Disaster Archive
Hurricanes 2005
Damage and Response Reports – Mississippi
April 9 Sun Herald article: Beauvoir, Battered Repository of Southern Heritage, Is Caught in an Uncivil War. Lawsuit seeks to define board's new bylaws.
BILOXI - Revered Beauvoir is at the center of an uncivil war between factions involved in a change of the guard within the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The philosophical tussle is delaying repairs to the hurricane-damaged property.
A lawsuit against the Beauvoir board of directors alleges it is trying to strip control of Jefferson Davis' home from the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans' general membership.
The defendants, a Mississippi nonprofit corporation, believe the suit is the first step by national leaders who have white-supremacist leanings to wrest control of Beauvoir from the nonprofit group. The corporation, made up of members of the Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, owns the museum.
Mississippi members of the SCV have recently seen the group's national charter moved from Mississippi to Texas and have seen many of their members unseated by what they refer to as a new, radical faction.
Now the Beauvoir directors feel the influence has trickled back into Mississippi.
The national SCV named Denne Sweeney of Texas commander-in-chief almost two years ago, and some members of the Mississippi Division were removed. Sweeney, characterized by some as a new radical, said his organization stands fast against "political correctness." To read more, click here.
April 7 Sun Herald article: 'It is hard to be needy'. Some groups don't know where to turn for help.
GULFPORT - If area museums, sucker-punched by Katrina's aftermath, are going to stay open for the long run, their leaders right now are going to have to push harder and ask for more money from major funding foundations and agencies, area museum leaders told the Sun Herald recently.
The Coast museums are plagued with uncertainty about where to turn, how much money to seek and how long to expect the need to continue.
Despite an estimated 80 percent of all the arts and heritage on the Coast lost to Katrina and the acknowledged threat that some museums are in danger of not making it at all in the long run, "the desperateness of the situation is not very well understood," said Paul Richelson of the Mobile (Ala.) Museum of Art.
"People are playing it close to their vest," he said of the Mississippi Coast museums. "It is hard to be needy, even if you are."
Although museum leaders have talked freely of what they've been able to accomplish since the storm, primarily in the areas of grant-supported education outreach, they have been less likely to publicly acknowledge that Katrina landed some of them on a financial precipice, to be rescued only by money the Coast does not have.
Calling museum funding "an absolutely overwhelming economic-development need here on the Coast," Lolly Barnes with the National Trust for Historic Preservation said, "We're a tourism destination, and if you don't get these nonprofits back up on their feet in the next couple of years, to allow them to get strong enough to rebuild, you've really missed an opportunity to become that really great heritage tourism destination."
"In a very uncandid way," said Julian Brunt of Biloxi, "this group has to explain how tough it is and get the word out there and see if there are not some organizations or individuals or agencies that would be willing to come forward and put up the money." Brunt is director of the Dusti Bongé Foundation, which is a private collection virtually unharmed by the storm.
He suggested that $100,000 per museum would be enough money to ensure operations for the next year, allowing them to keep the doors open while they get back on their feet.
Coast museums represented at the meeting with the Sun Herald were Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs, Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi, Lynn Meadows Discovery Center children's museum in Gulfport and the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum in Biloxi.
It will take at least five years, however, to replace "what we think is the normal operating income for the institutions down here," said George Bassi, director of the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art in Laurel. In addition to tapping major grant foundations and politicians, he suggested identifying large construction entities in the area, whether casinos or condos, that might have a percentage of money set aside to fund arts. To read more, click here.
April 2 Hattiesburg American article: Mold invades circuit court.
At their Monday meeting, Forrest County supervisors are expected to make plans to combat a sticky—well, moldy—situation at the circuit courthouse.
The stubborn stuff infests most buildings to some degree, but it multiplied in the 100-year-old courthouse when it was without power after Hurricane Katrina, said Billy Hudson, board president.
"Any time you've got an old building like that that's already musty and you shut down the air conditioning for nine days in 95-degree weather, mold grows," he said.
Though the extent of the building's mold damage, potential repair costs and a timeline for the clean-up are still unknown, approximately 50 employees—and court proceedings—will likely be forced to temporarily relocate. To read more, click here.
March 23 WLOX article: Storm Alters Museum Plans.
Hurricane Katrina interrupted big plans for two museums in Biloxi.
The Ohr-O'Keefe museum was under construction and looking toward a grand opening. The Seafood Industry Museum was planning an upcoming anniversary celebration.
Thanks to the storm, museum directors are now busy with plans to recover and rebuild. To read more, click here.
March 26 Sun Herald article: Ohr-O'Keefe gets TLC. Michigan college students pitch in.
BILOXI - To "dance with the trees" was the architectural theme that guided Frank Gehry when he designed the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum complex, consisting of five new buildings.
Marjie Gowdy, museum executive director, said 10 of the 26 Live oaks on the property did not make it, so 16 are left to accompany reconstruction after Katrina so rudely cut in on the dance.
Gowdy reports the condition of the buildings as follows:
- Pleasant Reed House gone, but archives saved
- Center for Ceramics half completed at time of storm, still awaiting insurance, with anticipated reconstruction beginning by fall
- George Ohr Gallery gone
- Welcome Center and restaurant badly damaged but federal funds still available;
- Contemporary Gallery half completed at time of storm
- African-American Gallery flattened by a casino barge.
Museum-exhibits specialist Bob Brooks said the artworks stored in an upper-story vault of the museum building on G.E. Ohr street survived the storm. The collection was moved for safekeeping after the storm.
"We moved the artwork from the gallery exhibit cases to reinforced containers in order to move them as little as possible, and took them to Mobile," Brooks said. "This was done in the middle of the night with help from the Mobile Museum of Art staff. We were all in a state of shock."
Amid the destruction on the debris-strewn property last week, 24 student volunteers from Central Michigan University donated their spring break to Katrina cleanup work rather than partying in Florida. Other students from their group chose to search for artifacts at the site of the destroyed Seafood Museum. To read more, click here.
March 22 Boston Herald article: Giving back is its own reward: Vols lend hand to Gulf Coast.
D’IBERVILLE, Miss. - “People have a need to tell their stories,” Mayor Rusty Quave told the latest group of volunteers to pass through the tent city set up in his town. “You do a lot just by listening. It’s part of the healing process for them.”
Seven months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, the bricks and mortar devastation was all too obvious—the ubiquitous blue tarps where roofs used to be, the concrete slabs where coastal homes used to be, the skeletons of resort hotels, casinos, shops and restaurants where the jobs used to be. And everywhere the unspoken sadness of ordinary lives that won’t be ordinary again for a very long time—if ever.
....Cindy is seated across the table. “I lost my house, my car and my dog survived the flood but he’s gone now. I think it was the strain of it all.”
She lives in a FEMA-provided trailer now and works in another - for a tourism related agency in a place where that was once a thriving industry.
In fact, we have come here—a team of 330 volunteers under the auspices of Canton-based Tourism Caring for America—to make a small dent in the job that remains to be done, to show that people everywhere still care. And even if the TV anchors have left town, we have not forgotten them.
Most are tourism professionals, accustomed to four-star hotels. Here we’ll sleep in tents or military barracks. We’re joined by students from Central Michigan University and New York University.
And the work assignments are in keeping with the mission - museums and historic sites. Katrina took no mercy on the history and culture of communities like Gulfport and Biloxi. And the fear is very real that so much of that history will be lost. To read more, click here.
March 22 Sun Herald article: Ohr-O'Keefe getting a boost. Donations of nearly $30,000 will help education programs.
