Tulane University's Louisiana Research Collection

Winter 2012 LaRC e-newsletter

2012-01-24T12:21:00.000-08:00

The new issue of the LaRC e-newsletter is now available online. If you would like to receive our newsletter via e-mail, or to access earlier newsletters, please see this page in the Louisiana Research Collection website.

Henry Ginder papers, 1861-1922.

2012-01-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

So many of the soldiers fighting on both sides of the American Civil War were killed in battle or otherwise died young. Henry Ginder of New Orleans (1831-1922) was an exception, living a long, prosperous and productive life. On the occasion of his ninetieth birthday, more than two hundred people assembled in the main Sunday School room of the Prytania Street Presbyterian Church, to express their respect and love for Mr. Ginder.

LaRC’s Manuscripts Collection 104 contains handwritten correspondence to and from Henry Ginder during the Civil War, small bound diaries, newspaper pages and clippings and other printed items, two 1873 New Orleans guidebooks, hand-drawn maps and sketches, Confederate money, financial records of the charitable Howard Association, certificates, and undated later-era typed biographical information. His letters to his first wife Mattie are extremely loving and, at the same time, very matter-of-fact and evocative of his daily experiences.

Henry Ginder worked as a jeweler, was a deacon of his congregation, and for many years served as an administrator of the Tulane Educational Fund. As the end of the nineteenth century was a time of nostalgia for Southerners, Mr. Ginder was also held in high regard because of his military service. In 1891, he must have been asked to write something about his life, and on stationery of A. B. Griswold & Co., Watches and Jewelry, he wrote the following descriptive account about himself:

New Orleans, July 7, ‘91

Born Dec. 6, 1831 in Covington, Ky.—came to N. O. when less than a year old, & have been here ever since.

Joined the Confederate Guards some time in 1861, & was on duty (giving up all business) till the city fell, -- when I went to Corinth, Miss. & joined the Crescent Regt., as private in the Co. whose captain was Mr. Helm, (lawyer), 1st Lt. Geoff Brougham, 2d Lt. W. C. Shepard. On the retreat to Tupelo was taken with Camp fever quite seriously. Upon recovery joined, as private, Fenner’s Battery, at Baton Rouge, in the fall of 1862.

We made a forced march to Pontchatoula, thence were ordered to Port Hudson.

Here ends my connection with Fenner’s Battery. At Pt. Hudson there was need of Surveyors & Engineers, & as I had had experience in that line as a former member of the U. S. Coast Survey, I was detailed to report to Capt. J. Fremeaux of the Engr. Corps. & was rated 1st Lt. of Engrs.

I assisted in building the fortifications around Pt. Hudson, -- was ordered to Vicksburg by Capt. J. H. Lockett—was there during the siege, & made prisoner of war on July 4th, 1863.

After being exchanged, I was ordered to join Capt. Jno. G. Mann, Capt. of Engineer troops under Gen. Forest. I served under him during Gen. Smith’s raid from Memphis South thro’ middle Mississippi, whence we drove him back, fighting 2 or 3 severe battles, in which we generally got the worst.

We accompanied Gen. Hood on his campaign up to Nashville, & brot up the rear in the retreat.

Our last fighting was done in following Gen. Wilson’s cavalry raid—up to the Cohawba river near Selma, Ala.

Soon after this Gen. Lee surrendered, & we were paroled as part of Gen. Taylor’s command, at Gainesville, Ala.

H. Ginder

Caption: detail of an enclosure in a wartime letter from Henry Ginder to his wife Mattie, this is a probable self-portrait pencil sketch on writing paper, stating, “Port Hudson, 1863, Weight 148 lbs.” Please do not reproduce without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Young Men’s Business Club records, 1935-1965.

2011-12-01T05:55:00.000-08:00

The Young Men's Business Club of New Orleans was formed in 1919 by a group of servicemen returning home to New Orleans. It was somewhat similar to chambers of commerce, but remained autonomous and very active, and over the years became more diverse than its name might indicate.

This archival collection (Manuscripts Collection 414) consists of over five hundred black and white photographs of people and events associated with the Young Men's Business Club of New Orleans, and also contains newspaper clippings and post cards. The photographs range from formal studio portraits of individuals, to group photographs at social events, to amateur Polaroids and prints developed at local K&B drug stores.

Photographic studios which produced these portraits were primarily, but not exclusively, based in New Orleans, and included: Leon Trice Photography, C. Bennette Moore, Russ Cresson, Merrill Chase / Maison Blanche Studios, Winans Fonville, Patterson Studios, Frank Lotz Miller, Frank B. Moore, Harpers Studio, Marion Dumaine, Relf Studio, Wolbrette & Mortenson, Allyn Studio, Tipery, Van Horn, John L. Herrmann, John E. Kuhlman, J. D. Panfield, and C. F. Weber Photography.

Together, the subjects featured in the collection make an eclectic assortment from the social, political, religious, sports, literary, entertainment, and business fields of mid-twentieth century New Orleans. Notable among these are: Vic Schiro, Pie Dufour, Archbishop Rummel, Cesar Romero, Inger Stevens, and Clay Shaw.

Caption: one of the hundreds of photographs from Collection 414, featuring a candid scene at a holiday event sponsored by the Young Men’s Business Club. This particular shot is undated, but generally the photographs in this collection are clearly identified and dated. May not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Fedoroff family papers, 1917-1961.

