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.

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 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:  Undated items in the Nathan Cohen papers.  Images of items in the Louisiana Research Collection may not be re-published without permission.   

Posted by Susanna Powers