The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi has received a $25,000 grant from the Allstate Foundation and a $4,800 donation from a California fundraiser, both in support of the museum's education programs.
An all-day ceramics workshop fundraiser in late February at Aardvark Clay and Supplies in Santa Ana, Calif., collected more than $4,800 for the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, which was heavily damaged in Katrina and will use the money toward its ceramics education program. To read more, click here.
March 22 Sun Herald article: Beauvoir reveals secrets. Construction methods now in plain sight.
BILOXI - Beauvoir, the retirement home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, survived 21 hurricanes before Katrina. Sturdy construction also made it a Katrina survivor, but the mid-19th century structure is badly battered and Katrina demolished other historic buildings on the 56-acre grounds.
Ten students from the Savannah College of Art and Design this week are drawing the home's exposed framework, photographing for future study, counting beams and measuring.
"As terrible as things are, we have a rare opportunity to see exposed areas in Beauvoir House, to see how it was constructed," said Beauvoir executive director Patrick Hotard. "For example, we have never seen the wall studs. Now it's all being documented." To read more, click here.
March 17 WLBT article: Katrina Left Little History Behind
When Hurricane Katrina hit it destroyed thousands of homes and businesses and it also washed away much of south Mississippi 's history. In Jackson County alone more than 70 "historic" homes fell victim to the storm's strong wind and water. Most of those lost were in Pascagoula.
Hurricane Katrina did a number on the history in Pascagoula. Driving along Beach Blvd in Pascagoula, it doesn't take long to realize the utter devastation Katrina left behind. Old and new homes alike were flattened. Much of the city's history was washed away. Pascagoula's Historic Preservation Committee chairman Liz Ford says only two of the city's older homes on the beach are left. To read more, click here.
March 17 WLOX article: America's Tour Operators Clean Coast Attractions
Dan Dipert's hammer hit a nail, and the nail bent. "All I can say is I normally hire somebody to get it done," he laughed.
Yet this project was so important, Dipert only trusted himself and a few of his tourism friends.
The volunteers took on the challenge of rebuilding the tree house village at Lynn Meadows Discovery Center. In the process, they laid the foundation for tourism's rebirth.
"We need to rebuild that. And it won't happen until these places are ready," he said. "So we need to them them get ready."
Dipert was with an organization called Tourism Cares for America. It brought 250 volunteers to the shores of south Mississippi. The collection of tour operators used a little elbow grease, and a green thumb to spruce up nine of the area's best known tourism magnets. To read more, click here.
March 16 WLOX article: Humanities Chairman Tours Destroyed Cultural Sites
"Nice to meet you sir. Welcome to Beauvoir," said Beauvoir's director, as he greeted some very important guests.
For the first time, Dr. Bruce Cole saw for himself the ruins of Beauvoir, after Katrina hammered the Biloxi landmark.
"Just the sheer scale of devastation that I see, is discouraging," said Cole.
Cole chairs the National Endowment for the Humanities, an agency that has set aside $1.25 million for four states to recover priceless historical and cultural items right after the storm. To read more, click here.
March 16 Art and Antiques article: Help on the Way
BILOXI, MISS.—Out-of-state relic hunters are combing a grid recently laid out on the grounds of Beauvoir, the home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The artifacts at this “archeological site,” however, were not deposited during the Civil War but during the August 29 rampage of Hurricane Katrina. The storm also caused massive damage to the nearly completed, Frank Gehry–designed building at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art, which houses ceramics by the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” the late George Ohr. “One of the casino barges was lifted by the storm surge and deposited half on top of the museum,” notes Lois Olcott Price, a senior library conservator at Winterthur, the historic museum and country estate in Delaware, and one of the volunteers.
Price and other Winterthur conservators, as well as experts from the University of Delaware, are helping the two Biloxi museums rescue objects from mold, rust, sand, salt water and sludge. Local museum officials are “still in a state of shock,” Price notes, adding that conservators hope to establish long-term relationships with the area museums, as the delicate restoration work could take years to complete. To read more, click here.
March 6 Newspapers and Technology article: Biloxi feature sears storm impact into memory
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina is still very much in evidence along the Gulf Coast, but the storm’s pain comes in even sharper waves when viewed through the spectrum of life before Aug. 29.
That trip through time is made possible by The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., which began running its Before & After Katrina feature - in print and on the Web - last October.
The project is the brainchild of Sun Herald photographer John Fitzhugh, who began shooting pictures of structures in the three-county area surrounding Biloxi in 2004 before Hurricane Ivan. To read more, click here.
March 3 Sun Herald article: Tourism workers to help. They will clean landmarks
GULFPORT - Lynn Meadows Discovery Center, Beauvoir and the Seafood Industry Museum are among the landmark sites designated for an intensive cleanup effort by people from across the United States who work in the tourism industry.
Their visit, set for March 16-19, has been organized by Tourism Cares for Tomorrow in conjunction with the Mississippi Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau. The volunteers range from company chief executive officers to hotel clerks, who have all paid $50 to work hard and stay in tent accommodations.
They will get a cap, a couple of T-shirts, some free meals and the satisfaction of helping the Coast rebuild.
About 200 people are flying in and another 100 coming from within driving distance. Anyone else from the tourism industry who wants to take part can sign up online at www.tourismcares.org. To read more, click here.
March 2 The Mobile Register article: Museum of Mobile reopens
The Museum of Mobile opened Wednesday after a six-month closure for Hurricane Katrina repairs.
Hurricane Katrina's storm surge Aug. 29 damaged the museum at 111 S. Royal St. when water seeped through ventilation ports and left several inches of water, mud and silt on the 34,000 square feet of the first floor in the National Historic Landmark building.
Contractors finished work in the beginning of February, said museum director George Ewert. He said the museum staff had to do some exhibit work and cleaning after that. To read more, click here.
March 1 Sun Herald article: Rising from the ashes. Arts community looking to the future
A strengthened resolve and new brand of creativity mark many of the Coast's artists, who are taking advantage of new markets away from this area at a time when the local community has to focus on getting Sheetrock instead of artwork on their walls.
"These artists intend to rebuild quickly, strongly and to be a greater-than-ever voice in the cultural DNA of their community," observes the executive director of the Mississippi Art Association, Malcolm White of Jackson, crediting artists with "tenacity, courage and willingness to work tirelessly to pull themselves up out of the ashes."
Though tentative, steps are being taken in two Coast towns to better support community art.
In Bay St. Louis, artists and educators are hoping to create an arts district headquarters, possibly in a now-abandoned building near downtown, to be used by both visual and performing artists.
Gulfport is exploring designation of a downtown area as an arts district.
Damaged organizations, including Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi and Lynn Meadows Discovery Center in Gulfport, have cut to skeletal staffs and operate off-site, but with grants have managed to resume their educational outreach to schools. To read more, click here.
February 22 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Trump gives $25K to Beauvoir restoration
The Donald has a soft spot for historical preservation.
Donald Trump donated $25,000 toward the restoration of Beauvoir, the Mississippi Gulf Coast estate where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived his final years, John French of Long Beach, a member of the Beauvoir board, said Tuesday.
French, who is involved in raising money to restore the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library in Biloxi, said Beauvoir has been identified by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as a property that should be preserved. To read more, click here.
February 18 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Unpaid claims stall Biloxi's recovery
Biloxi officials are waiting for word on $30 million in insurance checks, which would be used to rebuild about 30 city-owned buildings damaged during Hurricane Katrina.
