LOUISIANA and MISSISSIPPI – As victims of Hurricane Katrina continue to be relocated throughout the United States and many of he final holdouts that remained in New Orleans are finally evacuated, some news organizations have turned their eye toward the devastation of historical monuments and museums.

Situations within the museums vary with location, with most Louisiana institutions outside of the New Orleans area reporting relatively little effect or damage from the storm. Museums inside New Orleans face serious loss and damage, as do archival storage facilities within the city that house the ephemera collection of one of America’s most influential and historically important ports. As water levels subside, fires have also threatened and consumed historic buildings.

Kacey Hill, public information director of the Louisiana State Museum, reported that the nine historic French Quarter properties sustained varying degrees of damage, ranging from “modest to severe.”

A Times-Picayune report indicated that the New Orleans Museum of Art had avoided significant damage, largely due to several security and maintenance employees who defied evacuation orders and remained on duty during the hurricane and ensuing flood. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) wanted them to move to a safer location, but there was no way to secure the artwork inside, so the staff stayed on site. Museum workers had reportedly taken down some pieces in the sculpture garden before the storm; however an unmovable sculpture by Kenneth Snelson was destroyed in the storm.

The holdout museum staff was reportedly forced to leave the facility by the National Guard last week, and the current status of the artworks left behind remains unclear.

To the east, many of the museums in Mississippi were hit hard, with the devastation reported as ten fold. Not only was severe water damage reported, but there was also the structural destruction normally associated with hurricane-force winds, according to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History website.

In Biloxi, the storm’s brute force flattened many of the buildings on the Beauvoir estate, Jefferson Davis’s last home in the city. Despite the front gallery being torn from the home and large holes ripped through the roof, the main house is still standing and early reports indicate that it may be restorable.

Other buildings on the property did not fare as well, however, as architectural structure marble arches in front of the mansion and the two flanking pavilions were completely destroyed, according to reports. One of the buildings demolished by the storm was the former veterans hospital that had recently served as a Confederate museum. The director’s residence was also destroyed.

The surge of the storm reportedly washed away a large portion of the first floor of the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library and Museum; however, the second floor and upper parts of the structure weathered the storm. Much of the library’s collection, including what are considered to be priceless historical artifacts, was moved by the staff from harm’s way prior to the storm arriving.

Perhaps the most upsetting news regarding museum losses comes from the site of the new Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art in Biloxi. At least a portion of the Frank Gehry designed Center for Ceramics and the Exhibitions Gallery that housed the George Ohr museum has been wiped out.

Amidst conflicting reports, satellite imagery revealed that the enormous Grand Casino barge washed ashore and landed on top of at least a portion of the museum. Details pertaining to the safety of the collection of Ohr pottery housed there have also been sketchy, although the Clarion Ledger reported in its September 5 pages that Marjie Gowdy, director of the museum, stated that the “Ohr pottery collection is intact and guarded.”

Many of the massive oak trees that Gehry had incorporated into the museum’s design were destroyed. Gehry has committed to help in the rebuilding efforts.

The first museum to be dedicated to an American potter, the Ohr-O’Keefe was to have five pavilions – three galleries, a cultural center and an education building – linked by a central courtyard. The Pleasant Reed House, a Nineteenth Century historic structure named after the former slave who built the house, was but one of the structures that was totally destroyed by the hurricane, with only the chimney left standing.

Other structures throughout the region that will remain closed due to significant damage include the Old Capitol Museum, where reports have surfaced that the museum had a third of its copper roof blown off and was subject to substantial amounts of water entering an exhibit area and a storage facility. The museum’s staff has been moving objects to another part of the building and has cited large quantities of water-damaged materials, some of which may not be salvageable.

Biloxi’s Dantzler House, which had recently been remodeled and served as the home of the Mardi Gras Museum, has reportedly been destroyed.

The Walter Anderson Museum in Ocean Springs re-ported that the building seems to have weathered the storm without significant damage, although the Shearwater Pottery, Anderson’s original studio, was reported damaged. Many of the watercolors in the Anderson Museum collection were found to be wet after the hurricane passed; however, conservation efforts there have been regarded as highly successful.

Museums and archives that were largely unaffected by the storm, several of which have reopened, include the state archives at the William F. Winter Building, the Manship House Museum, Eudora Welty House, The Historic Preservation Division and the state archives at The Grand Village of the Natchez Indians and Historic Jefferson College.

The deadline to apply for a Community Heritage Preservation Grant through Mississippi Department of Archives and History has been pushed back to Friday, October 7. The grants of up to $500,000 can be used to pay the cost of preservation and restoration of many historic buildings statewide that were damaged by the storm.

Museum officials from throughout the storm-struck area have received calls from other institutions offering assistance with regard to storage and conservation efforts.

Many of Mississippi’s historic sites, artifacts and documents have been damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Those wishing to make a tax-deductible donation to assist with restoration efforts may contact the Foundation for Mississippi History, POB 571, Jackson MS 39205.