I thought Museum-listers' would be interested in the following.  My employer (BOR) is also sending engineers, planners and assistance to help in New Orleans.  

Thinking of what the following article is saying, and what has happened in New Orleans, it makes me want to place my important memories in water-proof, safe storage areas.  Mother Nature can enter our door and destroy items (scrapbooks, collections, etc.) at any place, and at anytime.   Not only at museums, but at home * have a Emergency Plan and process where your important memories are protected.   ;o)

John
Boise, ID

FYI - Forward from the Interior Museum Program as a courtesy of washingtonpost.com

Park Service Team Set to Rescue Years of Artifacts

By Petula Dvorak

  Their bags are packed with safety glasses, gloves, masks, boots and
suits. As soon as they hit the ground in New Orleans, they plan to set up
triage tents and long tables.

Then the emergency team from the National Park Service will begin its
work: blotting, washing, drying, straightening and preserving centuries of
historical artifacts that tell the story of one of the oldest U.S. cities.

The curators, archaeologists and historians of the Park Service's Museum
Resource Center are not the bookish types who dwell in dusty stacks.

These are people who are trained in outdoor survival skills, are immunized
against disaster area diseases, have helicoptered in and out of work sites
and know how to identify poisonous snakes and spiders, said Pam West,
director of the center.

Their biggest enemy is mildew.

"When we do retrieved artifacts, we're dealing in extreme mold," West
said. "Anytime 48 hours pass, you get mold. You have to fight mold. We've
seen it turn the most amazing colors -- bubble-gum pink once."

The preservationists dried and blotted a million artifacts from colonial
Jamestown in Virginia after Hurricane Isabel hit in 2003. Last year, they
used boats to get to 300,000 artifacts in the Fort Pickens museum near
Pensacola, Fla., after Hurricane Ivan.

Once it gets the all-clear in the coming days, the preservation team will
head to the Crescent City to retrieve documents, photographs, furniture and
other pieces of history that have marked the rich life of a city founded in
1718 and occupied by the French, Spanish, Creoles, Americans, Confederates,
fire, disease and water -- again and again.

There are photographs and musical instruments in the Park Service's jazz
museum, musical scores in Louis Armstrong's home, archives at the Jean
Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve museum and the Chalmette
Battlefield and National Cemetery, all floating in swampy, oily, polluted
water.

Once the artifacts are pulled from the water, Park Service specialists can
begin the work: laying out, sorting, stretching, drying. "Papers can be
freeze-dried. Photos, furniture and furnishings can be washed and dried,"
West said.

Sometimes, they can clean objects and transport them for restoration at a
better facility. But as is often the case in hurricane situations -- where
humans, let alone objects can't get transportation, refrigeration or water
-- curators have to work in less-than-ideal conditions. "I saw someone
preserve a 20-by-20 photo right there on the spot once. They knew how to
dry and blot and straighten it right there, in the middle of camp," West
said.

The team also plans to work with universities and the residents of New
Orleans, helping restore hundreds of years of memories.


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