The buildings include city hall, which had roof and ceiling damage, the Chamber of Commerce building, and historic sites like the Dantzler House, which had recently been refurbished to house the Mardi Gras Museum and Tullis-Toledano Manor. Also among the buildings lost were all of the Biloxi Port Commission buildings and the Biloxi Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum. To read more, click here.
February 18 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Biloxi statue's future in question. Katrina pushed Golden Fisherman off his moorings
The Golden Fisherman lies with his feet broken at Point Cadet Plaza, and some have mixed feelings about his aesthetics, but all agree the statue evokes powerful feelings about the history of the city.
When first displayed in 1977, the Golden Fisherman's slender, abstract net confused some of the children, said Retha Edwards, a lifelong Biloxi resident. She was seated at a coffee shop, just a few yards from where the statue was originally erected at Vieux Marché south of Howard Avenue.
"The kids used to say that he was throwing a snake," she said. "Then I would have to explain to them that it was a net."
Edwards believes the monument should be fixed.
"It would be a real shame to lose it," she said.
Like Edwards, others, including retired Navy officer Steve Grasich, believe the statue is important and personal.
"It evokes the fishermen of the sea," he said. "My two brothers and my father were all fishermen."
The city has pledged to reset the fisherman, but where hasn't been determined. The statue toppled and a crane will be required to lift the heavy statue. To read more, click here.
February 17 Newhouse News Service article: Post-Katrina, Black Historian Works to Save Black History in Gulf Town
GULFPORT, Miss. -- For 13 years, Derrick Evans, a sixth-generation descendant of the freed slaves who in 1866 founded the little Gulf Coast community of Turkey Creek, taught "Eyes on the Prize," a survey course in civil rights history, at his alma mater, Boston College.
Then came Hurricane Katrina. His mother nearly drowned. His stepfather subsequently died. And Turkey Creek lay battered.
For Evans, it was time to stop teaching black history and devote himself to saving it. To read more, click here.
February 9 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Coast gets millions for document restoration, school repair
Hancock County will receive $1.92 million in grants from FEMA to salvage and store official documents that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, Sens. Thad Cochran and Trent Lott said Thursday.
Over three million pages of documents, including land deeds and case files, in both the courthouse and the tax assessor's office of Hancock County were destroyed or severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The funds will enable Hancock County to treat and restore the documents and prepare to store them using digital recording technology.
"This funding is important because it allows Hancock County not only to salvage the documents that were damaged but also to upgrade the document recording system to protect future loss or damage to records," said Cochran, R-Miss.
Meanwhile, nearly $6 million was approved for recovery efforts in the Pass Christian and Waveland communities, said Lott, R-Miss.
The funds will be used to repair school facilities and remove debris.
"These communities were ground-zero for Hurricane Katrina, and certainly every dollar of this package is needed to help repair basic public infrastructure in these communities," Lott said. To read more, click here.
February WLOX article: Gulfport Has Blueprints To Rebuild Grasslawn
Grasslawn was truly an antebellum treasure. It had a white picket fence, a canopy of oaks, and a picturesque view of the Mississippi Sound. An untold number of brides walked down these steps and began a new chapter in their lives.
Gulfport Mayor Brent Warr knows one of the brides.
"My sister had her wedding reception there," he remembered.
Now it's up to leaders like Warr to make sure future brides have the same opportunity to celebrate their vows on the historic waterfront property.
"I think it's very important to rebuild it. And actually, our initial conversations have been, 'Let's see if we can replicate it.' We've found the original blueprints for it," he said. To read more, click here.
February WLOX article: Bay Residents Experiencing Preservation Problem Post-Katrina
People who live in older homes in Bay St. Louis are faced with yet another problem.
What's left of those homes needs to be cleared away, but homeowners say government paid debris contractors won't do the job.
The reason, because of the home's historic value.
"I'm anxious to rebuild here in Hancock County, Bay St. Louis, I love the city and it's put a halt to everything. My builder is ready and I don't know what to do. I need someone to help me," said Carlotta Arnsdorff.
Arnsdorff lives on Thomas Street in Bay St. Louis. Her home was flooded and destroyed by Katrina. In November, she signed a right of entry form so the Corps of Engineers contractors could demolish the house.
On Sunday an inspector with the Corps told her the Historical Society put a block on the demolition.
The reason, all homes built prior to 1960 had been designated as historical sites by the State Division of Archives & History.
"I would like to see whoever is responsible for designating my home as a historical site to lift that to do something to put a stop to that so I can get the home demolished by the corps of engineers," said Arnsdorff. To read more, click here.
February 12 The Dallas Morning News article: Mississippi landmarks swept away. Towns struggle to salvage relics of history destroyed by Katrina
PASCAGOULA, Miss. – Father William Norvel watched silently as nearly 100 years of history was hauled off brick by brick. The mountain of rubble before him was all that remained of the school that was a touchstone for this coastal town's black neighborhoods.
Marquis Peairs must take his daydreams elsewhere after officials decided not to rebuild St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School, a historically black school in Pascagoula, Miss.
In its early days, St. Peter the Apostle Catholic School welcomed black students when other schools turned them away. Now, families that have sent generations of kids to St. Peter have lost their school – and with it, a part of their identity.
"Our school was our history, our spirituality," said Father Norvel, who attended St. Peter as a child and serves as pastor of the church. "That's important to us."
Along the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Katrina destroyed more than buildings; it also wiped out fragile relics of the region's black history.
In towns such as Escatawpa and Gulfport, Katrina pummeled close-knit black neighborhoods that were established more than a century ago. In Biloxi, a former slave's historic home was leveled, and an African-American art museum under construction was crushed by a three-story casino barge that swept ashore. And in Pascagoula, the small Catholic school that had taught black students about their heritage is gone.The future of this region is in limbo. So is its past. To read more, click here.
February 8 WLOX article: Beauvoir Oaks Will Help Restore Historic Ship
Hurricane Katrina knocked down hundreds of trees on the Beauvoir property. But a select few will be used to help restore America's maritime heritage.
The wood from fallen live oaks, will bring new life to a historic wooden ship.
The two live oaks graced the grounds of Beauvoir for well over a century. Now the trees felled by the hurricane, have another calling. To read more, click here.
February 5 The Mississippi Press article: History prevails: The Genealogy Department in the Pascagoula Library reopens
When Hurricane Katrina came ashore on Aug. 29, 2005, it swept 5 inches of water in the Jackson-George Regional Library System of Pascagoula, ruining carpet, furniture and several hundred books.
Now, five months later, the genealogy and local history department has been able to utilize the upstairs and reopen, giving history buffs a chance to brush up on the past. To read more, click here.
February 3 The Memphis Flyer article: Q&A: Gayle Petty-Johnson, Executive Director of the Walter Anderson Museum
The Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, is the only museum open on the Gulf Coast. Although it is located three blocks from a beach where homes were turned into sawdust by Hurricane Katrina, the museum escaped, but not unscathed. With tourism nearly nonexistent, the museum dedicated to preserving the works of an extraordinary watercolorist, sculptor, potter, and printmaker is currently operating with a skeleton crew of six people. But according to museum executive director Gayle Petty-Johnson, "everything could have been worse." To read more, click here.
January 29 New York Times article: Civil War Survivors That Gave Up Their Ghosts.
THEY were the grandest of all the neighbors along the Mississippi Gulf Coast: splendid manors with names like Tullis-Toledano, Beauvoir and Grasslawn, squeezed in among the giant moss-covered oak trees. More than any road sign could, they announced that a bit of the old South had endured.
