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Showing posts from 2015

Celebration of peace

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                       U. S. S. BAILEY                     CARE POSTMASTER, NEW YORK, N. Y. B 9 IN LK    137 GPVT  LSD                              DN Wash.  DC   June 28 1919 Navy Radio      Boston, Mass. One hundred eighty four Alnav      The signing of the treaty of peace at Versailles [ushers] in the best day in the history of the world since the angels sang in Bethlehem quote glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will toward men unquote we are living in the fulfillment of the prophecy period as a republic we are grateful to have borne a part in the making straight and plain the path of permanent peace with justice to the world period upon receipt of news of signing of the treaty of peace the most important document in the history of the world every ship and shore station will fire a salute of twenty-one guns with the national ensign at each masthead   10028             

Five dollars in 1925

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William Tait Baynard (1875-1946) worked in his family's business, Baynard Drug Store, in Alexandria, La.    His brother, Ludlow Buard Baynard (b. 1874) served as State Treasurer in the 1920s, and State Auditor 1929-1944.      LaRC Manuscripts Collection 99 consists of the personal and business papers of W. T. Baynard, which he collected and kept over his lifetime.  His family donated the collection to Tulane University in 1955.  It includes  handwritten and typed correspondence, biographical and genealogical information about family members, telegrams, financial documents, insurance papers, post cards, greeting cards, invitations, calling cards and other items of social ephemera, photographs, advertisements, prescriptions and other medical documents, Mexican lottery tickets, stamps, a printed advertising pin tray, a leather wallet, journal and newspaper clippings and other printed items. Correspondents include E. J. Hart & Co. in New Orleans, prospective

Happy Thanksgiving

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The Schiro Reading Room will be closed for Thanksgiving break, Thursday Nov. 26 and Friday Nov. 27, 2015.  Regular hours resume on Monday Nov. 30. This weekend's hours at the main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building are listed here .  Happy Thanksgiving from the Louisiana Research Collection! Captions:  Both of these are included in Manuscripts Collection 970 (Let's tell a story records, 1951-1975).  Top: Nov. 1960, a photograph of New Orleans children happily meeting the Book Elf in the Maison Blanche book department (970-1-22); bottom: large brochure for the Magic Tree, a fairy tale television program produced by WDSU (970-1-18).   Images of items held in the Louisiana Research Collection may not be republished without permission. Posted by Susanna Powers 

Discoveries in Jones Hall-- hot dogs

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What do you think of when if you hear “New Orleans” and “hot dogs” together in the same sentence?  Some will think of the traditional or trendy lunch delicacies served by Lucky Dogs or Dat Dog.   Others will remember one of Ignatius Reilly’s attempts at employment in John Kennedy Toole’s A Confederacy of Dunces.   LaRC Manuscripts Collection 124 (Orleans Parish School Board election scrapbooks, 1945-1963) holds a variety of papers collected and donated by Marta Barnes Lamar (1902-1996).   Researchers interested in the history of American public education and Louisiana politics will find the overall collection useful, by reading the correspondence, reports, minutes, advertisements, election posters, brochures, a handbook for school employees, a voting guide, booklets and numerous mounted and loose clippings about working conditions, teachers’ pay, school integration, and other pressing issues of the day. Clippings, often considered redundant in our current research environment

Lt. Col. Bryan Black

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  Bryan Black (1872-1962) of New Orleans was an officer in the 140th Field Artillery (Washington Artillery), American Expeditionary Forces, stationed at Messac and Valdahon, France during World War I. He and his wife and three children lived on Arabella St. during the time period of this collection. After his military service, Bryan Black went into the insurance business. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 97 holds the personal, military, and collected World War I papers of Lt. Col. Bryan Black.   In 1962, his son and daughters donated to Tulane University these documents and memorabilia, including handwritten and typed c orrespondence, numerous collected post cards, greeting cards, military papers, financial documents, a diary, family and military photographs and negatives, a published boxed set of stereographic photographs depicting scenes of World War I, telegrams, programs, items of social ephemera, printed pictures, advertisements, tags, tickets, fabric, medals, a

