Selling Products and Politicians

LaRC Manuscripts Collection 929 is the Radlauer and Caire Advertising Agency records, 1947-1969.  This collection is quite unusual in that the records are not primarily related to the finances or daily business dealings of the company.  Instead, it’s composed of samples of finished advertising artwork and printed items of various types, including posters, leaflets, politicians’ custom stationery, a 1962 banquet program and menu, newspaper sections and clippings, newsletters, and political ephemera supporting campaigns and causes of the era.   The ad agency worked simultaneously during the 1940s-1960s for both types of clients—those wanting to publicize products, and those running for public office.   

Louisiana political figures represented in this collection include Hale Boggs, Sam Jones, Russell Long, Victor Schiro, Charles Zatarain, Preston Battistella, and many others.   A few of the commercial clients are Autin Packing Co., Camelot Motor Inn, Corsair Ties, Delta Tank, Foster Aluminum Awning Co., Gulf National Bank, Lafayette Publishers, Louisiana Shell, Morning Treat Coffee and Tea, Trappey’s Canned Goods, New Orleans International Airport, Pearle Optical, and Walker Roemer Milk.   These names blend interestingly, as we’ve had a line of food products named Zatarain, and a governor named Roemer. 

Another similarly rich collection is LaRC Manuscripts Collection 921, the Kottwitz Advertising Company records, 1954-1970.  Collection 921 also contains both commercial and political advertising, with draft graphics in layout and final form, posters, photographs, film strips, slides, negatives, audio tapes, political ephemera and campaign memorabilia such as buttons and pins.  The items relating to Kottwitz's commercial clients are strikingly evocative of the interior design and furnishings of the era, especially the sharp black and white photographs for Higgins Flooring and Willowdale Homes.   


The Radlauer and Caire Advertising Agency records, as well as the Kottwitz Advertising Company records, will be of interest to researchers into Louisiana political and business history, and to students of the graphic arts.
   

Captions:  From Manuscripts Collection 929: Coupon for a free cup of coffee at Morning Call Coffee Stand in New Orleans, paid for by Preston Battistella, candidate for Louisiana House of Representatives in 1964; colorful store poster for Three Little Pigs Meat Products manufactured by Autin Packing Co., Inc., of Houma; leaflet supporting Charles Zatarain’s 1950 run for Mayor of New Orleans, which resulted in the re-election of deLesseps Morrison.  Images may not be re-published without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Nathan Cohen papers

Archival collections created within the last hundred years are often especially appreciated by present-day researchers, as they may contain the personally selected daily-life papers, family photographs, and other mementos of recent lifetimes, set in a recognizable time and place.  Manuscripts Collection 915 in the Louisiana Research Collection, the Nathan Cohen Papers,  provides rich insight into twentieth-century New Orleans.

Nathan Simon Cohen (1931-1993), usually called Nate Cohen, was a New Orleans journalist, sportswriter, and public relations writer. He was affiliated with the Tulane Hullabaloo, the Times-Picayune, the West Bank Guide, and the New Orleans Recreation Dept. (NORD). As sports publicity director for NORD in the early 1980s, Nate Cohen wrote a newsletter, Say What!, to publicize local youth events such as the annual Louis Armstrong birthday party. He was active in Congregation Beth Israel and the B'nai B'rith Youth Council of New Orleans. He married Annie Bruches, and they had four children.

Included in the collection are handwritten and typed correspondence received and kept, family greeting cards, Nate Cohen’s hand-edited writings, family photographs including wedding photographs of his parents, religious programs, revealing and personal financial and other records, a will, an appointment book, scrapbooks prepared by members of the Congregation in his honor, certificates, a plaque awarded to his mother (Julie Pailet Cohen), a prayer shawl with a cloth case and a pin, clippings and various printed publications.  

This collection will be of interest to individuals studying the religious life and customs of New Orleans, popular local journalism in the twentieth century, the development of recreational opportunities for the young people of New Orleans, race relations of the era, American sports culture, fashion and social customs, and photographic history.  Most importantly, this collection documents the efforts, struggles, and joys of writer Nate Cohen of New Orleans.