Now, for the most part, they are just memories. Having survived every calamity since the Civil War, and earned a kind of landmark status long before the designation was invented, these structures were wiped out or severely damaged last August by Hurricane Katrina.
As the clean-up crews have finally reopened roads along the coast in recent weeks, the full reality of what was lost on a single day has finally settled in. To read more, click here.
January 17 The Daily Texan article: Recovery and Relief Efforts: Memories of Old South Awash
For more than 50 years the Beauvoir Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library has been assembling Civil War artifacts thought to be lost, including items once belonging to the former Confederate president and U.S. senator. What was documented and placed behind glass displays is lost once again, scattered in a few hours by Hurricane Katrina.
When he's working on site, Jack Elliott, from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, stays in a shed left standing at the far end of the 52-acre estate, the site of the mansion Jefferson Davis stayed at to write his memoirs, "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government." Elliott takes the long route around the lot to get to the dig site instead of cutting straight across in order to avoid the alligator he spotted in the creek across from where he sleeps. Elliott said he assumes the 8-foot gator, a creature notorious for being territorial, was swept in with the ocean surge caused by Hurricane Katrina, which also scattered valuable artifacts that had taken decades to collect - and destroyed nearly 50,000 homes.
Elliott said Beauvoir was under 30 feet of water at one point, but the house where Davis stayed remained on its foundation, though it was missing its doors, windows and everything beneath the second floor. The first level of the Davis Presidential Library, built in 1997, was blown out the back of the building, leaving only a large bronze statue of Davis. To read more, click here.
January 12 Detroit News article: Team to perk up Mississippi facility. Volunteers headed south next month to assist a community damaged by Hurricane Katrina
A team from Main Street Oakland County and some volunteers are headed south next month to assist a community damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
While most rescue efforts in Katrina-ravaged areas are humanitarian-based, this one has a different mission: to save a piece of Mississippi architectural history and help locals plan for the future.
Plans call for up to 40 team members to head to Hattiesburg, Miss., as part of a venture to secure and clean up the Old Hattiesburg High School, a historic structure destined to become the University of Southern Mississippi's Department of Art and Design and its Museum of Art. To read more, click here.
January 12 WLOX article: Group Saving Four Damaged Historic Homes
Leif Anderson watched in wonder Wednesday morning, as crews struggled to save a simple, wooden cottage on the Shearwater complex in Ocean Springs.
"It's marvelous that they care about Walter Anderson's cottage," said Leif Anderson.
The house, built around 1850, was once home, studio, and a place to escape for her world famous father—artist Walter Anderson. To read more, click here.
January 11 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Preservation House Opening boosts recovery effort.
Mississippi Coast owners of historic properties will have a central place for advice on saving Katrina-ravaged homes, businesses and landmarks with the opening of Preservation House.
The organization, located in a quaint, 1920s house on Rue Magnolia, is funded by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will house teams of preservationists from the state and nation. In coming months, its occupants will include volunteers and experts in structural engineering, tax credits, architecture and other disciplines needed to restore the battered Coast. To read more, click here.
January 10 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Preservation Task Force forms
Major but sometimes behind-the-scenes players in saving local heritage have formed the South Mississippi Preservation Task Force as a united post-Katrina voice.
A dozen men and women, many wearing several hats in the region's recovery efforts, met for the first time tonight in Gulfport as a spin off of the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal. To read more, click here.
January 9 McGraw Hill Construction article: World Monuments Fund Helping to Save Historic Gulf Coast Homes
Two historic Gulf Coast homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina are receiving some much-needed help from the World Monuments Fund. The New York-based preservation group launched a restoration pilot program in December with $260,000 in start-up funding from American Express, The David Berg Foundation, and The Florence Gould Foundation. The two landmark residences, the Phillips House and the Hecker House, are located in Bay St. Louis, a small waterfront community 30 miles west of Biloxi, Mississippi. To read more, click here
January 5 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Pa. students helping library
LONG BEACH - A team of 10 volunteers from State College, Penn., continues to restore the city's devastated library this week. The dust was heavy and the pace was quick as the crew ripped up moldy carpet and Sheetrock and removed warped wooden shelving.
By today, the library was a closer to normal and the team's spirits were high.
"I'm real glad to be here," Penn State Senior Aaron Hayes said. "I jumped on the opportunity to be a small part of this recovery. If everybody does a small part, the most insurmountable task can be accomplished."
Hayes and the others are the second wave of volunteers from the central Pennsylvania town that are making a concerted effort to rebuild many structures along the Coast that have been slow to receive state or federal aid. Perry Babb of the Central Pennsylvania Katrina Task Force leads the group and says the library is slowly but surely getting back on its feet. To read more, click here.
December 27 Picayune Item article: Firm commitments in place to complete Ohr-O'Keefe complex
Beams for the roof of the Center for Ceramics at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art construction site angle above the live oak treetops that appear to embrace them.
At ground level the site, like so many on the Gulf Coast, still looks trashed months after Hurricane Katrina.
The board of trustees has twice voted to continue the $30 million Frank Gehry-designed museum complex to completion. The goal is to have the four-story Center for Ceramics, which withstood the storm and appears sound, open in 18 months to two years.
An event in December at the contemporary Gagosian Gallery in New York announced the David Whitney Building Fund, specifically for the new George Ohr Gallery, with Gehry as the guest of honor. To read more, click here.
December 17 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Conservators to help Ohr, Beauvoir. One-year commitment made possible by grant
On their fourth visit to Biloxi since Katrina, conservation professionals from Winterthur Museum in Winterthur, Del., announced a one-year partnership commitment Friday to help Beauvoir and the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art with preservation of cultural objects damaged in the storm.
"A private foundation has given us a substantial grant to work with museums in Mississippi, and the focus will be the Beauvoir and Ohr-O'Keefe collections," said Dr. Jennifer Mass, Winterthur senior museum scientist and its Katrina Recovery coordinator.
In addition, the grant will allow them: To help other small institutions and historic houses in the area, to be identified in conjunction with the state Department of Archives and History; to hire a full-time conservator for one year to work with the Gulf Coast Institutions; and to fund a conservation workshop about disaster recovery and emergency response. To read more, click here.
December 16 Biloxi Sun Herald article: BEFORE AND AFTER: Dantzler House in Biloxi
The Dantzler House was many things in its 11/2-century history, from a fine home for cotton planters and lumber magnates to a Catholic school to the headquarters of the Biloxi Tricentennial Commission.
The most recent plan for the Historic Register house at 1042 Beach Blvd. was to be the Biloxi Mardi Gras Museum, and many carnival artifacts were there in storage as exhibits were planned. The museum was to open in 2006.
Katrina claimed the Mardi Gras paraphernalia and the house, too. To read more, click here.
December 14 Philadelphia Inquirer article: Painstaking rescue
The gloved staff in Winterthur Museum's restoration lab painstakingly sliced off the binding tape and, careful not to get a snoot full of mold, lifted off the bubble pack. Then—carefully, carefully—they turned the painting over.
"Wow."
"Geez."
"She must have been slammed into something."
Above a gash in the canvas, 27-year-old Winnie Davis, youngest child of Jefferson Davis, daughter of the Confederacy, gazed serenely across time, her image having survived from the 19th century to the 20th to the 21st.
Winnie's portrait—from 1892, when she was a queen of Mardi Gras—hung above a mantel at Beauvoir, the Mississippi estate of the Confederate president.
But on Aug. 29, a 30-foot wall of water from the Gulf of Mexico roared up the Biloxi beach, across a two-lane highway, and straight through Beauvoir—French for beautiful view.
