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DIOCESE OF BATON ROUGE

Department of the Archives

  

Helping to Recover from Disaster

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Louisiana Gulf Coast before moving on into Mississippi. Tremendous destruction was caused by the winds of the storm, and even more by the flooding which was its aftermath. Numerous Church records and artifacts from the Archdiocese of New Orleans and its parishes and schools were damaged by water, mold and other contaminants. The Department of the Archives of the Diocese of Baton Rouge - with the assistance of personnel and facilities at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge - assisted archdiocesan personnel by helping to house temporarily and to preserve as many of their damaged records as possible.

Note in the images below just what a disaster of this scope meant, and learn a bit of the efforts which were taken to preserve the damaged records. Click on any image for a larger view.

 

Some of the hundreds of damaged sacramental registers New Orleans Archivist Charles Nolan with some damaged records Damage was from water, mold and other contaminants Damaged records were sorted and catalogued The recovered records speak silently of disaster
Hundreds of severely damaged sacramental records were rescued from "drowned" churches
 
After 40-plus days in water, books are in bad shape Mold and warping are just the first problems Some books were easier than others to identify Some damaged books were first rinsed with clean water BR archivist Lee Leumas begins disassembly of a damaged register
Mold and other contaminants added to the damage caused by water
 
Some damaged records were transported in the water which had inundated them The bindings of sacramental registers were often the first thing to dissolve in floodwaters NO archivist Charles Nolan begins separating damaged pages A damaged sacramental register, divided into its constituent parts Cataloguing of damaged records preceded the freezing process
Damaged records had to be identified and sorted
 
Metalware as well as paper fared poorly in the floodwaters Sacred vessels do not look so very holy after corrosive floodwaters damage them BR archivist Lee Leumas collects salvaged records After freezing stopped mold-growth, drying could begin Each page was dried carefully after being thawed
Sacred vessels as well as historical records were damaged
 
An industrial dehumidifier was essential in the "drying room" Raised trays allowed dry air to circulate around pages to dry them Records written in soluble ink are washed away, while indelible inks remain legible BR archivists Lee Leumas and Ann Boltin tending to the drying pages Rubber gloves, disinfectant, masks: the tools of the modern forensic archivist
"Drying out" and cleaning is a slow, labor-intensive "hands-on" task

Charitable donations to aid in the expensive tasks of recovery and restoration are still gratefully accepted. Please make checks payable to "The Diocese of Baton Rouge" and send to the Department of the Archives, P. O. Box 2028, Baton Rouge, LA 70821-2028, USA, for proper credit.

For further information, contact the Department of the Archives.

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