Amelia Alexander

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Amelia L. Alexander (d. 1959), also called Mrs. Sam Alexander, worked as a volunteer coordinator providing support to American soldiers during and after World War II.  Her primary affiliation was the National Jewish Welfare Board, and she also worked on behalf of the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and particularly the United Service Organizations (USO).  Mrs. Alexander chaired the Religious Services Committee of the USO Club at Camp Plauche in the local area.  She and her husband, Sam Alexander, lived on Milan St., and later on Louis XIV St. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 1087 holds the personal papers of Amelia Alexander, spanning the years 1939-1960.  (A posthumous paper documents the planting of a tree in Israel as a memorial in her honor.)   She collected her keepsakes and records relating to homeland work during World War II.  Included here are handwritten and typed correspondence, post cards, Christmas and Hanukah greeting cards, v-mails (a curious wartim

Louisiana irises and wild plants

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LaRC Manuscript Collection 1082 is a combination of organizational records and personal papers. The Louisiana Iris Society was established in 1941; in 1948, its name was changed to the Society for Louisiana Irises, which continues into the twenty-first century. An early name variation was the Mary Swords DeBaillon Louisiana Iris Society.   Biologist and nature photographer Percy Viosca, Jr.  (1892-1961) lived in New Orleans and ran plant nursery businesses named Southern Biological Supply Co., Delta Iris Plantation, and Delta Iris Farms.  He was a member of the Louisiana Iris Society, but why his personal, professional, and business papers were included in this archival collection of the organization is somewhat mysterious. The collection includes handwritten and typed correspondence, post cards, financial documents, items of social ephemera, photographs and negatives ascribed to Percy Viosca, text of radio interviews, drafts and research notes, school papers, poems,

LaRC books-- Down at the end of the river

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Woodward, Angus. Down at the end of the river : stories / by Angus Woodward. Donaldsonville, LA : Margaret Media, Inc., c2008. Howard-Tilton Stacks PS3623.O683 D69 2008 Jones Hall Louisiana Research Collection PS3623.O683 D69 2008 LACOLL In this collection of short stories, Angus Woodward colorfully describes the circumstances, surroundings, and relationships of assorted fictional individuals living in southern Louisiana in recent years.  One story, "That German Girl" is set immediately post-Katrina.  Others, like "Qatar Is an Emirate" stretch back in time into the 1990s.  A few are almost timeless, especially "Guttering Out," a small and surreal slice of French Quarter street life. The grouping of stories does not have a single point of view or tone, but together they present the elusiveness of close personal relationships and are linked by the common Louisiana setting.   Each story actually is short, begins with a strong sente

Tenth anniversary of Katrina

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LaRC announces Katrina 2015 project In remembrance of the ten-year anniversary of Katrina, the  Louisiana Research Collection  is acquiring and permanently preserving pamphlets, flyers, scrapbooks, diaries, letters, and the personal accounts of people who experienced the disaster. Katrina was an extraordinary historical event endured by a broad range of everyday people, as well as their families and friends whose lives were affected by the Katrina diaspora for years afterward. Please help us ensure that their experiences are not forgotten. The first such donation was made this summer by LaRC Archives Catalog Librarian  Susanna Powers , now available as LaRC Manuscripts Collection 1085, detailing her experience of the storm itself from inside the Louisiana Superdome, and personal and family events of subsequent months. If you have similar personal accounts, or brochures, forms, and flyers relating to the disaster, please let us help you permanently preserve them for future genera

Dr. Butler's treasured papers

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Pierce Butler (1873-1955) was an American scholar, teacher, college administrator, and author, most closely associated with Sophie Newcomb College in New Orleans, where he served as Dean, and taught English literature and history. Among his scholarly publications was a biography of Judah P. Benjamin. Multiple ancestors and his son were also named Pierce Butler; one of them, Maj. Pierce Butler (1744-1822), born in Ireland, fought in the Revolutionary War and was a plantation owner with holdings in Georgia and South Carolina. Professor Butler (1873-1955) was born in New Orleans, and was buried in New Orleans. He also lived for a time at Laurel Hill in Adams County, Miss., a plantation home near Natchez that was destroyed by fire in 1967. His wife was Cora Waldo Butler (1877-1942). In 1954, Dr. Butler published a memoir, Laurel Hill and later, the record of a teacher, which is included in this collection. A dormitory on the Tulane campus is named in Dr. Butler's