                                                                     

                

Captions:  Julie Cohen and her son Nate Cohen; Julie Pailet Cohen as a young bride (both are undated).  Images may not be re-published without permission.   

Posted by Susanna Powers

Sesquicentennial anniversary of the capture of New Orleans

Union postal cover from the Alfred S. Lippman collection

In 1862, Union forces made their way past Forts St. Philip and Jackson to capture the city of New Orleans on April 25, with General Benjamin Butler's troops arriving the following week. The city would remain occupied through the remainder of the American Civil War. The Louisiana Research Collection contains a wealth of archives, maps, ephemera and printed materials related to the Civil War. In recent years, we have made a special effort to acquire letters and documents from Union soldiers who were stationed in the Gulf South, as these items shed an enormous amount of light on the Civil War experience in Louisiana.

To mark the sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary of the capture of New Orleans, LaRC is pleased to highlight some excerpts from our archives. In the spirit of the unique challenges of working with archival documents, we have reproduced text exactly as it appears in the document.

B.B. Smith diary, Manuscripts Collection M-1123

B.B. Smith was a Union soldier from Massachusetts who served in Company A, 30th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, which was raised by Major General Benjamin Butler. Smith was with the unit when it entered New Orleans and describes the Union Army's occupation of the city in his 1862 diary.

Sunday 27

Pleasant again, there was a fine raft went down the river this morn but done no harm, the rebels hate to come to [town?] But the Maj Gen wont wait long for them. the men all well considering Had inspection by the Colonel. Divine worship this pm, we expect to be in the Queen City of the South within a week, that means New Orleans. Oh yes, I guess.

Monday April 28 1862

Fine again, the men are all rejoicing At the news of the surrender of the forts. After a seige of 9 days, rather tough that. We have a steam gun boat alongside To tow us up the river, good, part of the regt & the 4th Battery went on shore in to the forts and hoisted our Flag about 3 oc this pm. The rebels Tried to blow up the forts but did not [make?] out


Alfred S. Lippman Collection of Civil War letters: Item 7: J.B. Green, Company D, 9th Regiment (state unidentified), of General Butler’s division, Camp Parapet, New Orleans, Louisiana to brother and sister, June 2, 1862

I suppose you have seen in the Papers that New Orleans had surrendered to the Fleet and that the 9th, 12th and 13th and a lot of Western Regt had landed and took charge of the Place, the 9th landed the 2and of May and staid till the 6th and then we moved up to this camp the 31st of May the 9th got Orders to go to Baton Rogue


Ambert O. Remington papers, Manuscripts Collection 89

Ambert Remington was born in July 1842 to a farming family near Auburn, New York. He enlisted with the Union army on September 21st 1861 and was placed in the New York 75th Infantry Company. His career in the military took him to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, Florida and the area surrounding New Orleans. Remington suffered a “severe wound” to his right arm during a skirmish near Port Hudson in June of 1863. The resulting amputation of his arm led to his death three days later on June 17th.


Letter from Ambert "to the folks at home" April 25, 1862:


Three deserters came over yesterday, and they say that New Orleans was taken day before yesterday. We heard form a brig which came in this morning from the latter place, that they were Fighting when she left. We are begging [?] to look for better times now, for when N.O. is taken our troops will probably march up this way, and the first we shall hear of it we will be ordered over on the other side to join the Union Army

To find more archival resources on New Orleans' role in the Civil War, please go here.

Image: Union postal cover, Alfred S. Lippman Collection of Civil War postal covers, Manuscripts Collection 993, Louisiana Research Collection, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana. Images may not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Eira Tansey

Gustavus Schmidt, Swedish-American legal scholar

The Louisiana Research Collection was pleased to welcome Swedish legal scholar Kjell Å Modéer during his recent trip to New Orleans. Dr. Modéer, Senior Professor of Legal History at Lund University in Sweden, gave a talk entitled “’Young Man Go West!’ The Brethren Carl and Gustavus Schmidt as Examples of Legal Transfers Between Sweden and Louisiana in the Nineteenth Century” at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law on Thursday, April 12, 2012.