Winnie's portrait was among untold amounts of irreplaceable artwork and artifacts that were damaged or lost at museums and historical properties during Katrina.
Now, with the help of grants, some of those treasures are going to Winterthur, near Wilmington, to be restored under a new partnership between the decorative-arts museum, the University of Delaware's art conservation program, Beauvoir, and a Biloxi pottery museum.
Debra Hess Norris, chair of the university's art conservation department, had been to the coast as part of a small delegation that assessed cultural damage. She returned home vowing to do more. To read more, click here.
December 14 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Historic house being rescued
Preservationists launched a radical rescue effort here today to save a beachfront home, more than two centuries old, from complete extinction.
Hurricane Katrina tore the face from Charles and Irma Heckler's historic shotgun home on Beach Boulevard, and the elderly couple had no plans of rebuilding.
"I'm getting too old to rebuild it, I just can't go climbing on a roof," said 86-year-old Charles, who's family has owned the house—one of the few still standing—for nearly 50 years.
The World Monuments Fund, a non-profit group of historic saviors, and the Preservation Trades Network are hoping to save the Heckler's home from demolition tractors.
Craftsmen, architects, and volunteers began taking the historic house apart this week in a meticulous attempt to salvage whatever they can. The plan is to store the pieces until a location is found to reconstruct the home as a museum. To read more, click here.
December 14 WLOX Biloxi article: Two Bay St. Louis Homes Restored By Historical Group
Kara Dotter kneeled next to a brick frame, chipped off pieces of those bricks, and placed them in a bag.
"I'm collecting mortar samples," she said.
Those samples are a lot like chapters in a history book. They tell the story of 222 N. Beach Boulevard in Bay St. Louis.
While Dotter crawled under the house looking for clues to write chapter one, Dorothy Phillips wrote its ending.
"I see a house that's meant a great deal to me, a great deal," the 75 year old Bay St. Louis woman said. To read more, click here.
December 13 Los Angeles Times article: Biloxi museum fund instituted
A memorial fund honoring curator and art collector David Whitney will help rebuild an art museum in Biloxi, Miss., that was under construction when it was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in August.
Whitney, who died of cancer in June at the age of 66, was a consulting curator for the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, designed by Frank Gehry. The museum is named for Biloxi native and art potter George E. Ohr and former Biloxi Mayor Jerry O'Keefe.
The Biloxi museum, initially scheduled to open in July, is now slated to be completed in about two years. The centerpiece will be four pod-like gallery pavilions featuring the work of Ohr (1857-1918), who was known as the Mad Potter of Biloxi. To read more, click here.
December 9 Clarion Ledger article: Trashed but not trodden. Firm commitments in place to complete Ohr-O'Keefe complex
Beams for the roof of the Center for Ceramics at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art construction site angle above the live oak treetops that appear to embrace them.
But at ground level the site, like so many on the Gulf Coast, still looks trashed months after Hurricane Katrina.
The board of trustees has twice voted to continue the $30 million Frank Gehry-designed museum complex to completion. The goal is to have the four-story Center for Ceramics, which withstood the storm and appears sound, open in 18 months to two years. To read more, click here.
December 8 Metropolis Magazine article: Historic Homes with Controversial Pasts and Questionable Futures
A long-standing debate as to whether Frank Lloyd Wright or his former employer, Louis Sullivan, designed two beachfront bungalows in Ocean Springs, Mississippi may have been rendered moot by the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. To read more, click here.
December 7 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Gulfport arts district urged
A team from the Savannah College of Art and Design presented a post-Katrina redevelopment plan to residents of the "Mississippi City" neighborhood here Monday evening.
Graduate students and faculty in urban planning, architecture and historic preservation collected data and used site analyses of the area to create the pro-bono community growth and rebuilding proposal. To read more, click here.
December 7 Fort Wayne News Sentinel article: Blacks strive to preserve past in storm-damaged region
The ability of the black community to sustain a political voice along the Mississippi Gulf Coast will be tested between now and early next year, when reconstruction plans are expected to be finalized.
While each community will make its own decisions about redeveloping areas struck by Hurricane Katrina, a statewide commission has been meeting to come up with recommendations for local governments. Five members of the 40-member Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal Commission, appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour, are black. To read more, click here.
November 24 New York Times article: To Restore or Reinvent?
For thousands of Mississippi Gulf Coast residents, rebuilding their broken homes after Hurricane Katrina may come down to a character issue.
After living in tents and trailers, and negotiating the riddles of insurance and federal aid, many homeowners in the coming months will face questions of how exactly to reassemble houses of a certain historic vintage, like shotgun houses and Creole cottages. They are about to get some free design advice, whether they ask for it or not.
Next week, the Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, which was organized by the Mississippi governor, Haley Barbour, will begin giving away free copies of "A Pattern Book for Gulf Coast Neighborhoods."
The 72-page pattern book details the basic features of traditional houses and, starting with a letter from Governor Barbour himself, strongly urges people to replicate them as closely as possible as they rebuild. To read more, click here.
November 20 Mobile Register article: Ohr-O'Keefe family keeps its eyes on the prize
Every day or two, Marjie Gowdy takes a little drive around east Biloxi and the site of what was to have been the jewel in the crown of Gulf Coast museums.
More than two dozen live oaks once graced the landscape where architect Frank Gehry said he would design a new Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art complex that would "dance with the trees."
Things change. A casino barge, dislodged and borne on Katrina's violent surge, now sits on the site. The good news: Sixteen trees survived the storm; and the casino reportedly will be removed in three months, says Gowdy, executive director for the museum.
Still, less than a year before Biloxi was scheduled to open its $30 million art showplace, OOMA staff and supporters must rise from the rubble and continue their quest. Gowdy says the spirit is willing. To read more, click here.
November 19 Biloxi Sun Herald article: BEFORE AND AFTER:Tullis-Toledano in Biloxi
The irony of Tullis-Toledano Manor is the first advertised Mississippi Coast gambling was at a 19th-century hotel on the same site as this antebellum home, which now lies crushed beneath a beached gambling barge.
The structure, made of red-clay bricks from this region, was not as grand as some architecture from the 1850s, but its history reflects Biloxi culture. In modern times there was the manor, the "slaves quarters" that also housed a kitchen, and another house thought to have originally been for carriages. To read more, click here.
November 17 WLOX article: Efforts Underway To Restore Beauvoir
A Columbus native has an ardent interest in restoring the Gulf Coast estate where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived his final years. Beauvoir was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but Phillip Gunter hopes it can be repaired by the 200th anniversary of Davis' birthday in 2008. ``It is structurally sound and we can restore it,'' said Gunter, a member of the Beauvoir Board of Trustees. To read more, click here.
November 16 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Jackson benefit will raise money to preserve Walter Anderson legacy
The late Walter Anderson found artistic inspiration amid the sparkling waters, abundant wildlife and scrubby barrier islands of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
Two and a half months ago, a more monstrously destructive hurricane, Katrina, inundated a vault on Anderson family property in Ocean Springs and damaged dozens of original watercolors and drawings.
An event Thursday night in Jackson will help raise money to restore the damaged works before they're lost to saltwater and mud. An Anderson pen-and-ink drawing will be auctioned off—a rare event in a collection tightly held by family members. To read more, click here.
November 16 PRNewswire Press Release: Savannah College of Art and Design to Assist Hurricane Katrina Victims With Damage Assessment to Historic Structures Along Mississippi Coast. SCAD first college to partner with National Trust for Historic Preservation to provide professional-level assessments.
