The Acadian Museum in Erath, Louisiana

Below is a report received from Mr. Warren Perrin on the work being done to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Rita to the Acadian Museum in Erath, Louisiana.  Mr. Perrin is the co-curator of the Museum; President of CODOFIL [Council for the Development of French in Louisiana]; and, the author of Acadian Redemption: From Beausolieul Broussard to the Queen's Royal Proclamation.  It was his petition to the Queen of England requesting an apology for the deportation of the Acadians filed in 1990 that led to the Queen's Royal Proclamation signed on December 9, 2003.

Mr. Perrin outlines the needs of the Museum and provides the address to which tax-deductible donations may be sent.

In addition to direct contributions, one may purchase the History Book on Vermilion Parish by General Curney J. Dronet and Mr. Perrin's book as all proceeds go to the Museum. 

Stanley LeBlanc

***Report received from Mr. Warren Perrin***

November 1, 2005

Dear Stanley:

Thanks for your support and inquiry. You should visit our website for photographs and the latest information on "Rita": http://www.acadianmuseum.com

The floodwaters have receded. We are continuing to dehumidify the museum building, the old Bank of Erath, which has mainly hollow walls, but some walls had insulation which makes the process more difficult. Hopefully we will not need to tear down walls to rid the building of mold. Professionals are assisting us with this effort. Tests will be made next week. We were able to remove and are continuing to restore about 100 fragile items. Many of the original maps and photographs sustained humidity damage but they are continuing to be dried and restored. We lost approximately 2,000 objects, including files, photos, family histories, genealogies, and various structural items which were used to house, store and display museum artifacts. The museum will reopen. In an attempt to document the effect of the flood on the Acadian community, we have sought a grant from the History Channel and the American Association of State and Local Histories, whereby we will seek to have the students of Erath document their experiences in dealing with the flood and its aftermath. We view this effort as a continuing struggle of the 250-year effort of the Acadians to re-establish a community in Louisiana - now known as the Cajuns. Unfortunately, when the Louisiana Acadians arrived in 1755, they failed to erect a levee system as their ancestors had so successfully done in Acadie. We now know that efforts will be made to obtain funds from the federal government to construct an adequate levee system and hopefully prevent future floods.

We have gone through the full gamut of emotions from despair to hope to anxiety and now guarded optimism. The museum staff and supporters, all volunteers, have had many of their homes flooded so it has been difficult to get much physical support, but the emotional support has been strong. In fact, we are still housing evacuees who had relocated to Lafayette from New Orleans as a result of "Katrina." We hope to eventually prepare an exhibition which will be permanent and display the linkage between Acadian history and this effort to survive the devastation from hurricane "Rita." 

We are accepting donations and they may be sent to: [Note: Make checks payable to Acadian Museum]

Acadian Museum
P. O. Box 53597
Lafayette, LA 70508

We are a non-profit organization and all contributions are fully tax deductible. The funds are being used to continue operations, pay off the additional expense of clean up and extraordinarily high utility bills due to the fact that we have had to run dehumidifiers and fans continuously since the storm. Further, experts will monitor the recovery effort to ensure that the mold situation is not a problem in the future. Funds will also be utilized to help purchase items to display the exhibits and make repairs to the facility damaged by water which came in both from the roof and from flooding. Finally, because our normal volunteers are unable to work at the museum due to their own flooding problems (90% of the homes in Erath flooded), we will use these funds to pay individuals with expertise who can assist us in re-constructing the exhibits and managing the museum during this transitional period. For this work, we will seek individuals who are presently jobless because of the devastation of hurricanes "Rita" and "Katrina."

Thanks for your concern and support

Warren