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Showing posts from February, 2016

What is under New Orleans

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Rev. Edward E. Fontaine (1814-1884), professor of theology and natural science, wrote and lectured in association with the New Orleans Academy of Sciences during the mid-nineteenth century.  He authored scientific papers on hydraulic engineering, geology, geography, and archeology.   His published works may not deal directly with his basic religious worldview, but in other papers this is addressed. LaRC Manuscripts Collection M-8 is a small set of Rev. Fontaine's papers, 1867-1868.    This collection consists of professional papers, including a fourteen-page handwritten extract of an 1868 lecture, in which he advocates for maintaining a well to acquire healing effervescent artesian water from beneath the city of New Orleans, which would have medicinal benefits such as curing yellow fever and cholera.  Also included is a typed transcription of an 1867 letter from E. E. Fontaine (as secretary of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences) to Mrs. Marie B. Williams of Alexandria, inviti

Happy Mardi Gras!

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The Schiro Reading Room will be closed from February 6 through February 9, in observance of the Mardi Gras holidays.   Have a safe and happy early Mardi Gras. To access original Carnival memorabilia located throughout LaRC's archival collections, do an advanced catalog search, combining the subject keyword, Carnival Louisiana New Orleans (all of these), with Type: archival material.   Here is the result of that search, which yields 53 cataloged collections.   Caption:  1974 carnival memorabilia, "Bacchus reads the comics, Mardi Gras, New Orleans." (Blaine Kern Artists).  This item is located in the Anna Harrison papers, LaRC Manuscripts Collection 1020, Box 2, Folder 4.  Images of items held in the Louisiana Research Collection may not be re-published without permission. Posted by Susanna Powers