Mornin' Got this this morning from Winston deVille.... Thought you might want to keep up with the latest: URGENT Again, you are called upon to support a campaign to preserve one of the major resources for Mississippi Valley (e.g.., French Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana) for Gulf Coast (from the Rio Grande to Pensacola), for Louisiana historiography and genealogy. These documents relate not only to New Orleans, but to _*all*_ colonial posts and settlements. Whether you live in Louisiana _or_ _*not*_, whether you do research _or_ _*not*_, your help is urgently needed. Please, /please/, urge everyone in your purview - e.g., newspaper columns - to help, too. /Please,/ take time to read Sally Reeves' excellent report (below). Then, if you feel as strongly as I do about the issue, write a real-letter to Ms. Dale Atkins, Clerk of the Civil District Court New Orleans Notarial Archives 1340 Poydras Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70112 Real-letters are more effective than e-mails, but if you won't do otherwise, please, use Ms. Atkins' e-address: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Ms. Reeves' letter follows: Dear Everyone: I would like to thank all of you who have written to Dale Atkins expressing your support for the Notarial Archives Research Center, forwarded emails, and copied stuff to me. This is the latest as I understand it. First, the issue is the Notarial Archives Research Center (3^rd floor, Amoco Building) not the main office (5^th floor). The Research Center holds the 18^th , 19^th , and part of the 20^th century notarial volumes as well as the Plan Book collection. Not only the historical community but also the abstracting community uses it every day, because it has so many 20^th century volumes. There is no way that they can move the 20^th century volumes back up to the 5^th floor, since it is full there and the 5^th floor load capacity will not hold any more volumes than it already has. This is why the stacks are so spaced out up there. The case is different on the 3^rd floor (Research Center) where with miraculous luck, we were able back in 1998 to secure the corner of the building where Amoco had kept its exploration drawings; the floor load capacity there is 75 p/sf as opposed to everywhere else where it is 50 and under. This is why we were able to install the compact shelving there, allowing us to put all of the 18^th and 19^th century volume in one stacks area. It is an optimum situation for the records, low enough that hurricane and tornado winds can affect it only a little bit, and not too low for other hazards. During Hurricane Katrina, the building was both flooded and looted, but neither the flood waters nor the looters touched the area. There are three parts to the issue: 1. Preserving the collection 2. Preserving access to it IN New Orleans 3. Securing the jobs of the staff who were terribly demoralized the last time I was there (recently). Ms. Atkins will have the final say, but I think with the support those three parts have been receiving, she will know that there will be a huge outcry if she moves to close the Research Center. I have explained to her how it took blood, sweat, and tears to create that special part of the Archives, that it isn't a luxury to have it, but only what history and righteousness had demanded for decades, and that the nice surroundings we put in there were designed to change attitudes about the old records, showing people that we had respect for them and that the user should also. I also reminded her that the new legislation requires her to put monies aside for the historical records; and that the one Supreme Court case cited in Revised Statutes comments that the Louisiana State Supreme Court's decision was that clerks of court had to err on the side of giving the public access to records. I have received two very nice responses from Ms. Atkins, who appears to be very sensitive to the issues. I think she realizes or is beginning to realize the importance of the collection from all the mail she has been getting. She has asked to meet next week and talk about ways to keep the Research Center open. Also: I believe that Susan Finch of the /Times-Picayune/ will do an article on the issue very soon. For the past 149 years the Notarial Archives has been a cash cow, and it will be again. About 8 months ago, filings dropped off about 50%. Eleanor Farnsworth told me yesterday that the real estate community hit a low in sales from Hurricane Gustave through December, but that it has picked up and "always picks up right after Mardi Gras." So we may be at the darkest point before the dawn of additional filings. Usually the Notarial Archives gets business "on the way up" and also "on the way down," since foreclosures, tax liens, and second mortgages and the rest of the misery index all have to be filed as legal documents. We are advising Ms. Atkins not to do anything irreversible that will limit access or ruin the Research Center, but to hold on until things get better. In the mean time, "please keep those cards and letters coming." Thank you, Sally Reeves