2011-11-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

The Fedoroff family papers (Manuscripts Collection 377) will be of interest to students of the arts and the social sciences. The most widely-known Fedoroff family member is Alexander Fedoroff (1927-1979), a New Orleans dramatist and novelist. Typescript drafts of some of his literary and dramatic works, such as Swords and Scepters, Coins and Cups, a Novel, and The Side of the Angels, are a subset of the overall collection. His father, Peter Fedoroff (born in Florida in 1897) was a private in the U.S. Army during World War I. Others in the family are documented less fully, but are lovingly represented.

The collection includes correspondence, family photographs, a 1918 Army songbook, post cards, clippings and other printed items, condolence cards, typescripts of literary and dramatic works by Alexander Fedoroff, research materials, and family scrapbooks. The scrapbooks include such items as an early 20^th-century embroidered handkerchief, World War I military patches and a metal identification tag of Peter Fedoroff. The family photographs, the majority of which have no captions, are nevertheless visually informative and expressive of this family’s life.

Images may not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Political ephemera of the present day

2011-11-07T07:08:00.000-08:00

Please see this morning's New Wave article, "The Insider: Wait, don't discard political flyers!" Louisiana Research Collection Head, Leon Miller, requests your help in building the collection.

Some of the junk mail you receive at home, or pick up from your front yard, might actually be fascinating and valuable to future researchers. You will make this discovery possible if you save these political advertisements and other locally-produced printed items and donate them to the Louisiana Research Collection.

The political ephemera collection is accessible in the Schiro Reading Room, and is organized by subject matter and then group or individual names. To get started in a search for interesting items in this large collection, use the online listing of folder names in the ephemera file. From the LaRC web site, select Ephemera. Or simply visit our reading room, to get a sense of the types of materials being preserved in this collection.

Caption: a sample ballot for the Oct. 22, 2011, election, with recommendations by the Regular Democratic Organization of Louisiana. This is an item mass-mailed to residents of New Orleans.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Daisy Hodgson papers, 1870-1935.

2011-09-17T10:35:00.001-07:00

Daisy Hodgson of New Orleans served as recording secretary for the Confederated Southern Memorial Association. She lived on Jackson Avenue, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other than these facts, we know very little about the person whose papers we hold in the Louisiana Research Collection, as Manuscripts Collection 44. This is a small collection which will be of interest to students of American history for at least two reasons—the documentation of a time when there was a common nostalgia in the South about the lost Confederate cause, and additionally because of information about the existence of a bottled mineral water business at that time, in New Orleans, and in Pocahontas, Mississippi.

The collection includes correspondence, social stationery, invitations, newspaper clippings and other printed items including event ephemera, pamphlets, programs, and post cards. The segment of the collection about the bottled water business consists of handwritten letters from the company, including one from L. P. deBautte, president of the Robinson Mineral Springs Company, to Daisy Hodgson in New Orleans. In one of the letters, a discount is offered in exchange for testimonials, presumably about the healing powers of their spring water. The stationery bears an elaborate engraving depicting the maiden Pocahontas walking on floating water lilies.

Captions: June 20, 1893 handwritten letter to Miss Daisy Hodgson from the Robinson Mineral Springs Co. Limited; Jan. 3, 1907 typed letter to the principal of the McDonogh School, No. 4, in New Orleans, from W. O. Hart, in regard to the planning for the centennial of the birth of Robert E. Lee, later that month. Images may not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Coming back-- Katrina Day 2011

2011-08-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

Every August 29th since the Hurricane Katrina disaster, we memorialize those who died because of the storm and the flood in 2005. At the same time, we now celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, over these last six years. Our library holds a large array of materials devoted to Katrina and its aftermath; in fact, Tulane University and the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library are part of the story.

Two colorful and fascinating books, which focus on New Orleans after the storm, are located in the Louisiana Research Collection, with another copy each in the Howard-Tilton stacks:

Coming back : New Orleans resurgent / photographs by Mario Tama ; introduction by Anderson Cooper ; in association with New Schools for New Orleans. 1st ed. New York : Umbrage : Getty images : Distributed in the US and Canada by Consortium, c2010.
F379.N543 T28 2010 LACOLL

This is a photographic documentary volume with an emphasis on the suffering and destruction of the storm, followed by the spirited resilience of Katrina victims who were determined to come home to rebuild their lives in the years after the diaspora. The subject is primarily but not exclusively New Orleans. Particular sensitivity is given to the portrayals of young children. Anderson Cooper states in his introduction, "New Orleans ... is a city of memory, but not a museum. It is alive, and dynamic, full of life and joy, and success."

Coming back stronger / Drew Brees with Chris Fabry. Carol Stream, Ill. ; Tyndale House Publishers, c2010. (featured photograph by Stephen Vosloo)
BV4909.B73 2010 LACOLL

Drew Brees presents this memoir about his own life, faith and family, and the story of Katrina, especially in relation to the New Orleans Saints. To illustrate the the physical and emotional extremes, the conversational narrative is enhanced by a selection of photographs of the Superdome and flooded city during Katrina, contrasting with the Saints’ victory in Super Bowl XLIV, and the joy of riding through New Orleans in one of the Saints Super Bowl parades. (click on tag label "New Orleans Saints" at right for four posts about the Saints.)

The Howard-Tilton Memorial Library web site has a research guide on Katrina resources, providing wide-ranging support for learning about the hurricane, the flood and the recovery efforts.

To see earlier posts in this blog, marking the Katrina anniversaries in 2009 and 2010, with additional links about resources and related annual activities, see:

Fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

and, The five-year mark, August 29, 2010.

