Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

LaRC’s annual Carnival exhibit is now on display in the Special Collections gallery, Jones Hall Room 201. “Floats, Costumes, and the Vegetable Kingdom: The original designs for the wonderfully odd 1892 Proteus parade.” Using the theme “A Dream of the Vegetable Kingdom,” in 1892 the Krewe of Proteus created floats and costumes based on corn, watermelon, and even English peas. Intended as working drawings for float builders and costumiers, the designs are also stunningly beautiful works of art. The designs are by Carlotta Bonnecaze, the first woman and first creole to design floats for a Carnival krewe. Carnival historian Henri Schindler calls her work “astonishing” and argues that in this 1892 parade, she used subtle layers of color to achieve her most beautifully painted designs. “A Dream of the Vegetable Kingdom” is also a rare instance of LaRC preserving both the complete set of eighteen float designs and the complete set of 101 costume designs for the same par...

Olga Peters was a twentieth-century New Orleans artist and teacher, whose interests included ballet, choreography, ceramics, metalwork, and fashion design.   She was educated at Newcomb College and Tulane University, through a Master of Arts in 1940. In 1983, she donated her numerous and imaginative costume design drawings and paintings to Tulane University, specifically those created for the krewes of Dorians, Bards of Bohemia, and Babylon.    LaRC Manuscripts Collection 684, Olga Peters Drawings , 1927-1976, also includes typed correspondence, Carnival and social ephemera, and several   black and white photographs of the fanciful costumes being worn by the local royalty for whom they were custom-made.    Another similar contemporary collection is Coralie Guarino Davis Costume Designs , 1953-1981 (LaRC Manuscripts Collection 723).   Featured there are drawings for krewes in New Orleans (Maids of Troy, Ancient Scribes), New Iberia (Andalusia)...

The Schiro Reading Room will be closed Saturday, January 18-Monday, January 20, 2014, in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday. For weekend hours of the main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building, see Library News @ Tulane . The Reading Room resumes current daily hours on Tuesday, January 21.