The Savannah College of Art and Design is partnering with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, and the Association of Preservation Technology to assess damage to historic structures in coastal Mississippi caused by Hurricane Katrina. SCAD is the first college in the nation to partner with these agencies to provide professional-level historic structure assessments.
The SCAD group, comprised of 25 faculty, staff and students from the college's historic preservation, architecture and interior design programs, is scheduled to work with the agencies in the Gulfport and Biloxi areas Nov. 28- Dec. 7. To read more, click here.
November 15 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Mayors get rebuilding support. Institute team discusses design, strategies
The Mayors' Institute on City Design met with South Mississippi mayors Monday to offer its resources to help the area rebuild.
During a Monday working session, a team from the institute met with mayors from six cities to discuss design principles, priorities and strategies. To read more, click here.
November 3 Picayune Item article: Archivists taking stock after Katrina claims rare local historic documents
As Hurricane Katrina approached, local historians were confident a vault filled with precious pre-Civil War pictures, maps and documents cataloguing the history of this Gulf Coast community would be safe.
Hopes were high after the storm passed. The former bank building that served as the Pass Christian Historical Society headquarters washed away, but its vault still stood. Workers opened it to find wet, sopping papers —the ruined history of a seaside town. Most of the collection including town ledgers and old newspapers is lost. To read more, click here.
November 1 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Ohr-O'Keefe Museum project derailed by Katrina, officials say
Hurricane Katrina has derailed plans to finish the new Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi by July 2006.
Only one of the five buildings that will make up the museum is slated to open by 2007. Marjorie Gowdy, the museum's executive director, said the Center for Ceramics building sustained minimal damage during Hurricane Katrina. To read more, click here.
October 29 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Museum digs out pieces of Coast history rising from the rubble.
Robin Krohn-David, director of the Biloxi Seafood Industry Museum, said she couldn't wait to see a crane show up Thursday morning.
She had been trying to get a crane to help retrieve many of the large, heavy engines and other exhibit items buried in the debris and remains of the museum after Hurricane Katrina. When state Rep. Michael Janus, R-Biloxi, called and asked her what she needed, the crane was one of the first requests out of her mouth. When it arrived with 14 volunteers from Missouri, Krohn-David said, "Fantastic." To read more, click here.
Dragonfire article: A Conservator's Katrina Tale
When the American Institute for Conservation put out a plea for conservators to visit Hurricane Katrina-bashed coastal Mississippi, Susan Duhl was among those who answered the call to assess what was left of the region’s museum and library collections. To read more, click here.
October 25 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Preservation leaders: Rebuild your heritage
Culturally and economically, historic preservation is a critical building block in each city digging out from Hurricane Katrina.
Top U.S. and Mississippi preservation leaders, including the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation - with its motto "Protecting the irreplaceable" - brought that message to South Mississippi on Monday. To read more, click here.
October 20 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Museum members ready to rebuild
Katrina tried to amend Frank Gehry's design for the beachfront Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, but Gehry will prevail, and the project will continue.
Board members gathered again recently to reiterate an earlier "yea" vote to move forward, with the focus on reconstructing that beachfront campus. To read more, click here.
October 18 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Arts play a major role: Waterfront also adds more punch to plans
Four major roads, a commuter rail line where the CSX railroad stands and a revitalized art community will be the key to Waveland's recovery, according to the Mississippi Renewal Forum design team assigned there.
Robert Orr, the team's leader, pointed to the 200 artists who call Waveland home but showed their wares in Bay St. Louis because that town's Main Street and Second Saturday events attracted more tourists. To read more, click here.
October 17 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Historic homes may be history: Owners taking different paths
A long-standing debate as to whether architect Louis Sullivan or Frank Lloyd Wright designed two adjacent homes on East Beach might have been rendered a moot point by the mighty hand of Hurricane Katrina. To read more, click here.
October 16 Miami Herald article: Katrina's cultural fallout: Hurricane leaves some of the South's most precious treasures struggling to reclaim their place
During the longest and most dreadful days after Hurricane Katrina, Robin Krohn-David scoured this city's Point Cadet neighborhood for the insides of her beloved museum. She walked block after block through a neighborhood nearly swallowed; pushed and kicked debris; sat on her knees and dug with her hands to find bits of culture protected in pristine glass cases just days before.
The storm made a mess of Krohn-David's Maritime & Seafood Museum, gutted what was once a cathedral-like edifice that gracefully told the story of the old town and the sea. It is a museum in a city Laura Bush applauded just 18 months ago as a giant in preserving its heritage. To read more, click here.
October 15 Hattiesburg American article: Officials: Area's cultural buildings survived storm intact
Rich Speights of the Mississippi Development Authority speaks to council members Friday during the Mississippi Humanities Council meeting. Most of the Pine Belt's cultural and historical buildings received little damage from Hurricane Katrina, officials said Friday.
Patty Hall, Hattiesburg Humanities Council director, said Hattiesburg fared much better than the cultural institutions from the Gulf Coast at the meeting.
"We haven't seen inches of green and black mold growing on our walls," she said.
The libraries' damage on University of Southern Mississippi's Gulf Coast campus was incomparable to the Hattiesburg campus.
Kay Wall, university librarian, said the Hattiesburg campus only had a few leaks and displaced ceiling tiles, but its collection was still intact. On the other hand, the libraries on the Coast lost 80,000 microforms, 97 new titles and 2,191 issues of journals.
Hurricane Katrina also spared the cultural facilities on William Carey College's main campus. To read more, click here.
October 13 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Coast art staple returns: Anderson museum reopens
Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs will reopen Tuesday, making it the only museum on the Coast to return to operation after Hurricane Katrina. To read more, click here.
October 11 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Team wants to capture unique style in rebuilding: Experts stress importance of maintaining Coast's history
The glossy travel magazines call South Mississippi the crown jewel of Mississippi tourism.
People who live and work here know it better as a rare pearl necklace. Each town is cultivated by delicate environments, rich histories and a distinctive character.
But in a day, Hurricane Katrina did more damage than an assault by hundreds of bulldozers and tons of dynamite. Soul-shaken and scrappy, residents began rebuilding their lives, and community leaders began the process of rebuilding the Coast.
As part of this week's Renewal Forum sponsored by the Governor's Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, architects, urban planners and social issues experts from around the nation are coming to South Mississippi to offer suggestions about ways to rebuild neighborhoods and cities that retain the Coast's character.
But first they must understand the Coast's most cherished places and the people who love them. To read more, click here.
October 11 Hattiesburg American article: Katrina slows downtown renewal
Don Smith, left, and N.J. Woullard with Jay Van Co. from Hattiesburg cut plywood for the flooring during restoration of the Masonic Temple on Main Street. While Hurricane Katrina has slowed some downtown renovation projects, officials hope to have work on the Masonic Temple completed by the end of the year.
The old Coca-Cola bottling plant in downtown Hattiesburg was scheduled to reopen this month as a live music nightclub, another step in reviving the city's historic downtown area.
That was before Hurricane Katrina. Now, with the roof blown off and water damage, owner Nick Chichester said damage to The Bottling Co.: A Music Warehouse may not be repaired until February or March. To read more, click here.
October 11 The Salt Lake Tribune article: U. librarian helps save hurricane-strewn relics
Standing on the grounds of a museum in Biloxi, Miss., Randy Silverman saw history strewn like trash in the dried-out grass fields.
There were bits of pottery from Gulf Coast American Indian tribes as well as 17th-century nautical instruments used by early French explorers. On the museum grounds, history is layered, just like garbage at a city dump.
