by
Debra Hess Norris (Heritage Preservation)
Richard Pearce-Moses (Society of American Archivists)
David Carmicheal (Council of State Archivists)
Background
On September 19, 2005, representatives of the Council
of State Archivists (CoSA), the Society of American Archivists (SAA),
Heritage Preservation, toured the Gulf Coast area of Mississippi to
assess the impact of Hurricane Katrina on record-keeping facilities
in the region. The group sought to demonstrate the profession’s
solidarity with those affected by the storm and to learn how best the
archival profession could help them
Staff of the Mississippi Department of Archives and
History (MDAH), including Department Director Hank Holmes and State
Archivist Julia Young, helped with logistics. MDAH staff members Grady
Howell and Jeff Rogers served as guides for the team. The team is deeply
grateful for their assistance.
The group traveled from Waveland in the west to Biloxi
in the east and viewed two city halls, a county courthouse, a local
historical society, a historic site, and a public library. The repositories
were representative of facilities in the region that house public and
private records, vital records, and historical collections. The tour
also gave the group a chance to see the impact of Katrina on businesses,
private homes, churches, a college, schools, and other private and public
facilities.
This report is specific to conditions observed along
the Mississippi Gulf Coast, which suffered significant damage from a
storm surge. Conditions may be significantly different in New Orleans,
where water from a broken levy rose more slowly and records will doubtless
remain immersed for longer periods of time.
Preparations for the storm
Although many record keepers were proactive in their
attempts to protect records, almost no one foresaw the scale of Katrina’s
devastation, and most attempts fell far short of the necessary measures.
However, even modest efforts for disaster preparation helped records
survive.
Record keepers consistently reported that in preparing
for Katrina they referred to Hurricane Camille (1969) as the ‘benchmark.’
At one site, for instance, artifacts and records were housed in a building
that had withstood Camille, and staff moved items from lower shelves
onto tables, assuming a worst-case scenario of two or three feet of
water finding its way into the facility. In fact, the facility was totally
destroyed and its contents swept away in the 30- to 35-foot storm surge
that accompanied Katrina.
The storm surge was responsible for much of the damage
and loss, particularly close to the Gulf. In many instances records
were moved from first-floor locations to second- or third-floor locations
in anticipation of the storm. Often this resulted in the records being
saved because, in some instances, the buildings were constructed in
a manner that allowed the first floor to wash away without significant
damage to higher floors. In some cases, though, roofs were blown away
by the force of the wind and records on higher floors suffered severe
water damage from rain.
The team was unable to assess the extent to which
record keepers had prepared for catastrophic loss by microfilming or
securing copies of records, but such information is likely to be available
at a future time. Cities and counties might be expected to have such
procedures in place. In one case, city council minutes were moved to
a bank vault just before the storm hit; the city hall and bank building
were demolished, but the bank vault survived and the records were recovered.
Response to the storm
Response to Katrina is less dependent on traditional
disaster plans than on improvised actions as conditions permit.
Record keepers along the Gulf Coast are making heroic
attempts to rescue damaged records. At many sites the team found staff
hard at work laying records out to dry or boxing them for eventual shipment
to freezers. In nearly every case, the staff said that their own homes
were either severely damaged or completely destroyed. The team found
that the emotional toll of the storm was severe and the personal loss
often catastrophic. Workers expressed the sense that recovering records
gave them something to focus on and a feeling of accomplishment in light
of the overwhelming difficulties they faced.
Institutions, both large and small, were improvising
their response because major resources are being concentrated—appropriately—on
health and safety concerns. Large populations are in need of basic housing,
food, water, clothing, and medical attention, and it may be many months
before the loss of property and identity records begins to be felt.
The team observed that collections typically were
either destroyed entirely or survived the storm but were damaged subsequently
by high humidity and mold. Recovery of damp or damaged collections was
often exacerbated by unhealthy residue in the buildings.
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.
Devastation in the area was so total that traditional
response plans were not equal to the event. Such plans usually envision
removal of wet records from affected areas within 48 hours, for instance.
Access to buildings and areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina, though,
is controlled by law enforcement or military personnel, and hazardous
conditions largely prevented any response during the 48-hour window.
In many cases record keepers are still being prevented from accessing
their collections more than four weeks after the storm.
Traditional disaster plans also assume that staff
who are familiar with the records—and, perhaps, skilled in the
care of records—will be available to respond to the disaster.
In the aftermath of Katrina, however, staff of many repositories have
been displaced or are preoccupied with their own overwhelming physical
needs. In the absence of the record keepers themselves, response is
sometimes left to others who have little experience with records. At
a county courthouse the team spoke to members of the National Guard
who had been sent to begin ‘rescuing’ the land records damaged
by water. Their confused commander said that, during the course of that
day, he had been instructed in how to save the records by three different
people who had described three different techniques (ranging from fanning
the pages open to cutting the bindings off). Two of the ‘instructors’
turned out to be vendors from paper restoration companies. As a result,
the Guard members had stopped work and were waiting for further instructions.
Finally, the team quickly scanned a packet of widely
used disaster recovery publications (which were being distributed in
the regions struck by Katrina) and found that much of the information
was irrelevant in the face of Katrina’s scale. Repositories given
such publications were unlikely to find them useful.
Action Required: Immediate
The team identified several action items that were
immediately initiated to respond to the situation in Mississippi.
