Beauvoir Artifact Salvage and Restoration HURRICANE KATRINA EMERGENCY GRANT

FAIN: PC-50002-06

Beauvoir (Biloxi, MS 39531-5002)
Patrick Hotard (Project Director: October 2005 to January 2008)
Rusty Trowbridge (Project Director: January 2008 to January 2008)

Beauvoir, the Jefferson Davis Home and Presidential Library is located on 52 acres situated 500 feet from the Gulf of Mexico in Biloxi, Mississippi. The triple-thick brick Confederate Veterans Home Hospital, the Library pavilion cottage where Jefferson Davis wrote his books, and the Hayes Pavilion where his daughter Margaret Hayes and her family stayed during visits, were totally destroyed by hurricane Katrina. The Jefferson Davis house sustained severe damage to its porches, roof, and front rooms, exposing artifacts and historic frescos, and the contemporary museum was nearly destroyed with significant damage to collections stored and displayed there. Among remaining historical documents, artifacts, textiles, and paintings are the manuscript papers used by Davis to write The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government and A Short History of the Confederacy.