Posted by Susanna Powers

The new LaRC bookmark

2011-07-20T13:03:00.001-07:00

LaRC has created a new souvenir bookmark featuring artwork in the Carnival Collection. This graceful composite image, which is also used as the collection's online banner, is derived from artist Bror Anders Wikstrom's "the throne of Saturn", a float design from the 1905 Krewe of Proteus parade in New Orleans. The banners and also many of the library’s digitization projects result from a collaboration between the Louisiana Research Collection and the Web Services Department.

We hope you will make a personal visit to the Special Collections Reading Room soon. From your computer, you may browse the large and growing number of digitized images from our Carnival Collection artwork by visiting the freely accessible LOUISiana Digital Library.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Lusher Playground Project records, 1967-1974.

2011-07-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

LaRC Manuscripts Collection 809 holds the records of the planning of a multi-purpose playground on the uptown New Orleans campus of Robert M. Lusher Elementary School (7315 Willow St.) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Lusher Playground Project, also called the Lusher School Community Recreation Area Project, came about because of a common need of the school’s enrolled students and other children living in adjacent neighborhoods of New Orleans, for a supervised play area after school hours.

Racial tensions involved in this discussion are apparent in the collection's correspondence. The school leaders and students, parents, the school board, the city recreation agency (NORD), Tulane University School of Architecture, and other community members all collaborated successfully on this project, opening the grounds for community use in 1971.

Included in the collection are handwritten and typed letters, printed newsletters, financial records (such as accounts, contribution records and checks), architectural plans, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Architectural plans drawn by William K. Turner of the Tulane University School of Architecture include features such as a maze and a treehouse, as well as basketball courts and other playground equipment. As is often the case, the photographs preserved in the scrapbooks are as informative as the written material, and can be enjoyable to study.

In 2011, the facility located at 7315 Willow St. houses the Lower School of the K-12 Lusher Charter School.

Caption: 5th and 6th grade students looking through photographs of themselves, their teachers, and other community attendees of meetings to discuss and design their new playground. The photograph above, and many of the ones on the table, are included in scrapbook volume 2, Manuscripts Collection 809. May not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Welcome to New Orleans, American Library Association

2011-06-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

The American Library Association annual conference and exhibit is being held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and other local venues, June 23-28, 2011. This conference “is the world’s largest event for the library community… Bringing together more than 25,000 librarians, educators, authors, publishers, literacy experts, illustrators and the leading suppliers to the market.”*

The most recent ALA annual summer conference to be held here was in 2006, at a time when our hotels and restaurants were trying to recover from the Katrina disaster. For more information about the exhibits and events, see the official conference web site and this article in nola.com describing some free events over the weekend.

If you have the opportunity to take a break in your busy schedule, please come visit the Louisiana Research Collection and other special collections in Joseph Merrick Jones Hall on the Tulane University campus.

Mayor Mitch Landrieu addressing the Opening General Session on Friday afternoon.

Photograph and post by Susanna Powers

John Kennedy Toole documentary now available to watch online!

2011-06-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Filmmake Joe Sanford has recently made his documentary on John Kennedy Toole, the Omega Point, available to watch online. Sanford used images, correspondence and other materials from the John Kennedy Toole papers in this documentary. Having seen special screenings of the documentary around town, we are thrilled that Sanford has made it available to the public, and encourage you to watch and learn more about one of New Orleans' most famous authors.

The Omega Point can be viewed online here.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Image of John Kennedy Toole, John Kennedy Toole papers, Manuscripts Collection 740, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

Louisiana Research Collection participating in #AskArchivists day on Twitter!

2011-06-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

Today is #AskArchivists day on Twitter, in which over 120 archives and archival organizations from around the world are fielding questions from the public. The Louisiana Research Collection (@LA_Research) is participating, and we invite you to ask us questions - today or any day! You can keep up with the activity by following the #AskArchivists hashtag on Twitter, and following us @LA_Research.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

Parking advisory

2011-05-20T08:57:00.000-07:00

Parking will be tight this summer on Tulane University campus and the surrounding neighborhoods, because of a drainage improvement project. The section of Newcomb Place from Freret Street to the LBC sidewalk has been closed to parking, until at least July 31, 2011. (This is the parking lot between the main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building and Jones Hall). A campus map is available here.

This work directly affects only permit holders, but it is important to note that four metered spaces will also be temporarily unavailable for the duration of this project. Several other short-term parking meters may be used elsewhere on campus, such as along Newcomb Circle.

Visitors to campus have several options. Please see Public Safety’s visitor information page, which details the possibility of purchasing a one-day pass at their office on the first floor of the Diboll complex, or using the free shuttle services. Using public transportation would also be a good choice—the Freret Street bus line has a stop at the front of the main library. And the scenic Saint Charles streetcar will stop in front of Gibson Hall, which is a short walk away from the library buildings.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Mississippi River flood collection, 1912-1928.

2011-05-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

The springtime 1927 flood of the lower Mississippi River is considered the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States. It resulted in lengthy displacement of populations living in Louisiana, including many families of enrolled Tulane University students. Local, state, and national agencies reacted with relief efforts, and there was consideration of future disaster preparedness and also the engineering management of the river. An advertisement proclaiming, "New Orleans is safe!" was published by the L. & N. Railroad to encourage continued tourism to New Orleans after the waters receded from low-lying areas of Louisiana. According to this poster, "The levees of New Orleans protect nearly 500,000 people ... The crest has passed--the city is safe--always has been and always will be."

