1. Hurricane in Mississippi Assessment of damage to library, archival and museum collections September 22-29, 2005

2. Hurricane Katrina  On August 29 th, 2005 Katrina came ashore at the Louisiana and Mississippi boarder subjecting the entire Mississippi coast and two thirds of the state to the strong right side of the storm.

3. Two phases of the storm  A tsunami like storm surge of from 26 to 38 feet came ashore and moved up to 6 miles inland.  Hurricane winds, rains and tornados swept further inland over two thirds of the state of Mississippi.

4. On the Mississippi coast  The storm surge obliterated beach front neighborhoods leaving only steel frames of modern buildings while wooden building constructions were smashed into piles of debris.

5.  Four weeks after the storm cities such as Gulfport, Biloxi, Pascagoula, Bay St. Louis remained without water and electricity. The town of Pass Christian no longer exists.

6. (sidebar)  Throughout the Katrina and Rita events, New Orleans received complete and continuous news coverage. Although relatively unreported, destruction in towns and cities in Mississippi and displacement of residents was as catastrophic as it was in New Orleans.

7. Damage to Collections  Throughout the Gulf region over 100 school libraries and 25 public libraries were destroyed or damaged beyond repair.  The fate of Mississippi collections ranged from complete loss to survival without damage. Much archival material in the South remains in private family collections and the extent of loss in that category remains unknowable. Accumulated assessments of damage to Mississippi library, museum and archives tells a good news/bad news story.

8. Of 13 collections assessed in 10 cities  2 no longer exist  3 survived with major damage and loss  8 survived damaged  (view of Biloxi Public Library)

9. We anticipated mold damage

10. Contexts of Damage due to Mold  Housing or enclosure factors  Building factors  Behavioral factors  General factors

11. Housing or enclosure factors  Exhibit cases and Tyvek envelopes nurtured mold  Glazed wall mounted materials were at risk  Polyethylene sheets, used as protective coverings, nurtured mold

12. Building factors  Plywood board-up remained in place inhibiting building ventilation  After four weeks, indoor ecologies mirror outdoor except for the dark and stillness indoors.

13. Behavioral factors  An inappropriate “germ theory” of mold propagation was applied suggesting that isolation or discard of molded materials is needed and that ventilation will spread mold growth

14. General factors  Evidentially salt water inhibits mold activity  Mold presents a long term risk to collections blooming as passive drying is completed

15. What we did  Listened to stories of the hurricane  Demonstrated collection stabilization and methods for arrest of mold.  Produced assessments of prevailing conditions and recommended actions  Composed and advanced NEH emergency fundings. (4 of 4 approved)  Proposed CALM response services.

16. What we did  Listen to the stories and experiences

17. Resilient Mississippians

18. Collection stabilization  Demonstrated drying of archives and safe handling of mold.  Interacted with salvage companies to prevent damaging collection evacuations

19. Composed NEH requests  Described prevailing conditions and risks  Detailed recommended actions  “walked” requests to the NEH division of Preservation and Access  Debriefed to other teams and coordinators

20. Future response capacity  Proposal to integrate AIC and training programs to respond more effectively.  Proposed longer on- site presence of conservators  Proposed more co- ordination between on-site efforts

21. AASLH assessment team 01/MS  Ashley Barnett, Driver, Fire & Rescue, Burnet, TX  Joy Barnett, Dispatcher, Texas Association of Museums  Randy Silverman, Conservator, University of Utah  Gary Frost, Conservator, University of Iowa

22. acknowledgements  American Association for State and Local History  Mississippi Department of Archives and History  NEH Division of Preservation and Access

23. Off-shore Casino Downtown Biloxi

24. More Casinos

25. Piano in a tree