Gustavus Schmidt was a central figure in the nineteenth-century legal history of Louisiana. He emigrated from Sweden to the United States, where he became a prominent lawyer and legal scholar. A protégé of Chief Justice John Marshall in Virginia in the 1820s, Schmidt later moved to New Orleans in 1829.

Gustavus’s brother, Carl Christian, remained in Sweden, and rose to become a Justice of the Swedish Supreme Court. The two brothers maintained an extensive trans-Atlantic Swedish-language correspondence between 1830 and Carl Christian’s death in 1872. This correspondence served as a means for exchange of Swedish and American legal developments and debates between two influential jurists in their two countries. They regularly exchanged Swedish and American legal books and journals along with their correspondence. The original correspondence between Gustavus Schmidt and his brother are part of the Gustavus Schmidt family papers, held here at the Louisiana Research Collection.

Inspired by his brother’s law journal in Sweden, Gustavus began publishing his own Louisiana Law Journal in 1841, which was the first law journal in the state. From the outset, Schmidt’s Louisiana Law Journal was also one of the earliest American legal journals with a strong comparative and international orientation. In this journal, Gustavus regularly compared Louisiana legal theory and practice with that of other states and countries, including Sweden, often using insights gleaned from his correspondence with his brother. The first issue of the journal contained discussion of legal developments in Scotland, France, Spain, Russia, and Sweden. Schmidt also founded the Louisiana Law School in New Orleans in 1844, which was one of the predecessors of Tulane’s School of Law.

Posted by Sean Benjamin

Photo of Dr. Modéer taken by Georgia Chadwick. Portrait of Gustavus Schmidt from Louisiana Portrait Collection, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University. Images may not be reproduced without permission.

a photograph from the Ronstrom papers

Dick Clark (Nov. 30, 1929-Apr. 18, 2012). This is one of the numerous collected "8x10 glossies" sent to New Orleans journalist Maud O'Bryan Ronstrom, during the 1960s and 1970s. This one is dated 1965, Maud O'Bryan Ronstrom papers, 1915-1979, Manuscripts Collection 903 (903-2-8). Please do not re-publish without permission.


Posted by Susanna Powers

Butterfly in the Typewriter

Cory MacLauchlin’s critical biography of John Kennedy Toole will be released on March 26, 2012, and Cory will be in New Orleans to mark the occasion. Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole and the Remarkable Story of A Confederacy of Dunces gives readers the benefit of MacLauchlin’s in-depth research, in archival resources as well as by finding and interviewing many people who knew Toole during his lifetime. In Special Collections, we have had the pleasure of meeting and working with Cory MacLauchlin during his many research trips, over the last several years.

His primary resource in learning about Toole’s life and writing has been LaRC’s Manuscripts Collection 740, John Kennedy Toole Papers; his research also led him to the staff and collections of Tulane University Archives, Rare Books, and other New Orleans libraries and archives. We’ve also enjoyed learning about the book’s progress over time, by following his blog, which has now been incorporated into his website, Cory MacLauchlin, Biographer—Producer.

On March 25, 6:00 pm, at the Contemporary Arts Center, there will be a special screening of the documentary, "John Kennedy Toole: the omega point" ($7 admission) with filmmaker Joe Sanford, presented by the New Orleans Film Society and the Contemporary Arts Center. Cory MacLauchlin will be giving a talk and book signing at Garden District Book Shop on March 26, 5:30-7:30 pm, and at Octavia Books, March 27 at 6:00 pm. More information about these and other events is available under Readings, Signings, Events.

Congratulations to Cory MacLauchlin for his success! We look forward to reading the new book.

Note, 3/26/12, see "The Lost Manuscript to A Confederacy of Dunces" posted by Cory MacLauchlin in the Millions. An excerpt from Butterfly in the Typewriter appears in Huffington Post Books. A local mention of Cory MacLauchlin's New Orleans events appears in NOLA Defender. Chris Rose interviewed Cory MacLauchlin on Bourbon Street, in front of a Lucky Dog cart, which aired on Fox8 news, 3/30/12 at 9:00pm.

The April 17, 2012 issue of Gambit has a cover feature article on Butterfly in the Typewriter, "Toole Time."




