Inside Cane River Creole National Historical Park: Conservation and Research in 2009

Sometimes it’s easy to forget what a privilege it is to have a National Park right here in our own backyard. And the Cane River Creole National Historical Park is something to be proud of by any measure.

On Aug. 11, Park staff will be on hand to discuss some of their most interesting projects about the cultural heritage of our area during the ninth annual “Preservation in Your Community” event.

Recent Work and Future Plans

Dustin Fuqua will briefly present the Park’s activities over the last year. In particular, Dusty will talk about coordinating the Bayou Folk Museum salvage and recovery operations after the devastating fire there in October. On a more light-hearted note, he’ll relate his recent experience providing technical support for the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Adventures,” which featured Magnolia Plantation.

Looking ahead, the Park’s plans to host a split river cane basketry conference, a park-wide vascular plants survey, and cultural landscape restoration activities. Dusty will also give a few details about an exhibition on the Park and the Cane River region that will open at the Old U.S. Mint in New Orleans next summer. “The World of Cane River” will highlight major themes of the Park and Cane River National Heritage Area using museum objects from the Park’s collection.

Of course, the historic preservation efforts continue as well, so this event will provide a rare inside look into the varied challenges that National Park employees face in the course of a year.

Research and Conservation Posters

As always, Preservation in Your Community will feature colorful posters about the heritage projects going on locally. The Park will showcase three.

The first is “From Picture to Purchase: Reproducing Floor Coverings and Window Treatments for the Oakland Plantation Main House Exhibit,” by LouAnne Williams. This poster details LouAnne’s collections management work with cataloging museum objects as well as her role in researching and acquiring reproduction window treatments and floor coverings for the Oakland Big House.

Dean Barnes and Rodney Meziere will present their poster “No Lab, No Problem: Conservation Treatment Strategies at the CARI Curation Facility.” The poster details artifact conservation treatment strategies as well as the identification of historic plantation artifacts. They also take a look at reversible conservation techniques using Oakland & Magnolia Plantation-original artifacts. Incidentally, Dean, Rodney and LouAnne are all students in NSU’s Master of Arts in Heritage Resources program.

The Park’s third poster is titled “The Magnolia Plantation Blacksmith’s Shop Collection: Archaeological Investigations and Field Collections.” In it, JoAnn St. Clair, Ph.D candidate from the University of Houston, details findings from both her archaeological work at the Magnolia Blacksmith’s Shop as well as her systematic cataloging of the museum collection from the structure. JoAnn will also examine the collection’s conservation treatments and exhibition.

The event begins at 5:30 p.m. at Lee H. Nelson Hall, which is located at 645 University Parkway. Come take advantage of the great refreshments and chat with the folks who are preserving our area’s heritage.