Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) preserves an internationally-renowned collection of Civil War documents, including the papersof 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 Louisiana, including the surre…

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 literary figures of its day (Ernest Hemingway, Thornton Wilder, Robert Penn Warren, and others) and was one of the first to publish Faulkner.
Eth…