NATCHEZ — Nearly 290 artillery projectiles were delivered to the Historic Natchez Foundation recently, but not for the purpose of military defense.

Items from the Gulf Islands National Seashore’s museum collection were transported to the Historic Natchez Foundation’s offices at the Natchez Institute as part of a plan nearly nine years in the making.

The move was first proposed in the 2006 Southeast Region museum storage plan, which called to create a cooperative venture between Gulf Islands, Natchez National Historical Park and Historic Natchez Foundation called the Natchez Collections Management Center.

NNHP Superintendent Kathleen Jenkins, who was a part of the group that created the plan in 2006, said its creation was sparked by the devastation of Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina.

“The strategy was to figure out how we would deal with museum storage nationwide and consider moving things from storage collections that were in at-risk locations like the Mississippi Gulf Coast,” Jenkins said. “Natchez ended up being the perfect place because it’s already in a evacuation zone for people from the coast, and it’s only three hours away.”

Three moving trucks brought the 290 artillery projectiles, mostly 8- and 10-inch cannonballs weighing between 85 and 125 pounds each, up from the Gulf Coast, where they had been warehoused since 2010.

The items will be stored in the basement of the HNF headquarters, which will soon be getting a fire suppression system through the Community Heritage Preservation Grant program.

The added fire suppression system will allow the foundation to expand into formal museum operations, including taking on more NPS materials.

More sensitive items from the Gulf Island collection, which are currently being housed at Timucuan Ecological and Historical Preserve in Jacksonville, Fla., will eventually be transferred to Natchez. Those items include fabrics, weapons, archives and photo collections.

Jenkins said the NNHP also plans to move collections currently housed at Melrose to the HNF facility.

The collaboration of agencies to protect valuable historical items is something Jenkins said she looks forward to seeing more of in Natchez.

“This is big on a lot of different levels,” Jenkins said. “But it’s the collaboration that excites me, because anytime you can have agencies like this come together and find a common ground is always great.”