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Events in Nashville and immediate effects on heritage preservation

  • 1.  Events in Nashville and immediate effects on heritage preservation

    Posted Dec 30, 2020 02:12 PM

    Many have heard of the events in Nashville of 25 December, Christmas morning, when a vehicle exploded in on of the more historic areas of Downtown Nashville, TN. The reports do not give an adequate picture of the damage, even when photographs are included, and neither do various videos posted online, although some do show the actual event. I was allowed to get near the scene with an escort today (Sunday, 26 December) briefly. While at that time reports were of one building collapsed, another badly damaged (gutted), and significant damage to a total of at least 41 buildings. I expect that number will rise.

     

    What I saw exceeded the damage of structures of 3 tornado touchdown sites, for 2 of said events I was physically present and the third I was on site shortly after.  It was not as bad as numerous other disaster sights I have visited, but then it was on a city street among multi-story buildings. And I grew up there, so I am familiar with some of the damage that might not be as apparent otherwise.

     

    There are plenty of news reports about the event itself and much of the aftermath. There is confusion in the news regarding the AT&T buildings in the area. There is a tall office building with 2 communications spires on top that reminds many of the outline of Batman's cowl in the movies, is a landmark on the skyline, is generally referred to as the Bat Building, and is the home of many AT&T offices and operation unites. Although this building probably sustained some damage, it is NOT the building that is referred to in news reports as the building at the blast site. The RV that exploded was parked across the street from the old Belle South telephone building, now the property of AT&T. It is questionable as to whether it was the specific target as the damage was greater on the side of the road where the bomb exploded, end the perpetrator chose the other side. This being said, the damage to power access, networking systems, and the need to rapidly shift priorities of service, caused many outages in the AT&T networks for Internet and land and mobile communications. Many are still yet to come back up completely. Some specialists believe that other criminal activity, coincidental to the explosion, has magnified the communication problems.

     

    I include an earlier post (below) to a couple of the section lists. In it you will see that there are at least 2 archives and the main branch of the Nashville Public Library located from 3-5 blocks from the site, which is within range of some damage done by the blast. I am unaware of any damage to these locations, although there was some damage done to the historic building that adjoins one of the archives. There are several small historic attractions, including some with museum collections, that were damaged. Probably of most significance from a cultural heritage point of view is the rows of building on the side of the road where the blast occurred, as well as the ones that connect to them from the street behand. This large block of buildings, extending several city blocks, is among the oldest of its size in the Nashville area. They were warehouses, shops, and offices, some before and others after the civil War. The connecting buildings behind front the Cumberland River, and served as part of the wharf area for boat traffic, as well as the railroad. Buildings both facing the river and the ones backing on to them were damaged, with the latter including ones that were essentially destroyed. This is a major loss to the area's cultural heritage.

     

    I have already spoken to two large supporters of archives and cultural heritage preservation who I mention in the post below (I know this makes it very long, but it is, hopefully, an unusual situation) and they are uncertain whether they will remain in Nashville or relocate. One, however, wishes me to speak to his organization about what things would be like if the explosion had occurred at one of the archives they support.

     

    Earlier post to Security and Independent Archivists Section lists is below my email signature

    Jim

    Jim Havron

     

     

     

     

    J.T. HAVRON JR., LLC

    Holistic Information Security

    Cultural Heritage Cyber Preservation

    Consulting, Audit, and Training

    Cybersecurity/InfoSec, Archives, Information Systems, Project Management

    Havron@cyberculturalheritage.com

    615.761.8154

     

    "Greetings all.

    I hope you are enjoying your holidays. This is going to 2 sections, and some of it may go out to members through other messages, so I apologize for any duplication. I saw some things from a distance this morning that ended up adding a good deal of extra excitement to my Christmas Day. Several cultural heritage sites and resources were affected, so I thought some comments in order since there may be Q&A from our section(s).

     

    This morning, Christmas/25 December, an RV exploded in downtown Nashville, TN. Three people were injured (non-life threatening) and it is unknown if the vehicle was unoccupied at the time. Police managed to clear occupants of the nearby buildings before the explosion, which as of this time (10:00 p.m. CST, the 25th) is believed to have damaged 41 buildings. A number on the side of 2nd Ave N, where the explosion was, and many behind/connected to them fronting 1st Ave. N., were built well back in the 19th Century. Such was the case of one described as having collapsed and the adjoining structure described as "gutted". This is also the case of the building next to them where offices of a financial supporter of history and archives were located.

     

    The nearby AT&T office and an old operations building sustained damage to network components as well as loss of power, causing physical-line (including Internet) and mobile communication outages to customers in at least three states, including the 911 call center for Metro-Nashville and some surrounding counties (including Rutherford, where I now live) and Knoxville, about 200 miles east. The Metropolitan Nashville International Airport was also closed for a time because of communication delays. Systems are beginning to be restored in some areas, but not all are entirely up. The evidence that this was an intentional act is overwhelming.

    More details can be found at the https://www.tennessean.com/

     

    There will be some significant archives related stories to come from the incident. My last regular archives position was in a repository located 3 ½ blocks away, and I am still part of the governance of the institution. Ken Fieth, CA, Archivist for Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County, long-time member of SAA and other professional organizations, and present Chair of the SAA Security Section, manages his collections 4 ½ blocks from the site where the Archives can be found inside the Nashville Public Library (Main). We have discussed acts of deliberate destruction and violence, including terrorism, arson, and other crimes, as part of the security and disaster response for cultural heritage institutions. The archives I was once archivist of has emergency plans that include response to such acts. So did the financial backer mentioned earlier, a security client of mine.

     

    While AT&T communication was down, in this case meaning all my family save my wife and myself, Ham radio operators helped take up the slack. Once again, they managed to get word to people who could communicate more directly with those who had lost communication. This is how my security client was able to reach me.

     

    Look for stories to come.

     

     

    Jim"