Our next webinar will take place on Wednesday, June 24th at 1:30 pm EST. “The Founding Four & 20 Years of USCBS” will look back on two decades of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield and highlight the work of the “Founding Four” organizations that were key to its creation and mission: the International Council on Archives (ICA), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

This webinar is free and open to the public but registration is required. Please register here and email hq@uscbs.org with any additional questions.

Following the severe storms and flooding in Central Texas in July 2025, the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute-Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (MCI-SCRI), with the Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab at the Virginia Museum of Natural History (CHML) and the Texas Collections Emergency Resource Alliance (TX-CERA) identified, analyzed, and mapped 33 potentially impacted cultural heritage sites across the counties of Burnet, Guadalupe, Kerr, Kimble, McCulloch, Menard, San Saba, Tom Green, Travis, and Williamson. They recently published this data in their report, “Potential Impacts to Cultural Heritage Sites from Flash Bloods in Burnet, Guadalupe, Kerr, Kimble, McCulloch, Menard, San Saba, Tom Green, Travis, and Williamson Counties, Texas, USA.”

In partnership with the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute-Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative (MCI-SCRI) and with the support of the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, Cultural Emergency Response (CER) launched their “Supporting Heritage at Risk” manual. It encompasses step-by-step guidance, exercises, worksheets, and training materials to support heritage professionals, cultural practitioners, and organizations working to protect heritage under challenging circumstances. With an emphasis on fundraising and proposal writing skills, individuals and groups of practitioners can use this guide to support their efforts in emergency response, long-term preservation, or community-based heritage initiatives.

The manual was developed leveraging insights and experience from the CER and MCI-SCRI’s Leadership Course for Cultural Heritage Stewards in Challenging Circumstances first hosted in 2017; its methods are already in effect in Nepal, Pakistan, and Syria. The manual is currently being translated into Arabic, and other translations are in the works as well. USCBS founder and Board member, Cori Wegener was a peer reviewer for this manual.

Our 2026 Annual Conference will take place on September 17, 2026 at American University in Washington D.C.

Please save the date!

More information coming soon.

On Wednesday, May 6th, Laurie Rush, Secretary of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield, and Brian I. Daniels, President of the Archaeological Institute of America and USCBS Board member, will present a webinar on the importance of partnerships in the field of cultural property protection. This webinar will discuss Blue Shield and partnership initiatives with the Archaeological Institute of America, the US military, and other organizations that were developed to educate military personnel and inform operations planning for cultural property protection in 21st century conflicts.

All are welcome to attend this webinar on Wednesday, May 6th at 1:30 pm EDT. Registration is available here.

Please contact hq@uscbs.org for any additional questions.

A recent Hyperallergic article on the threats to Iranian cultural heritage includes comments by both Cori Wegener, founder of the U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield (USCBS) and current USCBS Board member, and Brian Daniels, Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center and USCBS Board member. Read the article here.

NPR recently discussed the damage to Iranian cultural heritage and included comments from USCBS President, Patty Gerstenblith. You can hear the audio piece or read the article on NPR’s website.

Registration for a hybrid conference titled, “Law, Heritage, & Identity: International Legal Frameworks for Cultural Preservation” at Rutgers Law School is now open. The one-day event will take place on Friday, March 27th and admission is free and open to the public in-person or on Zoom.

USCBS Vice-President, James Reap, will speak as part of the morning panel, “Trafficking, Destruction, and Institutional Protection of Cultural Property.”

Registration and the full conference program are available here.