Museum of the Confederacy Statement

The following statement will be appearing on the Museum of the Confederacy website in Richmond and contains some new information:

CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL HALL LEARNS OF MOC’S OFFER OF HELP

Sept. 1, 2005-- Anxious to give assistance to its sister history museums along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast, The Museum of the Confederacy sent word through online Civil War channels that it is standing by waiting to render whatever recovery aid is needed for the museums. Thursday afternoon the Museum learned the message had reached one of its intended targets, as the MOC Executive Director heard from a board member and then the director of Confederate Memorial Hall in New Orleans.

Although unconfirmed reports indicated that floodwaters did not reach Memorial Hall, concrete news of its fate will have to wait while its staff and trustees are prevented from re-entering New Orleans. It was an immense relief to learn that the staff survived Hurricane Katrina, although most have lost their homes. However, Executive Director Waite Rawls was able to reassure Memorial Hall that as soon as their staff is ready, members of the MOC Collections Department will come to New Orleans, bring expert conservators with them if need be, and work on the recovery and restoration of artifacts, if such is called for.

This same offer of onsite aid is extended to other institutions such as Jefferson Davis’s home, Beauvoir; late reports indicate that parts of the museum complex outside Biloxi were not destroyed.

The Museum of the Confederacy is grateful to Joe Avalon of Civil War Interactive, Charles Demastus, Bragdon Bowling of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, and all others who used their own electronic media to get the Museum’s word out.

In addition to onsite aid, the Museum is dedicating all of the money collected in its lobby donation box through the end of the year to Confederate Memorial Hall and Beauvoir recovery efforts. Anyone wishing to contribute to that collection may send checks made payable to: Museum of the Confederacy, with “Katrina Relief” on the memo line, and mail to: 1201 E. Clay St., Richmond, VA 23219.

For further information about The Museum of the Confederacy’s plans to aid the hurricane- affected museums in the Gulf Coast area, please contact the Executive Director’s office at (804) 649-1861, ext. 30, or the Collections Department at (804) 649-1861, ext. 12.