Manuscripts Collection 517 contains official correspondence, charts, maps, a telegram, a public relations poster, a conference invitation, newspaper clippings and contemporary printed items relating to the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, and the earlier flood of 1922, which were collected by Tulane University president, Dr. A. B. Dinwiddie. Albert Bledsoe Dinwiddie (1871-1935) was president of the University from 1918 to 1935.

To monitor the present flooding along the Mississippi River, see the NOAA National Weather Service updates.

To track the current crisis, The Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy (DRLA) maintains a Louisiana Flood Map.

Caption: Printed public-relations poster, distributed in 27 newspapers nationally by the L. & N. Railroad in 1927. It was also mailed to “New Orleans’ leading citizens” including Tulane University president, Dr. A. B. Dinwiddie, who compiled these papers, now Manuscripts Collection 517 in the Louisiana Research Collection.

Posted by Susanna Powers

SAA workshop at Tulane on June 20th

2011-04-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

Tulane University is pleased to host the Society of American Archivists workshop, “Real World Reference: Moving Beyond Theory,” June 20 in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library.

We especially wanted to host this particular workshop because it will focus on practical, day-to-day aspects of providing archival reference, managing an archival reading room, overseeing reading room security, and advocating for better user services. Those are all basic archival practices we each have to perform every single day. This workshop will therefore offer techniques, ideas, and recommendations that should directly benefit our work in a useful, practical manner.

The workshop will be taught by Kathy Marquis, Head of Public Services at the Albany County Public Library in Laramie, Wyoming. She was previously the Head of Reference and Access Services at the Bentley Historical Library, a reference archivist at the Minnesota Historical Society, and Head of Reference at MIT’s Institute Archives and Special Collections.

You can find out more about the workshop, under education and events, in the Society of American Archivists web site. The class will be designed for beginning to intermediate archivists, as well as librarians and support staff who are responsible for special collections reference work. Seating will be limited, and the early-bird registration deadline (SAA members $185) will be May 20, 2011, so please consider registering as soon as possible.

Posted by Susanna Powers

John V. Veazie papers, 1914-1933

2011-04-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Collections of personal papers of all eras may be keenly sentimental. The items which have been preserved by individuals and their descendants provide hints to the values, social styles and sensibilities of their time.

John Valentine Veazie, nicknamed Johnny Veazie, was a baseball player from New Orleans, who played on various minor league teams across Louisiana, Mississippi, and Georgia during the early twentieth century. The keepsakes in the John V. Veazie papers (Manuscripts Collection 113) are revealing not only of the personal and professional life of one man, but also describe the leisure and entertainment activities of the day, such as dances, movies, vaudeville and horse races and other sporting events. Included are numerous letters concerning Veazie’s baseball career, and many others from family, friends, and sweethearts, while he was on the road. Included are holiday greeting cards, a photograph, telegrams, and printed portraits.

To learn more about social stationery and the prevalent communication styles of the early twentieth century South, see our earlier post in this blog, Calling, advertising, and greeting cards, 1906-1920.

Caption: greeting card from the John Veazie papers (Manuscripts Collection 113), mailed from Meridian, Mississippi, April 15, 1922, to New Orleanian John Veazie, a minor league baseball player, when he was playing ball for the Vicksburg Baseball Association.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Discoveries in Jones Hall-- a guest contribution.

2011-04-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Judah Benjamin’s Paris accident

Judah P. Benjamin, the former Confederate Secretary of State, fell from a moving tramcar in Paris in May, 1880. While it is known that his injuries were severe, the extent of these injuries and their immediate impact upon Benjamin are made clear in a letter of Benjamin’s to Jefferson Davis. The letter, dated December 16, 1880, is within the Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane University. Responding to the former President’s request for information about Civil War interviews with General Johnston, Benjamin apologised for the lateness of his response. The delay, he explained, was caused by his severe accident which caused ‘pains so acute that for months I could not get an hour’s sleep without the aid of powerful narcotics’. It had been, he wrote, a great effort to undertake only a part of his legal work in England, an effort undertaken only to prevent the entire break down of his professional connection.

written by
Catharine MacMillan
Reader in Legal History
Queen Mary, University of London

Document location: The Rosemonde E. and Emile Kuntz Collection, Manuscripts Collection 600, III. National Period, 1880/12/16, personal letter from Judah P. Benjamin to Jefferson Davis.

Illustration caption: Judah P. Benjamin in happier days (1876), from the Louisiana Research Collection portrait file.

Thanks to Catharine MacMillan! We have enjoyed having you visit LaRC and the Special Collections Reading Room.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Civil War Sesquicentennial

2011-04-12T09:15:00.000-07:00

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, when Confederate forces began bombardment of Fort Sumter, South Carolina. What ensued was a five year long war that forever changed American history, and shaped every facet of life as we know it today, from music, to baseball, to medicine, civil rights, women's rights, international relations and military strategy.

The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) contains many major Civil War archival and print holdings. Some of our American Civil War archival holdings include the papers of Jefferson Davis, the Gettysburg letters of Robert E. Lee, the papers of Albert Sidney Johnston, a strong set of Stonewall Jackson's papers, and numerous collections of papers, photographs, memoirs and diaries from individual soldiers. Recently, LaRC has made a special effort to acquire materials documenting the experience of Union soldiers serving in the Gulf region. These letters and diaries provide eyewitness accounts of what life in Louisiana was like during the war, the soldiers' own feelings regarding slavery and war, and descriptions of numerous battles and skirmishes.

