I am forwarding this message I received on another list serve as the content
may interest members of this list who may be wondering what is happening to
archival collections in the wake of hurricane Katrina.  It should also I
think be a wake-up call to all of us that you can never be too prepared for
a disaster to strike.  Although we here in Ontario are not in hurricane
territory we do get our share of severe weather in other forms.  Perhaps it
is time to think again everyone about preparing your own emergency plan or
reviewing one you already may have.   As noted at the end of this message I
also saw evidence last summer that institutions in Peterborough with an
emergency plan in place were less severely impacted by the flooding that
City sustained and were better equipped to deal with the situation
effectively.

Iona McCraith, AAO Preservation Consultant

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Trinkaus-Randall, Gregor (BLC)" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 8:34 AM
Subject: [preservation] FW: Pearce-Moses Report from Mississippi


Hello everyone,

Considering that some of you may not be on the Archives listserv, I
thought that I would forward the report that Richard Pearce-Moses
distributed yesterday.  I have also included a brief note from AASLH
with a link to the full press release.  There are two conference calls
today - one on Katrina and one on Rita.  While I will not be able to be
on the second one, I will try to get information and pass it along re
both of them tomorrow morning.

 Gregor


-----Original Message-----
From: Archives & Archivists [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Teresa Brinati
Sent: Wednesday, September 21, 2005 3:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Pearce-Moses Report from Mississippi


Report from Mississippi

Prepared by SAA President Richard Pearce-Moses

September 21, 2005-Three weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf
Coast, a small team was able to visit some of the archival repositories
in the areas of Mississippi hit hardest by the storm.  The team sought
to show the profession's support for archivists and to ask the people on
the front lines how the profession can respond in ways that will truly
help given the current situation.

The team included David Carmicheal, President of the Council of State
Archivists and State Archivist for Georgia; Richard Pearce-Moses,
President of the Society of American Archivists 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.  Other partners
who helped organize the trip included the National Association of
Government Archives and Records Administrators (NAGARA), the National
Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Council of State Library
Administrators (COSLA), and the Society of Southwest Archivists (SSA).

On Sunday, September 18, Norris led an informal workshop on recovery of
wet photographic materials.  That evening, the staff of the Mississippi
Department of Archives and History (MDAH), including Department Director
Hank Holmes and State Archivist Julia Young, briefed the team on what
they had seen on visits to hurricane-ravaged areas during the previous
two weeks.

On Monday, September 19, MDAH staff members Grady Howell and Jeff Rogers
led the team on site visits to several repositories in Waveland,
Gulfport, and Biloxi.

The team observed that collections typically were either lost entirely
or survived the storm but were damaged subsequently by high humidity and
mold, with few collections in between.  The Waveland City Hall and two
buildings at Beauvoir (the Jefferson Davis home) were demolished,
leaving only a slab or a pile of rubble; records left in the buildings
were destroyed.  At other sites, records in buildings without power were
damp from the high humidity, often exacerbated by water damage to the
building.  Many records at the Biloxi Public Library were submerged and
will need to be salvaged. Much of the damage to records came from a
storm surge that swept through buildings, destroyed their contents, and
then retreated. This suggests that conditions may be different in New
Orleans, where the water resulted from a broken levy rather than a storm
surge and where damage has probably resulted from standing water rather
than surging water.

There was little evidence of paper in the debris surrounding homes and
businesses.  Shreds of fabric and plastic were caught in trees, but it
appears that the power of the storm surge completely destroyed paper.  A
few plastic data disks and videotapes were scattered around, although
caked in grime, and an occasional photograph was seen among the debris.
In a few instances, a file cabinet could be seen standing (although
often missing drawers), and in every case observed, the records were
already heavy with mold.

Nothing can be done for the collections that were destroyed. The top
priority in protecting surviving records is to arrest the growth of
mold.  For those records that are merely damp, getting them into an
air-conditioned environment is a high priority.  Power is still off in
many areas, however, and even where it is available there is the concern
that it is not always safe to restore power to damaged buildings.  It is
critical that these records be removed from damaged buildings to ensure
that they are not destroyed during efforts to clean up the buildings.
The (smaller number of) records that were soaked must be (and are being)
transferred to freezer trucks when possible, but often access to those
collections is complicated by hazardous conditions in the building.

At the same time that individuals are working to care for their
collections, they are also struggling to recover their own lives.  One
individual with whom we spoke has lost his home, and another had six
feet of water on the first floor.  Both, though, were hard at work
sorting through damaged records. Their commitment to their work is
admirable.

Although a few repositories could potentially use volunteers to help
with recovery, the reality is that currently there is no way to
accommodate volunteers.  In the affected areas, there is no lodging, no
potable water, no food.  Lodging in Jackson, about 150 miles from the
coast, is scarce; MDAH staff members have been commuting three hours
each way on a nearly daily basis.

Stabilizing the records can buy time.  If damp records can be
dehumidified to halt mold growth and if wet records can be frozen,
people can then take some time to do more careful planning, to find out
what FEMA will pay for, and to identify other funding sources. At some
time in the future, it will be possible for volunteers to be
accommodated.

The team repeatedly asked, "What do you need?"   Here's what we heard:

1. An air-conditioned space to which damp and wet records can be moved.


2. Someone to help manage logistics for the transfer and control of
records stored in this facility and, in the future, to coordinate
volunteers.

3. Space for accommodating volunteers.

4. A telephone hotline, staffed by experts, that members of the public
might call for advice on recovering their personal papers, photographs,
and other records.

MDAH staff members currently are spearheading recovery work, but it is
placing enormous demands on their staff and budget.  Staff members of
the National Archives and Records Administration-and Allen Weinstein
personally-are helping to remove bureaucratic barriers.  NARA already
has released some funds to Mississippi and Louisiana to help with
immediate expenses, and it is looking for additional funds to support
these efforts.

It may be a month before repositories will be ready for volunteer help
in salvaging documents.  In the interim, the professional organizations
must work together to help find solutions to the immediate problems
described above.

The team is putting together a document of "lessons learned."  But one
lesson stands out among all others:  Even modest efforts at disaster
preparedness and prevention often made the difference between
destruction and survival of essential records.  That's a lesson everyone
can and should take to heart.

Richard Pearce-Moses
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

_____________



The American Association of State and Local History has asked that we
alert you to a press release about volunteer recovery teams that have
been dispatched. Excerpts follow. The full text can be accessed at
www.aaslh.org <http://www.aaslh.org/>



"On Monday, September 19, a national volunteer team of history experts
organized by the American Association for State and Local History
(AASLH) in partnership with the American Institute of Conservation (AIC)
departed for the heavily damaged Gulf Coast states to help salvage
invaluable historical museum artifacts from the ravages of Hurricane
Katrina's aftermath."



The History Emergency Assistance Recovery Team[s] (HEART) "...will
survey the damage to historic artifacts and make recommendations for
efforts necessary to save the most valuable and threatened resources,
possibly moving affected collections to a temporary storage facility."



Also, Steven E. Shulman, director of HEART has asked those receiving
this email and knowing of institutions needing help to contact AASLH.



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