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A lot of records from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez were found in the Natchez Foundation Building. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

A pair of shoes Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez are displayed in the Historic Natchez Foundation building. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

A pair of shoes Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez are displayed in the Historic Natchez Foundation building. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez are neatly arranged in the Historic Natchez Foundation building. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez are lined up in the Historic Natchez Foundation building. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez are everywhere inside the Historic Natchez Foundation. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

Shoes from the old Burns Shoe Store in Natchez were just some of the treasures unearthed when the Historic Natchez Foundation recently started work to install a new fire suppression system, provide climate-controls and rewire the building on Commerce Street. (NICOLE HESTER, THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT)

NATCHEZ — An $850,000 construction project has temporarily unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts from the basement of the Historic Natchez Foundation.

As part of the Foundation’s efforts to install a fire suppression system,  provide climate-controls and rewire its Commerce Street building, much of the Foundation’s archive has been moved from the basement to the building’s central hallway on the first floor.

Since the project started in April, employees and volunteers have been carefully cataloging and recording the shelves filled with paper records, photographs and other artifacts that tell Natchez’s story.

“We basically have the makings for a museum,” HNF Executive Director Mimi Miller said.

Among the many artifacts brought up from the basement is an extensive collection from the Burns Shoe Store when it closed on Main Street in 1998.

The collection was handed over to the Foundation for storage by members of the Burns family.

Included in the collection are doors from the store’s cabinets, stools on which salespeople sat while serving customers, old ledgers and many, many shoes, Miller said.

“We could recreate a section of the store,” Mimi said.

The shoes are an example of the many businesses that operated downtown in the late 19th century through the late 20th century.

“Natchez had multiple downtown family-owned businesses,” Peter Burns said. “Men’s clothing, women’s clothing, some were men’s and women’s, some were children only, and there were the shoe stores. They were mostly all family owned.”

The grandson of Patrick Burns, the original owner of the shoe store, Peter Burns said the Foundation was the best place to store the artifacts.

“When the store was closing in 1998 where else for the shoes to go but Historic Natchez Foundation,” Burns said.

Like the Burns family, the Eyrich family — original owners of the Eola Hotel — also entrusted the Foundation with the preservation of artifacts from the historic hotel.

“We could just about create an Eola Hotel room thanks to the Eyrich family that has donated many things to us,” Miller said. “We have chenille bedspreads from the 1950s, ashtrays and a number of other objects.”

The Foundation’s largest collections include historic photographs and artifacts from Tom and Joan Gandy and from the family of William E. Stewart, collections that are regularly used by the Foundation and researchers who visit the HNF headquarters.

Miller said the Foundation also provides storage for the National Park Service, including items from the Natchez National Historical Park and Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Among the many items in storage from the Gulf Islands National Seashore are several hundred cannonballs.

Most importantly, Miller said the installation of a fire suppression system and climate controls helps the Foundation preserve vital records from the Adams County Courthouse.

Records from 1799-1880 are among the many books in storage.

“We have tons and tons of books — poll books, inventory books and orphans court minutes,” Miller said.

“It is the whole history of Adams County and is one reason that fire suppression is so important.,” Miller said. “It is not just our archive; it is the community’s archive as well.”

Miller said she hopes the project will be finished in September. When everything is complete, the archive will once again be stored away, ready to be displayed in a future museum space.

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