Some of our recent Civil War archival acquisitions include the following collections (click on the link for the finding aid):

Alfred S. Lippman collection of Civil War letters, 1848-1866

Manuscripts Collection 993

This collection consists primarily of Antebellum and Civil War letters collected by donor Al Lippman. The letters were primarily written by Union soldiers in the south to their families in the north. The letters describe news of skirmishes and fighting, daily camp life, illness and disease, slavery and opinions and observations about their experiences. Many of the letters were written by soldiers stationed in Louisiana. The collection also contains 41 Civil War postal covers.

The postal covers in this collection have been digitized, and can be viewed here.

Civil War diary of Henry C. Caldwell, 1861-1863

Manuscripts Collection M-1164

Civil War diary of Henry C. Caldwell, Company E, 7th Infantry, Louisiana. Entries concern details of weather, skirmishes and camp life.

Civil War diary of Simon M. Bott, 1864-1868

Manuscripts Collection M-1156

The diary of Simon M. Bott, private in the 120 infantry regiment of Ohio (E Company). Bott was a Union soldier whose regiment was in Louisiana from 1863-1865. Bott mustered out of the army while in New Orleans on June 5, 1865.

Interesting entries include: a brief mention of an injured friend in a lone entry on April 4th 1864, dated accounts of marching travel between Alexandria and Morganza (May 12th to the 21st), the mentioned burial of C. Bandanston on Aug 11th 1864, and Bott’s meticulously dated and timed journeys from Morganza to New Orleans then from New Orleans to his home in Wayne County Ohio (throughout that September).

Lansing Porter family papers

Manuscripts Collection 1065

Lansing Porter, a captain in the 75th New York Infantry, frequently corresponded with his wife and children during the war. The 75th New York had assignments at Fort Pickens and Pensacola early in the war, and was later involved in the Battle of Port Hudson. This collection contains over 100 letters written from the family members to one another. We very recently acquired this collection, and it is still being processed.

These represent just a few of our Civil War collections. My colleague Susanna Powers recently blogged about some additional collections featuring Civil War letters in last week's blog post.

The newest title concerning New Orleans' role during the Civil War is Justin Nystrom's New Orleans after the Civil War: race, politics and a new birth of freedom. LaRC recently acquired a copy of this book, which is available to researchers in our reading room.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Image of Fort Sumter Artillery Stereograph, Louisiana Historical Association Collection, Manuscripts Collection 55, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

The LaRC e-newsletter

2011-04-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

The Spring 2011 issue of the Louisiana Research Collection e-newsletter has been distributed and is also available here, through our website, along with the earlier issues. Among several other topics, the new LaRC facebook page is announced.

Letters to and from Louisiana

2011-04-07T07:12:00.001-07:00

Soldiers’ letters contain unintentional, first-hand accounts of military history, and they have great power and authenticity even when the authors are not in any way famous. They may range in style from the conversational to the formal, and may be clearly handwritten or composed in a nearly illegible, ornate fashion. Here are a few of the archival collections among LaRC’s holdings which contain original letters of the Civil War era.

• USA: Alfred A. Parmenter papers, 1861-1862, 1962-1963. Manuscripts Collection 690. This collection consists of the Civil War correspondence of Union soldier, Alfred A. Parmenter. Twentieth-century typed transcriptions accompany most of the letters. Also included are biographical research notes, printed material, and copies of official certificates produced in the 1960s, concerning Parmenter and his regiment. Alfred A. Parmenter (1836-1880) was a musician in the 26th Regiment, Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry. His parents were Horace and Betsey Parmenter of Lowell, Mass. The Union regiment participated in General Butler's expedition on the Gulf Coast and against New Orleans. Parmenter was stationed in New Orleans in the summer of 1862. He married Letitia M. Fillmore of Lowell, who was born in Nova Scotia, in July 1863. His occupation is listed on different forms as teacher, machinist, and stitcher. Alfred A. Parmenter died in Lynn, Mass., on June 22, 1880, of apoplexy.

• CSA: Herron family papers, 1854-1903. Manuscripts Collection 476. This collection consists of Herron family correspondence, notes, clippings, invitations, the text of a speech, a printed postal receipt, a telegraph, post cards and poems. Included are letters written from military camps in Louisiana and Virginia by Nicholas Herron, a soldier in the Confederate Army, to his cousin Anne McCarthy in New Orleans, La. Also included are letters among other Herron family members, originating in Iowa, Ohio, Kansas, New York, Texas and Louisiana. Nicholas Herron wrote from Camp Moore, Camp Bienville, Camp Beauregard, and Camp Carondelet, describing camp life with the Confederate Army during 1861-1862.

• USA: Ambert O. Remington papers, 1861-1863. Manuscripts Collection 89. This collection primarily consists of over fifty handwritten wartime letters, both those written by Union soldier Ambert Remington, as well as those he received from home. Also included is his certificate of promotion to corporal in Feb. 1863. Some of his correspondence is on stationery with color-printed patriotic images and sayings. Stamped, postmarked envelopes are also included in the collection. The letters from Ambert Remington to his parents are unusually legible and informal for the era. Ambert O. Remington (1842-1863) came from a farming family near Auburn, New York. He enlisted with the Union Army on Sept. 21, 1861, and was placed in the New York 75th Infantry Company (also called the 75th Regiment of New York Volunteers). His career in the military took him to Fort Pickens on Santa Rosa Island near Pensacola, Fla., and to New Orleans, La. Remington suffered a severe wound to his right arm during a skirmish near Port Hudson in June 1863. The resulting amputation of his arm led to his death. He is buried in Weedsport, N.Y.