Silverman, a conservator who works as a preservation librarian at the University of Utah, describes what has become the "collection fields" of Biloxi's Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum, ever since the forces of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita ravaged the building and its collections. But even his trained eyes couldn't pick out what's important.
"You can see various surprises," Silverman said, sitting in his office at the Marriott Library this week and explaining details of a photograph he shot outside the nearly gutted museum. "A phonograph record next to a brick, next to a folding chair, next to a piece of corrugated steel, window frames. And then next to all of this, there's a small ceramic object, some bit of historic pottery. Out back of the museum, there's the rubble of a whole wall, and a pink toilet and a pink bathtub and bricks and a water heater." To read more, click here.
October 11 Jackson Clarion-Ledger article: Don't judge a library by its (lack of) cover. Supporters bound, determined to rebuild facilities, collections.
It's safe to say Gulf Coast libraries aren't going to charge late fees on books checked out in the days before Hurricane Katrina.
While several libraries were destroyed in the storm, significant portions of their collections are scattered across the region in the bags, cars and new homes of displaced residents.
Directors of affected public library systems are optimistic that readers will someday return the books, many of which are out of print. To read more, click here.
October 10 Dallas Morning News article: An altered landscape for artists - Katrina's marks on museums, galleries both real and abstract
Walter Inglis Anderson tried to dissolve the boundary between his art and the natural world. Long after his death, Hurricane Katrina obliged.
The reclusive southern artist carved sculptures from fallen branches of storm-struck oak trees. He painted murals swirling with the eyes of tempests. In 1965, he lashed himself to a barrier island to study Hurricane Betsy's wind and waves.
More than 80 percent of his life's work was damaged when Hurricane Katrina flooded a vault at Shearwater Pottery, the Anderson family's beachfront compound in this Mississippi Gulf Coast town. The working pottery, founded in 1928, was leveled along with the homes and artwork of four generations of the Anderson family. To read more, click here.
October 9 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Plans for Ohr-O'Keefe: Museum will reopen
The director of what was to be one of the most exciting museums in the United States now operates out of a small trailer behind the Martin Luther King Building amid the wreckage of downtown Biloxi.
But Marjie Gowdy is far from hopeless.
This determined woman has already shepherded the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum through challenges that would have discouraged most people. To read more, click here.
October 10 Biloxi Sun Herald article: Old Capitol Museum to get creative in wake of closure
The Old Capitol's closure for at least a year will curtail student and tourist options for learning about the state's history, culture and heritage.
Students are the museum's largest and most consistent audience. During the 2004-05 school year, more than 14,000 schoolchildren visited the museum, 168 student groups (6,000-plus children) in December alone. Admission to the state history museum was free, making it one of the best deals among field trip options.To read more, click here.
October 10 Clarion-Ledger article: Camille Memorial in ruin - Effort for new 1 under way
It took more than 30 years for Mississippi to erect a monument to the victims of Hurricane Camille, but in less than 12 hours, another, more powerful, storm swamped the memorial on U.S. 90, cracking its black marble tables upon which the names of the 131 Mississippi dead are etched.
The damage to the Camille Memorial hasn't stopped people from returning to pay their respects and reflect on this latest tragedy. On a bright afternoon last week, Shirley Williams, a volunteer nurse with the American Red Cross, visited the memorial, snapping pictures to show her neighbors in Port Townsend, Wash.
"I had been here last year for relief efforts for (Hurricane) Ivan," she said. "I came back to see what I could see." To read more, click here.
October 4 Jackson Clarion-Ledger article: Mold, grime, even feathers: Conservationists revive art damaged in hurricane
Helen Conklin whisks a cotton swab delicately across a 19th century painting of silvery fish set in deep earth tones. She's looking for, of all things, mud on the canvas — and sure enough, there it is.
She peers at another painting through a microscope, focusing on a cardinal's rich crimson robes that have faded to a sickly pink. That's the mark of floodwaters.
These works and many others — paintings and frames crusted with mold and fungus, bits of debris, even a few feathers — are here to be repaired and revived by art conservationists participating in their own version of hurricane recovery. To read more, click here.
October 3 Jackson Clarion-Ledger article: Coastal collections at home in Jackson
Galleries that were temporary homes to loaned international treasures during the past decade now shelter displaced art from much closer to home.
The Mississippi Museum of Art opened doors of its future home to fine art and antiques from the Gulf Coast and New Orleans, threatened during and after Hurricane Katrina. Artworks are in storage at the neighboring climate-controlled, 54,000-square-foot Mississippi Arts Pavilion.
As well as a safe haven, the arrangement brings the opportunity for a timely art exhibit, Shelter from the Storm, of selected works from the stored collections Oct. 15. Following that will be a Dec. 3-4 auction by the South's preeminent antique auction gallery. To read more, click here.
September 29 WLOX Biloxi story: Biloxi Library Cleaning Up Storm Mess
Hurricane Katrina's visit to the downtown Biloxi library has all the elements of a nightmare novel. But even though the storm made a mess of the library, that isn't the end of the story. Some determined people are intent on writing a happy ending.
A walk through the library... is an obstacle course.
"I can assure you that many of these things were not in the library before the storm," said librarian Jamie Ellis, as she stepped over storm driven debris.
A storm surge stew of sea grass, water logged books and assorted who-knows-what-else now covers the floor.
"I couldn't believe it. I thought to myself. We never thought that it would get this high. We just didn't think that it would happen," said Ellis. To read more, click here.
September 29 NewYork Times article: After Hurricane Katrina, a Bank Turns to Money Laundering
The scene would make a mob boss proud: workers in a windowless hallway scoop armfuls of grimy cash out of plastic garbage bags and sling them into a washing machine. Others fill the dryers and iron the clean bills. Nearby, a half-dozen women count the freshly pressed bills and bundle them into thousand-dollar wads. To read more, click here.
September 29 article in the Sun Herald: Grishams tour damaged library
BILOXI - Mississippi author John Grisham walked through muck covering the entire first floor of the downtown Biloxi library Wednesday, surveying damage from Hurricane Katrina.
Dozens of crumpled books and videotapes lay mixed in mud, leaves and branches that came into the library when some of the windows broke during the storm. Among the water-stained books were a few of Grisham's novels, including "The Brethren" and "The Street Lawyer."
The best-selling novelist promised to replace his works. To read more, click here.
September 29 Mobile Register article: Kudos for saving pottery
The staff of the Mobile Museum of Art was instrumental in saving the priceless pottery collection of George E. Ohr, the "Mad Potter" of Biloxi, from the wreckage left by Hurricane Katrina.
Led by executive director Tommy McPherson and Albert Robinson, chief of security and facility manager, museum staffers made two trips into storm-ravaged Biloxi beginning just two days after the hurricane. Some of the collection had already been packed at the Ohr-O'Keefe Museum, and the Mobile staff packed up the rest and then loaded some 250 pots, several paintings and some papers onto trucks. To read more, click here.
September 28 Clarion-Ledger article: Keepsakes damaged by Katrina 'do not have to be thrown away': Simple, gentle drying techniques effective, experts say.
Letitia Machado can predict the items she'll miss the most as time goes by. A painted portrait of her father. A library of valuable books, including a first edition Mark Twain. A Walter Anderson original watercolor…. Hurricane survivors, including the Machados, are learning simple restoration procedures first-hand. The biggest lesson? "Things do not have to be thrown away. If you do it the right way, you can save it," said Jane Long, director of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force. To read more, click here.
