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Showing posts from March, 2015

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