Louisiana State Museum Collections Hurricane Recovery Project HURRICANE KATRINA EMERGENCY GRANT

FAIN: PC-50018-06

Louisiana Museum Foundation (New Orleans, LA 70176-2441)
Greg Lambousy (Project Director: December 2005 to April 2007)

The Louisiana State Museum has 14 facilities in Louisiana, nine of which are in historic buildings in New Orleans' French Quarter. The Old U.S. Mint, built in 1825, lost two thirds of its roof during the hurricane, exposing the collections to water and the threat of mold. The Old Mint housed some 200,000 manuscripts, maps, and documents including such materials as colonial judicial records of the French Superior Council (1714-1769) and the Spanish Judiciary (1769-1803), the papers of colonial governors, and manuscripts documenting Louisiana's antebellum social, economic and political history. Also housed in the Old Mint were the New Orleans Jazz collection, which consists of instruments, photographs, sheet music, and recordings spanning the 20th century, and significant nineteenth- and twentieth-century collections of fine and decorative art, textiles, costumes, and furniture. To save these collections, they are being packed and moved into a temporary climate-controlled facility in Baton Rouge, where they will be examined, stabilized, and stored until the Old Mint is repaired. The collections will be returned to the Old Mint in late 2007, after the completion of repairs to the structure.