The New Orleans Museum survived Katrina intact. It “opened in 1911 and is one of the central cultural institutions of New Orleans, and is an oasis of calm and beauty in a city of despair and ruin. But it is an empty oasis. Wind and water have driven away its 150,000 annual visitors, its 10,000 members, and many members of its staff and board of trustees. ‘My first priority to the staff and trustees is to ensure that the museum opens up as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want to have our best pictures leave the museum right now’.”