This session featured Ann Wakefield of the New Orleans Notarial Archives, Lee Hampton of the Amistad Research Center at Tulane University, and Hank Holmes of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. The trio described their experiences dealing with the aftermath of last year?s devastating Hurricanes (especially Katrina).
Wakefield described difficulties returning to her facility (they had to negotiate a ?hold harmless? agreement with the building?s owner before he would allow them to return.) When they were able to assess the state of facilities, they discovered extensive damage and many wet records. She noted the problems caused by water even on records that had been professionally freeze dried. The biggest problem was water soluble inks, which were commonly used on the legal documents held by the archive. In some cases, signatures have been entirely washed away. (Luckily, the state held backup microfilm copies of the documents.)
Hank Holmes described his trips to southern Misssissippi to salvage collections at small facilities located around the state. Challenges included being unable to access buildings because of damage, lack of supplies, electricity, running water, and workspace, and extensive damage and mold growth in many facilities. (He took the inset photo of a record book covered with mold.) They were able to make use of donated freezer space from a grocery company to freeze wet materials in Jackson, and later got a grant for a freezer truck which allowed them to travel around the state loading wet records. He noted another challenge in some areas was the lack of street signs ? they had been swept away by the storm surge.
Hampton?s facilities fared relatively well. There was some water seepage in the main building, and an offsite storage facility flooded, but not to the level where records were stored. He also noted that Tulane was able to quickly contract with a company to provide generators and emergency air conditioning, which likely helped saved collections from mold growth. He noted the problems faced because Archivists were not considered official ?first responders,? and were thus unable to get back into the city to assess the state of collections. To help preserve cultural heritage in the future, he proposed working on this for the future.