NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The East Texas Research Center at Stephen F. Austin State University will host a Disaster and Preservation Planning Workshop Series May 14-17.

The workshops were made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and will focus on some of the disaster and preservation challenges cultural heritage institutions such as libraries, museums and archives regularly face.

Donia Conn, an expert from the Northeast Document Conservation Center, will give a presentation on basic and more advanced object preservation, disaster planning and disaster recovery. Local cultural heritage institutions with archival or museum-quality materials are encouraged to register for the free workshop series. Registration is open, so attendees may sign up for one to four sessions.

In addition to the workshop series, the ETRC, in cooperation with the City of Nacogdoches Historic Sites Department, is offering a pair of public programs on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. These focus on the preservation of important family items.

Topics will include best practices for the display, storage and care of common items in family collections, such as photographs, books, bibles and letters. Community members are encouraged to bring an item or two from their own collections for examination and discussion. The public programs will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Durst-Taylor Historic House and Gardens, located at 304 North St. These programs are free to the public.

For more information and to register for the workshop series or the public programs, visit http://library.sfasu.edu/etrc/workshops, call (936) 468-4100 or email (asketrc@sfasu.edu).