September 28 Preservation Administrators Discussion Group (PADG) listserv e-mail: Hurricane Katrina Preservation Assessments in Mississippi
Between September 14th and September 16th, approximately two weeks following Hurricane Katrina, Ann Frellsen, collections conservator at Emory University, and Christine Wiseman, preservation services manager at The Georgia Archives, conducted assessments of archives and historical repositories in the three coastal counties of Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina. We were among the first to look at the conditions of important records in the areas most devastated by the hurricane.
Under the auspices of the Mississippi Archives, a small team visited nineteen sites that included public libraries, city halls, court houses, historical societies, museums, and private collections. Because of time constraints, we focused on examining damaged permanent and vital records in government facilities, and on local history and genealogical collections held in public libraries. In nearly every instance, preventing or halting mold growth was a major concern, given the lack electrical power and the expectation that power would not be available for several more days or weeks.
In some cases we were able to confirm or discount earlier reports of damage. Public libraries in Bay St. Louis and Pascagoula, for example, were already on their way towards recovery, despite earlier reports of severe damage to their collections. Mold remediation and building drying activities, such as removing wet carpeting and drywall, were already underway. In the case of the Pascagoula Public Library, only several hundred volumes of replaceable materials were lost. Staff were concerned about the condition of the local history and genealogy collection, which was expected to remain in the building without power for several more weeks. The Biloxi Public Library suffered extreme damage to their general collection; the focus was on salvaging as much of the local history collection as possible.
Some government buildings had basic services restored and were open to the public. Moss Point City Hall and Hancock County Court House in Bay St. Louis, for example, were open to the public, despite the damp and moldy volumes air drying in their hallways. We were told that “an official” had told people that everything submerged in the floodwaters had to be thrown out. That directive may have caused vital records to be discarded before we arrived. We noted the amounts of damaged materials at all sites, so that the plans could be made for freezer trucks and climate controlled storage.
In all cases we talked to staff about the importance of taking personal safety precautions and trained people to use on using respirators properly.
Many organizations are in dire need of freezing capabilities, particularly for materials that were submerged in the flood water. In addition, there is a great need for assistance to private collections that are not eligible for federal funding.
We have learned that some of these materials have since been taken to climate controlled storage. Unfortunately Hurricane Rita is delaying recovery efforts. As conditions improve and more services are restored, more teams can continue to go into the devastated communities. Gasoline availability and the lack of accommodations for visitors may continue to hamper preservation efforts.
September 24 Sun Herald article: Jackson County works on court records
For the Jackson County court system, Hurricane Katrina's aftermath means soggy case files and delayed justice. More than 4,000 land documents dating as far back as the mid-1800s have found a new home at the Fair Hall at the Jackson County Fairgrounds complex. To read more, click here.
September 15, via phone:
The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art (2001 CAP awardee) in Biloxi, Mississippi, sustained major damage as a result of Hurricane Katrina. A dislodged casino barge crushed part of an addition designed by Frank Gehry and the Pleasant Reed House, a museum of African-American history (pictured here before the storm), was destroyed except for the chimney. The rest of the collection is safe, including the Ohr pots that have been moved to the Mobile Museum of Art.
September 14 news release from the Society of American Archivists:
A team from the archival community is now in Mississippi to learn how archivists in the U.S. can help their colleagues. The team includes David Carmicheal, President of the Council of State Archivists (C0SA) and State Archivist for Georgia; Richard Pearce-Moses, President of the Society of American Archivists (SAA) and Director of Digital Government Information for the Arizona State Library and Archives; and Debra Hess Norris, Chair of Heritage Preservation and Chair of the Art Conservation Department at the University of Delaware. Details on the trip are at www.archivists.org/news/katrina_visit.asp.
September 13, via e-mail:
Scott Peyton, Collections Manager of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science in Jackson, reported that the museum had lost power for 24 hours but had a generator to maintain power for emergency lighting, live animal facilities, and freezers. There was damage to nature trails, boardwalks, and stairways caused by fallen trees.
September 9, via e-mail:
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in Jackson, Mississippi, reports that "we are fine. We only had very slight damage to an air-conditioner unit."
September 8, excerpt from HERBARIA mailing list:
Our herbarium is located in a window-less room on the main floor and suffered no damage. The main building housing the Department of Biological Sciences was not so lucky; about a dozen windows were blown out, minor flooding occurred, and electricity was out for several days, ruining numerous frozen collections. Mac H. Alford, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Curator of the Herbarium Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS
September 8 New York Times article: In Mississippi, History Is Now a Salvage Job
The barrel of the Confederate 12-pounder howitzer was missing, and so was the saddle on which Jefferson Davis rode into the Mexican War. Four days after Katrina, Patrick Hotard's face was shadowed with exhaustion and dismay as he surveyed what was left of Beauvoir, the beachside Jefferson Davis home and presidential library, where he is the director. He had just arrived from his refuge in Louisiana, and many of his worst fears were being confirmed as he picked through the bricks, giant wafers of plaster and nylon Confederate flag replicas. To read more, click here.
September 4, via e-mail from Mary Wegner, State Library of Iowa:
On Sunday afternoon, I spoke with Sharman Smith, current State Librarian of Mississippi, who was Iowa's state librarian from 1992 - 2001. Katrina brought sustained 90-miles-per-hour winds to Jackson, where the Mississippi State Library is located. The new State Library of Mississippi building, which is scheduled to open later this year, was undamaged by the storm. The library hasn't had power or air conditioning since the storm and plans to reopen on September 6. Sharman says that the damage south of Jackson in Mississippi is terrible, almost incomprehensible, with the full extent of the destruction not yet known. The storm surge along the Mississippi coast was about 40 feet, and the destruction extends from the beach about 90 miles inland. At least 10 libraries are known to have been completely lost, and Sharman still hasn't heard from some of the libraries. Many others have suffered extensive damage. The needs of those affected are so basic right now that there has not yet been time to plan for a recovery and rebuilding effort. It is simply too soon after the damage to know what kinds of library materials and supplies or volunteer efforts will be needed. As the needs become more clearly identified, Sharman will let us know.
September 2 Philadelphia Inquirer article: Cultural treasures are feared destroyed.
On Monday afternoon, a gust from Hurricane Katrina crept under the copper roof of the Old Capitol Museum of Mississippi in Jackson and one-third of the roof "rolled up like a banana peel," museum director Lucy Allen said. To read more, click here.
Faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi-Hattiesburg McCain Library and Archives reports a small leak that did not affect the collections. To read more, click here.
August 31, excerpt from a posting on Museum-L:
Based upon news reports, I believe that the Mississippi town of Ocean Springs may have been largely destroyed by Katrina.
August 31 Clarion-Ledger article: Old Capitol Museum, artifacts damaged.
The Old Capitol Museum, facing restoration costs recently estimated at $11.1 million, got an additional wallop from Hurricane Katrina winds and rain. The copper roof, according to one employee, "peeled back like a banana." To read more, click here.
August 31 Clarion-Ledger article: Biloxi devastation: Beauvoir destroyed, President Casino crashes across U.S. 90
Landmarks like Beauvoir, the final home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, are virtually demolished. The Davis home, built in 1854, has been reduced to rubble and a frame of a house. To read more, click here.
August 31 The Day article: In Mississippi, Death Toll Is Still Rising
People stared in disbelief at the sights along Highway 90, which runs along the beach through Gulfport and Biloxi. Some old mansions were peeled open like dollhouses; others, like the Danzler House, which had just been remodeled to house a Mardi Gras museum, were simply gone. To read more, click here.