• CSA: John M. Galbraith papers, 1835-1955. Manuscripts Collection 449. This collection contains the Civil War diary and correspondence of Lt. John M. Galbraith of Louisiana. Also included are official Confederate States documents, legal papers, poems, songs, essays, family papers and newspaper clippings through 1955. Second Lieutenant John M. Galbraith, of the First Louisiana Battalion Washington Artillery of the Army of the Confederate States, was wounded at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff, Va., on May 16, 1864, and died on Sept. 19, 1864. His handwritten, bound daily diary was written beginning Aug. 1863, through Apr. 1864.

April 2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the American Civil War. Please see the following for much more information:

A selection of other noteworthy archival collections within the Louisiana Research Collection relating to the Civil War.

History of New Orleans research guide, by Lonya Humphrey, social sciences bibliographer and reference librarian in Howard-Tilton Memorial Library’s Center for Library User Education. There is a section which lists online research tools concerning the Civil War.

For material in all formats on the subject, search the library catalog, using subject keyword or any of the other searches.

For digital images, see the LOUISiana Digital Library. Tulane is an active contributor; a recent collection of interest is the Alfred S. Lippman Collection of Civil War postal covers. To see those envelopes, please visit the Special Collections Reading Room, Jones Hall, Room 202.

Illustration caption: Top segment of one of the letters written by Alfred Parmenter while stationed in New Orleans in 1862, written on printed souvenir stationery, featuring a rather sedate Jackson Square. May not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

New self-service scanner in the Special Collections Reading Room

2011-03-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Our library has purchased a “Bookeye4 Color V-Cradle Planetary Scanner” for researchers’ use in the Special Collections Reading Room. This is an overhead digital camera, with the option of a large cradled or flat surface below, and has many important advantages over photocopiers. It’s convenient for capuring color images for later consultation in personal research; this process of photographing fragile books, ephemera, and archival items is better in terms of their preservation; and also, it’s more environmentally friendly, because it does not require paper or toner. We’re happy to help researchers get started, but the self-service scanner is quite simple to use, and has been very well-received with those who have already made scans of the many types of Special Collections holdings which are accessible through our reading room in Jones Hall, Room 202.

Scanned images may be saved to a USB flash drive, or e-mailed directly from the scanner. We recommend that researchers who intend to use this scanner come prepared with their own flash drive, as e-mailing works best for small files. Please see the staff person on duty for more details regarding the use of the new scanner.

Posted by Susanna Powers

LaRC's Carnival collection in the news!

2011-02-25T07:33:00.001-08:00

LaRC is receiving much attention this week for our exquisite Carnival collection. This week, articles highlighting our Carnival holdings ran in both Tulane's New Wave and the Times-Picayune.

Tulane University’s Louisiana Research Collection preserves possibly the largest collection of New Orleans Carnival paper and ephemera, such as invitations, dance cards, call out cards, printed float plates and bulletins, and original float and costume designs.

Perhaps most notable among our Carnival collection are the more than five thousand original designs for Carnival floats and costumes we preserve. Many of these are from the “Golden Age” of Carnival and feature the work of noted designers such as Jennie Wilde, B. A. Wikstrom, and Charles Briton. LaRC also preserves the works of more contemporary designers, including Patricia Hardin, Olga Peters, and designer and noted Carnival historian Henri Schindler. We are in the process of putting our entire Carnival design collection online and hope to complete the project by the end of 2012. You can view the Carnival collection here. Check back often, as we are continuously adding new sets of images.

(Image from Mystick Krewe of Comus' 1873 Missing Links Parade Costume Designs, Collection 900, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

Posted by Eira Tansey

Edgar A. Perilloux and the Carrollton Centennial

2011-01-21T07:20:00.000-08:00

Edgar A. Perilloux (1895-1969), a New Orleans insurance executive, left behind his personal and business papers, which his wife donated to the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library in 1971. Although Mr. Perilloux was not widely famous, his papers provide enjoyable and surprising insight into the mid-twentieth century New Orleanian way of life.

The history of Carrollton was one of Mr. Perilloux’s special personal interests. The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, the forerunner of today’s St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, opened for business in 1835, connecting the city of New Orleans with the village of Carrollton. The town was incorporated by the state legislature in 1845, became a city in 1856, and was annexed into the City of New Orleans in 1874. Mr. Perilloux felt that the long history of his area was significant, and that it was important to retain its earlier name in common usage when referring to the area or neighborhood previously known as Carrollton, Louisiana, located in the “riverbend” section of New Orleans. As a leader of the Carrollton Business Men’s Association, he worked to organize the observation of the centennial, and authored Carrollton Centennial, 1845-1945, a book held in the Louisiana Research Collection (976.31 P444c). His notes, and drafts of his historical descriptions for the book are included in the archival collection, Edgar A. Perilloux papers (Manuscripts Collection 362), as are preliminary sketches for proposed advertisements he solicited from numerous local businesses for the commemorative publication. These drawings and mock-ups for advertisements are quite a bit more lively than the actual ads as they appeared in the book, which for the most part, are simple and plain.