Captions: cover of Butterfly in the Typewriter, evoking the literary imagination of John Kennedy Toole as he conceives of his fictional characters and stories; Biographer Cory MacLauchlin speaking about the life and writing of John Kennedy Toole, Octavia Bookstore, March 27, 2012.


Post and photograph of Cory MacLauchlin by Susanna Powers

LHA Annual Meeting

The Louisiana Historical Association held its 54^th annual meeting at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter, March 1-4, 2012. We all enjoyed hearing the lively presentations, and seeing so many familiar faces of visiting researchers. Thematic sessions of several short talks were guided along quickly—these emphasized racial and gender issues in 19^th century Louisiana, 20^th century politics, and other wide-ranging topics.

Octavia Books arranged tables displaying their Louisiana literature for sale, including an appealing array of many of the scholarly monographs of the conference speakers.

Featured above is Professor Arthé Anthony, of the American Studies Program, Occidental College, delivering her talk, “The Photography of Florestine Perrault Collins: From Downtown to Midtown.” Professor Anthony’s research and teaching interests include an interdisciplinary examination of the American South, a socio-historical view of 20th-century African-American literature, African-American history, and women's studies/gender studies. The photographic image she is discussing here is of portrait photographer Florestine Perrault Collins (1895-1988) as an adolescent.

Photographs and post by Susanna Powers

St. Rose de Lima in New Orleans

Roger Baudier (1893-1960) was a Louisiana author, editor, historian, educator, Catholic lay leader, and journalist; he was called the "official chronicler of the Archdiocese of New Orleans" by Archbishop Joseph F. Rummel. (The Louisiana Research Collection holds his papers as Manuscripts Collection 805, Roger Baudier papers, 1935-1961.)

In 1957, when Roger Baudier was preparing a book in commemoration of the centennial of St. Rose of Lima Parish, he wanted to “bring in some background information on the area.” He wrote a letter to New Orleans Public Service, Inc. (NOPSI) asking specific questions about the history of horsecars, electrified street-car lines, car barns, and any public transportation serving the church located on Bayou Road near North Broad, over the previous one hundred years.

This typed letter is located in LaRC’s Manuscripts Collection 229, the Thomas Ewing Dabney papers, 1833-1969. Thomas Dabney (1885-1969), known primarily as a journalist, was working during the 1950s as a researcher and writer in public relations with NOPSI. (Some readers may know that those were the days when NOPSI was something more than just a utility company… when a problem came up, people would “call Public Service!”) Although we don't hold the return correspondence from Mr. Dabney to Mr. Baudier, Thomas Dabney had pencilled in some of the answers on the original letter, about his research into the dates of changes in lines and barns.

Roger Baudier's resulting, richly written monograph, Centennial St. Rose of Lima Parish, New Orleans, La : a parish history, is available in LaRC with call number: BX 4603 .N46 S67 1957 LACOLL. This concise history, centering on the buildings, leaders, and parishioners of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, affectionately touches on some of the triumphs and tragedies of the city of New Orleans.

Note also the inscription on the inside cover of this book, from Roger Baudier to Charles L. "Pie" Dufour (whose papers are in LaRC's Manuscripts Collection 90).

In the twenty-first century, the buildings at the former parish site are not being used for religious services. The surrounding neighborhood is thriving several years after damage by Hurricane Katrina and the flood. Plans are being made to redevelop the site at 2545 Bayou Road, to be called the “Bayou Treme Center.” In the Clarion Herald, Nov. 9, 2011, the plans are described in “New life being breathed into St. Rose de Lima site.” See also the web site of St. Rose de Lima, New Orleans.

Post and photograph of St. Rose de Lima church building by Susanna Powers (photograph c2009 in angels and people, life in New Orleans) The image of the letter from LaRC's Manuscripts Collection 229 may not be re-published without permission.

Carnival Exhibit in New Wave

Another mention of the Louisiana Research Collection's Carnival holdings appeared late last week: "Exhibits celebrate the art of Carnival krewes" in Tulane University's online newsletter, New Wave. We hope you will enjoy the collection now and year-round.

Find us on foursquare!

Are you on foursquare? We are! If you check in at our location, you can pick up one of our awesome collectible Carnival bookmarks.