Hey All:

Too bad the people recovery and food/medical delivery
efforts don't match the organization of the NPS
artifact and document recovery teams, as detailed in
the Washington Post article forwarded by Vergil Noble.

I simply don't think it is appropriate for any
recovery efforts to focus on affected cultural
resources
until the immediate human tragedy is dealt with. 
Planning such a recovery and working out the logisitcs
is important, but the emphasis should be on carrying
out people first. 

Dane Magoon
  

--- "Vergil E. Noble" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Tim,
> 
> The following article appeared in today's Washington
> Post.
> 
> Vergil
> 
> 
> Washington Post
> Thursday, September 1, 2005; Page A19
> Preserving New Orleans History
> Park Service Team Set to Rescue Years of Artifacts
> 
> 
> By Petula Dvorak
> 
> 
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> 
> 
> Their bags are packed with safety glasses, gloves,
> masks, boots and suits.
> As soon as they hit the ground in New Orleans, they
> plan to set up triage
> tents and long tables.
> 
> 
> Then the emergency team from the National Park
> Service will begin its work:
> blotting, washing, drying, straightening and
> preserving centuries of
> historical artifacts that tell the story of one of
> the oldest U.S. cities.
> 
> 
> The curators, archaeologists and historians of the
> Park Service's Museum
> Resource Center are not the bookish types who dwell
> in dusty stacks.
> 
> 
> These are people who are trained in outdoor survival
> skills, are immunized
> against disaster area diseases, have helicoptered in
> and out of work sites
> and know how to identify poisonous snakes and
> spiders, said Pam West,
> director of the center.
> 
> 
> Their biggest enemy is mildew.
> 
> 
> "When we do retrieved artifacts, we're dealing in
> extreme mold," West said.
> "Anytime 48 hours pass, you get mold. You have to
> fight mold. We've seen it
> turn the most amazing colors -- bubble-gum pink
> once."
> 
> 
> The preservationists dried and blotted a million
> artifacts from colonial
> Jamestown in Virginia after Hurricane Isabel hit in
> 2003. Last year, they
> used boats to get to 300,000 artifacts in the Fort
> Pickens museum near
> Pensacola, Fla., after Hurricane Ivan.
> 
> 
> Once it gets the all-clear in the coming days, the
> preservation team will
> head to the Crescent City to retrieve documents,
> photographs, furniture and
> other pieces of history that have marked the rich
> life of a city founded in
> 1718 and occupied by the French, Spanish, Creoles,
> Americans, Confederates,
> fire, disease and water -- again and again.
> 
> 
> There are photographs and musical instruments in the
> Park Service's jazz
> museum, musical scores in Louis Armstrong's home,
> archives at the Jean
> Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve museum
> and the Chalmette
> Battlefield and National Cemetery, all floating in
> swampy, oily, polluted
> water.
> 
> 
> Once the artifacts are pulled from the water, Park
> Service specialists can
> begin the work: laying out, sorting, stretching,
> drying. "Papers can be
> freeze-dried. Photos, furniture and furnishings can
> be washed and dried,"
> West said.
> 
> 
> Sometimes, they can clean objects and transport them
> for restoration at a
> better facility. But as is often the case in
> hurricane situations -- where
> humans, let alone objects can't get transportation,
> refrigeration or water
> -- curators have to work in less-than-ideal
> conditions. "I saw someone
> preserve a 20-by-20 photo right there on the spot
> once. They knew how to
> dry and blot and straighten it right there, in the
> middle of camp," West
> said.
> 
> 
> The team also plans to work with universities and
> the residents of New
> Orleans, helping restore hundreds of years of
> memories.
> 


Dane Magoon
Project Manager/Principal Investigator
Cultural Resources, Inc.
2800 Patterson Avenue, Suite 100
Richmond, VA  23221

Phone:   (804) 355-7200
Fax:     (804) 355-1520
E-mail:  [log in to unmask]

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