The festivities celebrating the centennial included the unveiling of a monument erected in Palmer Park (at the corner of South Claiborne Avenue and South Carrollton Avenue), honoring the men and women of Carrollton who had so far served their country in World War II, as well as an evening banquet and dance at the Tulane Room of the Jung Hotel on Canal Street, featuring Johnny DeDroit’s Orchestra. Both events took place on Sunday, March 11, 1945.

Image captions: Top, preliminary sketch drawn on Regal Beer stationery, with ideas for an advertisement for the Round Table Restaurant, 8241 Oak St.; Bottom, the printed advertisement as it appeared on p. 53 of Carrollton Centennial, 1845-1945. (“Something to Crow About”)

Posted by Susanna Powers

Reading Room hours, MLK weekend

2011-01-14T13:58:00.001-08:00

The Special Collections Reading Room, 202 Jones Hall, will be closed on Saturday January 15 and Monday January 17 in honor of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday.

The main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building will be open Saturday and Sunday, but will be closed Monday.

Please see today's New Wave article which describes the Week for Peace events being sponsored by Tulane, Xavier, Loyola and Dillard universities, in the coming week, to celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. King.

Posted by Susanna Powers

New finding aids released in December

2011-01-04T07:16:00.000-08:00

Last month we released over a dozen new online finding aids. Here are some of the highlights:

John M. Galbraith papers (Manuscripts Collection 449) - This collection contains the Civil War diary of Lt. John M. Galbraith of the Washington Artillery, family correspondence, newspaper clippings and other items. The diary describes camp life, meetings with relatives, and includes a roster of soldiers. Galbraith was wounded at the Battle of Drewry's Bluff on May 16, 1864, and died on September 19, 1864.

U.S. Army Quartermaster records (Manuscripts Collection 356) - This collection contains account records of the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps in New Orleans during the Civil War. Accounts vary but include accounts for living expenses of officers, inventories of goods of registered enemies seized and sold, payrolls, and accounts of articles purchased (mostly ships).

Abner Phelps diaries (Manuscripts Collection 1064) - This collection contains four diaries from Abner Phelps. Phelps was a clerk of the city court for Lafayette, a suburb of New Orleans that was annexed in 1852. Phelps' diaries contain brief accounts of his daily life, and typical entries include his activities, moods, and the weather. The diaries cover the years from 1837-1849. Phelps frequently mentioned the diseases that famously plagued New Orleans, discussing yellow fever deaths in 1843 and 1846, and cholera in 1848. In May 1846, Phelps discussed recruiting volunteers to fight in the Mexican-American army under command of General Zachary Taylor. In 1849, Phelps left the city and set out, eventually ending up in North Fork digging for gold. Phelps eventually settled in San Francisco, where he died in 1873.

Junius Montgomery Macon papers (Manuscripts Collection 580) - The collection contains fourteen letters written by Captain Junius Montgomery Macon to Miss Sarah Clifford Pope of Eufaula, Alabama. Captain Macon served with the Army of Tennessee as A.A.G. to Major General H. D. Clayton and took part in the Atlanta and the Franklin and Nashville campaigns. Although the letters are of a personal nature, they include eyewitness accounts of battles and troop movements and comments on Macon's superior officers.

Mrs. Howard H. Bull papers (Manuscripts Collection 581) - This collection consists of correspondence and form letters received by Mrs. Howard H. Bull, president of the Chalmette Chapter, United States Daughters of 1812, relative to her work with the organization in getting the U.S. congress to pass a bill declaring the site of Chalmette Battlefield a national monument and to appropriate funds for the purchase of land adjacent to the Chalmette monument and national cemetery.

Benjamin Henry Latrobe papers (Manuscripts Collection 584) - Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, relating to construction of water works in New Orleans. Included are ordinances authorizing construction, statements of accounts of materials and time sheets, and authorization to Louis Gleise to construct water works (May 10, 1810).

All of these collections are currently open for research to the public. For more information about using the Louisiana Research Collection's holdings, please see our website for more information.

Posted by Eira Tansey, Library Associate.

Holiday reading room hours

2010-12-06T12:35:00.001-08:00

The Special Collections Reading Room (202 Jones Hall) will be closed from Thursday, December 23, 2010 through Sunday, January 2, 2011. We will resume normal hours on Monday, January 3. For Holiday hours of the main Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building, see the Library blog. Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Caption: exterior view of stained glass windows of Rogers Memorial Chapel on the Tulane University campus.

Posted by Susanna Powers

New fall finding aids

2010-11-30T11:10:00.000-08:00

In light of the recent Thanksgiving holiday, we're thankful for our wonderful interns and student workers at the Louisiana Research Collection. With their hard work this fall, we've been able to make over 25 new finding aids available online. Here's just a sample:

New Orleans Street Railway Union records (Manuscripts Collection 26): Perhaps one of the largest and most exciting finding aids we've unveiled this autumn, this collection contains the records of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America Division No. 194 in New Orleans from 1902 to 1948. Much of the collection was processed by our interns Mallorie Smith and Kathryn Rumer. More information about the collection can be found here.

Ambert O. Remington papers (Manuscripts Collection 89): This collection contains the Civil War letters of Ambert O. Remington, a Union soldier who spent time at Fort Pickens and was later wounded at Port Hudson (Louisiana), resulting in an amputated arm and his subsequent death. Our intern, Seth Rushton, created a wonderfully detailed finding aid for this collection, tracing Remington's evolving thought processes during the war. This collection adds greatly to our already strong holdings of Civil War letters, papers, and diaries.