1. Contact US Archivist to solicit FEMA help for the
Biloxi Public Library and to provide support to cover increasing immediate
and essential response costs. (Completed)
2. Contact NHPRC for assistance in funding temporary
warehouse site for recovery operations. (Completed)
3. Identify warehouse site within easy reach of coastal
Mississippi where records may be taken and stored during recovery operations.
Ensure proper health and safety precautions due to mold growth. (In
progress. SAA and CoSA working with MDAH.)
4. Identify individual who could relocate to Mississippi
and be employed for 6-month period to act as Volunteer and Resources
Coordinator to assign resources to repositories and share information
with the profession at large. (In progress. Input needed from profession
at large. Initial funding offered by CoSA. Further funding sources may
be needed.)
5. Deploy volunteer conservators and archivists to
Jackson for one-week periods to assist with recovery work and training.
Determine if funding is available from FEMA or elsewhere. (In progress.
AIC and SAA. Deployment of volunteers must wait until Volunteer and
Resources Coordinator is in place.)
6. Contact AIC to advise where conservators may be
most helpful in Gulf Coast Mississippi and to ensure that their visit
is carefully coordinated with the state. (Completed)
7. Develop press release aimed at increasing media
awareness about the cultural records at risk and urgent need to ensure
their long-term preservation (In progress. SAA lead)
8. Contact all local press and distribute information
on salvaging personal belongings as families are returning to their
homes and trying to save anything possible. (In progress. Heritage Preservation
and AIC with MDAH.)
9. Organize no-cost recovery effort for artifacts
damaged at Beauvoir through the University of Delaware and other graduate
programs. Secure shipping support via ANAGPIC. (In progress. AIC and
the University of Delaware.)
10. Establish a toll-free number for preservation
assistance, especially for members of the public. (In progress. AIC
and Heritage Preservation; Heritage Preservation lead. Temporary number:
contact AIC at 202-452-9545 or Beverly Perkins at 951-698-1520.)
Action Required: Short Term
The team identified several action items that might
be undertaken by the archival profession in the short term to enhance
response to future disasters of this magnitude.
1. Institute a once-a-year, emergency preparation
day (possibly called May Day) on which the entire profession would focus
attention on a few simple but critical aspects of emergency planning.
Specifically,
a) Essential information required in the event of an emergency (large
or small) would be updated, verified, and disseminated on that day by
every record repository in the country.
b) Conduct a disaster drill to ensure that everyone knows how to respond.
c) Make sure that there are sufficient supplies on hand for an emergency
response. (SAA lead)
2. Request that Congress allocate block grants to
the states to assist with emergency planning and training in the preservation
of archival records during the next 12 to 24 months. (CoSA lead)
3. Amend FEMA legislation to include vital and historical
records among their legislated responsibilities. (CoSA lead)
4. Develop a placard to be used by state archives
and other assessment authorities during initial assessment of damaged
sites. The placard—which could be nailed to the wall of the repository—would
announce that an assessment team had visited the site, detail any recovery
recommendations, and provide contact information (for the State Archives,
for instance). This information could be referenced by those later sent
to the site to assist in the recovery. This may avoid mass confusion
and contradictory recommendations. (CoSA lead)
5. Create and update a directory and/or database of
vendors and maintain online for use by the profession. (SAA lead)
6. Review widely used disaster publications to ensure
that their information is relevant and not boilerplate. (AIC lead)
Action Required: Long Term
The team identified several action items that might
be undertaken by the archival profession in the long term to enhance
response to future disasters of this magnitude.
1. Archives must recognize—and place greater
emphasis on—duplication and off-site storage as the only preservation
tool adequate to a catastrophic disaster. Systematic imaging programs
should be developed and implemented to protect essential records. States
with coastal areas or those threatened by natural disasters may focus
on these areas first.
2. State archives, local governments, and private
record repositories could institute ‘buddy systems’ with
comparable repositories in other states far removed (geographically)
from their own. ‘Buddy’ repositories might store copies
of vital records for each other or provide a single point of contact
for staff displaced by major disasters.
3. The profession must make practical, current disaster
preparedness a high priority. Surveys consistently show that most disaster
plans are out of date or that information that is essential for response
is out of date. Disaster plans that list home phone numbers are useless
when homes have been destroyed. (Personal cell phones and e-mail addresses
may be more appropriate in such cases.) Plans must include priorities
for salvage, and such priorities must be determined in advance. The
inability to recognize which records are essential creates confusion
and time may be wasted on salvaging materials that are replaceable or
that do not merit the cost.
4. State archival agencies need to ensure that their
states have been surveyed and their historical records repositories
identified. It is essential that state agencies know where records—public
and private—are held before a disaster strikes. Wherever possible,
historical repositories should be plotted on maps (or within a Geographic
Information System) and contact information of key personnel should
be kept current. More detailed systems might include a general description
of the records held by each repository and whether these records relate
to individual identity, rights, or entitlements.
5. The profession should develop a simple brochure
and website for the public that identify and describe essential records
that must be retained and guidelines for their long-term preservation.
6. NARA should develop a mobile response and recovery
laboratory, which could be dispatched immediately to the site of a disaster
to give NARA a highly visible presence and allow them to work with local
and state agencies to ensure a rapid response to records issues. When
not involved in immediate disaster recovery, such a vehicle might travel
widely to provide training and raise awareness to archivists and the
general public.
7. NARA should develop rapid response contracts
with private companies to provide freezer trucks to disaster sites within
days of the event.
