Back in April we noted that the National Museum of American History will be closing at the end of the summer for a two-year renovation project. Today we’re hearing a little more about what the museum plans to feature — aside from the Star-Spangled Banner Project — when it opens back up in 2008.

Evacuation signs, lace valances stained at the high-water mark, and personal rosaries are among the artifacts that curators and historians have collected for an exhibit on Hurricane Katrina. The museum will focus on documenting the physical impact the hurricane had on New Orleans and the surrounding regions, along with the initial recovery efforts and the ongoing struggle to create new communities for those who were displaced.

The museum was right to act so quickly collecting these pieces — including sending its staff down to the area to take photographs last September. Sometimes exhibits of this kind, created so soon after the event, can feel like another form of schadenfreude, like tourists visiting the Katrina wreckage just to take personal snapshots. But as a history museum, the NMAH is charged with recording exactly what happened and, unfortunately, where it all went wrong. To wit, President Bush’s briefing papers will also be included in the exhibit.

Photo by Flickr user robbed.