KO contribution # 238

In honor of Ken Owen’s upcoming retirement, here is another in a series of remembrances of his contributions to the library.


Suppose you’re doing research in our ephemera collection, come across the names of one or two Louisiana politicians, and want to discover when they ran for office? How would you do that? Where would you go?


The only index of Louisiana political ephemera cross-referenced by politicians and the years they ran for office exists in the Louisiana Research Collection, thanks to Ken Owen.

But wait! There’s more! Suppose you know the year of a Louisiana election, but don’t have the specific day date? Suppose you have a flyer that says an election was held on May 9, but you don’t know which year? What would you do? Where would you go?


The only index of Louisiana political ephemera that tracks the dates of Louisiana elections and cross-references them by day and year exists in the Louisiana Research Collection, thanks to Ken Owen.


Ken’s election resource also records whether the date was a primary, second primary, special primary, or general election. For example, Ken’s index reveals that we preserve campaign ephemera for three elections held on January 17. They occurred in 1928, 1956, and 1998 and were all primary elections.


Special Collections created an online exhibit about our political ephemera several years ago to honor Ken’s work with our political holdings. To view the online exhibit and learn more about our political ephemera collection, click here.


Written by Lee Miller.

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