Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) preserves an internationally-renowned collection of Civil War documents, including the papers   of Jefferson Davis, the papers of Stonewall Jackson, and the Gettysburg letters of Robert E. Lee. One of LaRC's special missions is preserving letters and diaries of Union soldiers serving in Louisiana, which we have recently made available online.   While LaRC preserves extensive letters and diaries of Louisiana Confederate soldiers, those materials pertain to conditions where they were stationed, which was often outside of Louisiana. By focusing on Union soldiers serving in Louisiana, this collection reveals military and social conditions within Louisiana itself during the Civil War. Additionally, New Orleans fell to Union troops early in the war. Letters from occupying forces therefore extend over a greater period of time than for elsewhere in the South. Union letters and diaries record a wide range of information about Louisian...

Sketch of Natalie Scott by William Spratling, from the book "Sherwood Anderson and Other Famous Creoles." Now available are new archival guides, digital collections, and online exhibits illuminating the "French Quarter Renaissance." After a period of significant decline, in the 1920s the French Quarter was “rediscovered” by artists and writers romantically emulating the bohemian societies of New York and Paris. They moved into the Quarter, began preserving its historic structures, and spurred the Quarter’s economic revival. Among them were Julius Weis Friend, Ethel Hutson, Genevieve Pitot , Martha Robinson, Lyle Saxon , Natalie Scott, William Spratling, “Pops” Whitesell, and Ellsworth Woodward. LaRC recently released the first online guides to the papers of Julius Weis Friend, Ethel Hutson, and Martha Robinson. Friend (1894-1962) was the editor of the short-lived but influential literary magazine “The Double Dealer.” It published the major liter...

Illustrating Carnival The Public Domain Review has published "Illustrating Carnival: Remembering the Overlooked Artists Behind Early Mardi Gras," by Allison C. Meier, which features two dozen of LaRC's Carnival float and costume designs. "For more than 150 years the city of New Orleans has been known for the theatricality and extravagance of its Mardi Gras celebrations.  Meier looks at the wonderfully ornate float and costume designs from Carnival’s “Golden Age” and the group of New Orleans artists who created them." “The greatest publicly accessible resource of their art is the Carnival Collection , part of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) at Tulane University and supported by a bequest from the late journalist Charles L. “Pie” Dufour. In 2012, Tulane marked the completion of a two-year digitization project that put over 5,500 float and costume designs in the Carnival Collection online.” As the article notes, scanning and placing online L...

LaRC on WWL TV Selections from LaRC's carnival collection are on display at NOMA and were featured last night on WWL TV. http://www.wwltv.com/mobile/article/entertainment/events/mardi-gras/noma-exhibit-highlights-pioneering-carnival-artist/289-515444234 You can learn more about the exhibit at NOMA here. If you're looking for something very special to do, it's a wonderful way to celebrate the Carnival season. http://www.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/2736844/bror-anders-wikstrom-bringing-fantasy-to-carnival-at-noma