housed in a location related to its purpose—the acquired items are in climate-controlled archives so that they can be shared as part of an exhibit; while the abandoned items convey more powerful impressions when they are left where they were found, often in the cells, to help tell the story of the place. Over time, these items have been tagged with a description of what the object was, where it was initially, if it was moved, and by whom, which also helps to contribute to a historical understanding.

Crisis management

When the site reopened in the mid-90s, the structure was in bad shape, with water raining into the space and causing structural damage. Early tours required hard hats for visitors. Water is one of the biggest sources of concern for Liz and her team; water-related damage has resulted in roof repairs to keep water out and make the site safe and stable for visitors to move about the space. However, only some of the necessary repairs can be done due to time, capacity, and funding, so in some cases, there are stopgap measures that prioritize public safety, such as netting to secure plaster that is detaching from a wall.

This approach exemplifies how the conservation team walks the line between implementing repairs to make an area look new versus restoring it so visitors can still understand what it looked like historically. Liz pointed out that it is important to remember that even when ESP was operational as a penitentiary, repairs were being done, often by prisoners. That history is also part of the conservation calculus of what and how much to restore/repair to preserve the place's significance. Liz shared, “There are these human touches throughout the building, where you can tell that someone has been here and made a mark, whether it's graffiti or etching into a stone or etching into a mortar joint.” She noted that prisoner labor and expert craftmanship form the layers to the story of the building. Erica added, “The material culture of the building does so much of the heavy lifting of interpreting prison history…and the changes in ideas about what incarceration meant.” Hence, their careful attention to how best to preserve the building and its history.

Water has impacted administrative offices as well. The archive room experienced a flood requiring the relocation of several materials until the room could be dried out. Staff offices were affected by flooding due to a pipe that became clogged during some construction. A key to catching these situations early is regular patrols by frontline staff, which began during the COVID-19 lockdown. Often this is done before they open the site each day, using checklists that are shared and updated online as issues arise. Even if the frontline staff aren’t structural experts, they are familiar with the building, which makes them uniquely equipped to watch over the building and report issues. This proactive approach has been beneficial for ESP and the conservation staff.

Following the flood in the offices, ESP staff worked with the Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts (CCAHA) to engage in disaster planning exercises and develop an emergency plan that can help to prepare them for what is to come for ESP, given the realities of climate change and the unique nature of this building. CCAHA helps organizations create housekeeping plans, collection management policies, and emergency plans, through drills, activities, and site visits. Liz clarified that frontline staff are the stewards for ensuring visitors and staff are safe and secure in the event of a disaster. In contrast, the emergency plan they developed with CCAHA prioritizes recovering and restoring collections to the greatest extent possible, following the securing of human safety. The plan enumerates the chain of command, staff roles, contact lists for contractors, and more; Erica has refined the lengthy plan into shorter subsections that can easily be consulted and scanned during a crisis.

Part of this approach of proactive, regular check-ins and patrols is effective communication. At ESP, the staff stay in touch with one another using walkie-talkies. Also, the site is upgrading its fire security system to allow more immediate and effective communication with fire services and visitors on site. These efforts are another example of how staff at ESP ensure and prioritize human safety within a building with an inherently complicated footprint. 

Finally, ESP also contends with various wildlife entering the site because it is open to the air: Liz and Erica alluded to the occasional presence of possums, vultures, hawks, pigeons, and more. Birds fly in and build nests in the cells that must be carefully removed once abandoned, and a squirrel unexpectedly entered the collection space and had to be carefully lured out of the offices.

ESP is indeed a unique institution, situated within a large city. It faces the concerns and pressures of caring for covered and exposed spaces and balancing historic preservation with necessary structural repairs.

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Look for partners who can help you assess your collections, your space, and your plans for emergencies and crises. An outside perspective can help you enhance and strengthen the work you have already done and consider opportunities and issues that you might not have thought of. In this story, you heard about CCAHA; Northeast Document Conservation Center (NEDCC), which features in another story in this series, also offers this service.
2. Consider implementing a regular patrol or review of your space and collection to build familiarity and be ready to identify imminent issues before they become a crisis. A proactive approach can save time and money.
3. Think about your own goals for crisis management and preservation as well as the institution’s goals and history. How are these in alignment? Where are there tensions? How might you adapt your goals and/or your institution’s goals to bring them more into alignment? What is your philosophy for crisis management and preservation?

Other examples

Read other examples of how libraries, archives, and museums are approaching crisis management and planning for disasters.

Explore now