Correspondence as research stationery

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James Edward Winston (1874-1952) was a history professor and scholarly author, who lived most of his life in New Orleans.  He studied and taught at numerous prestigious American institutions before becoming a professor of history at Newcomb College, where he taught  from 1918 until his retirement in 1939.  LaRC Manuscripts Collection 24 is made up of Dr. Winston’s personal and professional papers, including handwritten and typed research notes, hand-edited typed drafts of essays, correspondence, maps, financial documents, students’ papers, and newspaper clippings.  His correspondents included academic colleagues and administrators, publishers, booksellers and other retail businesses including a shoe company, and governmental offices he had contacted for information.  The research notes in this collection concern New Orleans religious and economic history—which were among his particular interests. The unusual characteristic of this collection is that the reverse side of al

Family papers in LaRC

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Collections of family papers contain items saved by various individuals over long stretches of time.  These archival collections, often including genealogical and biographical research notes, are rich resources for studying changing lifestyles and cultural values.  The Louisiana Research Collection holds a wealth of archival collections containing documents and objects considered important enough to pass on to a family's next generation. An advanced search of the library catalog for LaRC archival collections with the phrase “family papers” or “families papers” in the title retrieves 146 results .  The oldest of these is the De la Villesbret family papers, 1534-1937, and the youngest is the Nuhrah family papers, 1967-1996.  Another example, which will be of interest to students of American history, is the Hoffman and Bowman families papers, 1832-1929 (LaRC Manuscripts Collection 982). Collection 982 is composed of personal papers of members of the Hoffman, Bowman, and all

New Orleans performance arts

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Ewing Poteet (1911-1984) was a musician and an avid supporter of the performance arts in New Orleans.  In 1960, he donated his collection of concert and theatrical programs to Tulane University.  This collection is held in the Louisiana Research Collection as Manuscripts Collection 314.   These programs date predominantly from the late 1940s and the 1950s, and represent productions of a wide variety of sponsoring organizations and performance venues. Sponsors of these events include: New Orleans Friends of Music, New Orleans Philharmonic-Symphony Society, Civic Theatre, New Orleans Opera Guild, Women’s Guild of New Orleans, New Orleans Opera House Association, Crescent City Concerts Association, Gallery Circle Theatre, New Orleans Community Theatre, Theatre Jefferson, Community Children’s Theatre, NORD, National Catholic Music Educators Association, First Baptist Church, New Orleans Summer “Pop” Concerts, American Guild of Organists, Saint Louis Cathedral, and Temple Sinai.  N

Wartime letters, Memorial Day

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Members of the Landrum and Eldredge families lived in Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, South Carolina and Texas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Hulse and Eldredge families lived in New Orleans in the twentieth century. Dr. C. A. Landrum (1838-1909) was a physician and dentist who operated drug stores in DeFuniak Springs and Milton, Fla. His wife was Mary Landrum. Their son, Lt. C. A. Landrum (d. 1964), served in World War I. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 303, Landrum and Eldredge families papers, 1826-1960, contains personal, professional, and military papers of the Landrum and Eldredge and allied families in the southern United States. Included are handwritten and typed family correspondence, later-era notes and typed transcriptions of letters, genealogical information, speeches, certificates, leather-bound diaries, legal papers, real estate papers, financial documents, school papers, a drawing, photocopies of eighteenth-century maps, photographs, telegrams, inv

Multilingual post cards

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As a young woman, Rita Marie Boudousquié (1886-1960) of southern Louisiana received and preserved hundreds of post cards with quick personal notes or holiday greetings from friends and family.    In 1917, she married Robustiano Bernard Ferro (1884-1965), a Cuban-born veterinarian.   Over the years, they lived in New Orleans, Lafayette, Wiggins, Kansas City, and Omaha, returning to New Orleans.    As the couple had no children, Dr. Ferro donated his wife’s early-century post card collection to Tulane University in 1965.    LaRC Manuscripts Collection 276 is the Rita Boudousquié Ferro post card collection, 1905-1937. These post card messages are in handwritten French and/or English.  Printed Spanish-language words appear on post cards from Cuba.   The brief notes sent greetings to Miss Boudousquié on mailed picture post cards depicting scenes in New Orleans, such as streets, buildings, parks and cemeteries, as well as other Louisiana and Mississippi places, other cities in the

LaRC books-- Elysian Fields

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LaFlaur, Mark Gregory, 1958- Elysian Fields / Mark LaFlaur. Kew Gardens, NY : Mid-City Books, [2013] Howard-Tilton Stacks PS3613.A3755 E46 2013 Jones Hall Louisiana Research Collection PS3613.A3755 E46 2013 LACOLL Reviewers of Mark LaFlaur 's award-winning first novel, Elysian Fields , often comment that the writing is reminiscent of various great twentieth-century Southern authors. Certainly the characters, places, subject matter, dialog, and colorful description come out of this rich tradition.  But, other than having New Orleans in common, how could Walker Percy and John Kennedy Toole possibly intersect?   Elysian Fields is not so philosophical or so hilarious.  But, although the author's preliminary disclaimer states that "any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely imaginary or coincidental," he does happen to mention the 55 Elysian Fields bus, the McKenzies bakery shop near Gentilly Blvd., Dillard Unive

Discoveries in Jones Hall-- 1929 reports from the Cotton Belt

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New Orleans journalist A. J. Mann A. J. Mann (born 1888 or 1889) was a reporter specializing in the New Orleans cotton trade and cotton and ramie growing in the Southern States. He worked at a desk in the Cotton Exchange for the New Orleans daily states, and later sent writings on the cotton trade, Southern weather, and agricultural growing conditions to New York for publication in the Wall Street journal. He and his wife, Barbara, lived for many years on Eleonore St. in uptown New Orleans, from the 1920s through the 1960s. He identified himself as the manager of the New Orleans Cotton News Bureau. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 268 (A. J. Mann papers, 1917-1952) consists of his professional and collected papers, donated in 1967. Included are typed letters received, as well as outgoing carbons of his responses, a post card, partially printed personal tax documents covering 1926 and 1927, statistical charts about cotton production and acreage, photographs, journal

2015 LHA annual meeting in Lafayette

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LaRC Public Services Librarian Sean Benjamin giving his presentation at the first session of the Louisiana Historical Association annual meeting, March 5, 2015.  The 57th annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association is being held March 5-7, 2015, at the Ramada Lafayette Conference Center in Lafayette, Louisiana.  LaRC Department Head, Leon Miller, chaired a lively and successful session, "Archival Innovation in Access, Reference, and Teaching."  Presentations were given by Sally K. Reeves of the Office of the Clerk of Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans; Trish Nugent and Elizabeth Kelly of Loyola University; and Sean Benjamin of Tulane University's Louisiana Research Collection. Sean's talk described "Too Much of a Good Thing: Managing Archival Reference Overload."  The audience responded warmly to hearing of the advances and challenges in providing access services to the public, and the discussion went past the scheduled tim

1953 post card offer

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LaRC Manuscripts Collection 219 is the Jacob Streiffer post card collection, 1900-1960s.  This collection, arranged into small envelopes in one box, by general subject, consists of printed post cards collected by Jacob Streiffer (1902-1969) of New Orleans, who lived at homes on St. Roch Ave. in Gentilly, and later Decatur St. . Most of these post cards date from the early twentieth century and depict street and garden scenes, including of Audubon Park and City Park, the French Quarter, monuments, cemeteries, Carnival, riverfront and other New Orleans views, and African Americans. The post cards in this collection are predominantly drawings or photographs printed in color and unmailed, but a few of the later cards have handwritten or printed messages and were sent through the mail to Jacob Streiffer or his wife. Caption:  a post card mailed to Mrs. J. Streiffer, March 9, 1953, announces a special offer at the Gentilly Meat Market, 5321 Franklin Ave., New Orleans, La.:  FR

Mardi Gras weekend

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The Schiro Reading Room will be closed Saturday, February 14 – Tuesday, February 17, 2015.     For weekend hours of the main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building, see the hours listing on the library web site .     Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras are Tulane University holidays. To learn about New Orleans Carnival celebrations of the past, please visit the online Carnival Collection , featuring images of more than 5,500 original float and costume designs held in the Louisiana Research Collection.     The digitized collection ensures preservation of these colorful creative images, and provides open access across the world.     Have a happy and safe Mardi Gras! Caption: Krewe of Proteus 1892, costume 33, as preserved in the online Carnival Collection, Louisiana Digital Library and the Tulane Digital Library.   For more about the 1892 Proteus parade costume designs, see Storehouse , featuring Leon Miller's descriptive narration.    Images of items in the Louisiana Res