St. Clair Adams records (Manuscripts Collection 291): This collection consists primarily of the documents of Richard Leche's defense attorneys. Former governor of Louisiana, Richard Leche, was charged with bribery, contempt, income tax evasion, mail fraud, oil fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the state. There are drafts of briefs, motions, pleas, projected questions for witnesses, lists of jurors, notes and supportive data for the defense, anticipated objections for cross examination, and witness testimony in the St. Clair Adams records.

Nicholas Low papers (Manuscripts Collection 383): Letters written between 1781-1811 to Nicholas Low, a New York merchant. Many of the letters are from Juan Baptiste Macarty, a merchant in New Orleans.

Friday Afternoon Club records (Manuscripts Collection 725): Records of the Friday Afternoon Club, a prominent local woman's social club.

Alfred S. Lippman collection of Civil War letters (Manuscripts Collection 993): This collection consists primarily of Antebellum and Civil War letters collected by donor Al Lippman. The letters were primarily written by Union soldiers in the south to their families in the north. The letters describe news of skirmishes and fighting, daily camp life, illness and disease, slavery and opinions and observations about their experiences. Many of the letters were written by soldiers stationed in Louisiana. The collection also contains 41 Civil War postal covers.

All of these collections are currently open for research to the public. For more information about using the Louisiana Research Collection's holdings, please see our website for more information.

Posted by Eira Tansey, Library Associate.

LaRC's new digital collection, “Louisiana Political Ephemera, 1860-1920”

2010-11-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

The Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) preserves an extensive collection of political literature, such as handouts, campaign flyers, and political brochures. Such small printed items are called “ephemera” because they are meant to be glanced at and then tossed away; they therefore have a brief, or “ephemeral,” lifespan. This selection from LaRC’s political ephemera collection spans 1860 to 1920. In addition to being colorful and fun, campaign literature can be of enormous importance to a surprising variety of researchers.

Campaign literature preserves a wealth of information, including a candidate’s name, race, sex, age, party, party faction, platform, resume, campaign slogan, business, offices held, endorsements, and a photograph of the candidate and or even the candidate’s family. It therefore is invaluable for a wide range of research topics and is often a useful place to start for many research projects. LaRC’s collection covers both local New Orleans elections, statewide Louisiana elections, and a few items relate to presidential campaigning in Louisiana. Subjects covered include Reconstruction-era politicians, polling and balloting practices, the Good Government League and many other topics.

The selection can be viewed online here. Additional digital collections from the Louisiana Research Collection's holdings can be found on LOUIS Digital Library.

Farewell to Mary LeBlanc

2010-11-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

Our friend Mary LeBlanc has recently decided to retire from her volunteer service to the Louisiana Research Collection. In October 1973, Mary started working as a Howard-Tilton Memorial Library staff member in Special Collections, continuing for all those years through 2005. Since then, she kindly volunteered her time to process newly-acquired Carnival ephemera for inclusion in LaRC’s very deep and multi-faceted Carnival Collection. Over her career in the library, she worked closely with Bill Meneray, Lee Miller, and a very long list of co-workers.

Mary’s sociable manner and love of New Orleans will be fondly remembered. In fact, we look forward to her visits! Carole Hampshire, a long-time Special Collections colleague and good friend of Mary’s, said, “…there are many wonderful things that can be said about Mary—enough to fill her own manuscript collection! Mary deserves her own krewe, along with her own tiara and doubloon, which will be hot collector’s items. We will miss her tremendously here, and her effects on this department are beyond description.”

Caption: Mary LeBlanc and friends, 1988. Photograph from the cover of Vol. 5, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1988) Tulane Significa, Newsletter of the Tulane University Libraries. Thanks to University Archivist Ann Case for identifying and providing this.

Posted by Susanna Powers

John Kennedy Toole and the Prytania Theatre

2010-10-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

John Kennedy Toole: the omega point, Joe Sanford’s award-winning documentary about the life of novelist John Kennedy Toole, was shown at the Prytania Theatre today as a Louisiana Feature entry in the 21st annual New Orleans Film Festival. The venue of this event was especially fitting, as the old single-screen movie house itself provides the setting of one of the funniest chapters in A Confederacy of Dunces, when our fictional leading man Ignatius Reilly attempts to attend an evening show at his neighborhood movie theatre in uptown New Orleans.

Today’s show was much calmer than that, as an appreciative audience enjoyed the colorful, poignant, and beautifully-crafted film. As explained in a question and answer session afterwards, the authenticity of the documentary was assured by the avoidance of editorial speculation. Even the comments by scholars interviewed in the film were almost entirely factual rather than judgmental. The result of this careful work was a thought-provoking and sympathetic portrait of a man who was unique, richly talented and loved, yet isolated by complexities we can only partially understand.

The filmmakers and several of the featured interviewees have done research about the life of John Kennedy Toole at our Louisiana Research Collection. In attendance at today’s event were Joe Sanford (Director/DP/Writer/Editor); Bobbie Westerfield (Executive Producer); and Jay Weigel (composer of custom music score).

Bobbie Westerfield and Joe Sanford at the Prytania Theatre, New Orleans Film Festival

Posted by Susanna Powers

Louisiana Research Collection opens major labor collection

2010-10-11T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane University is pleased to announce the opening of the New Orleans Street Railway Union records. This collection contains the records of Union Division No. 194 of the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees of America, established in 1892. Collection 26 traces the evolution of New Orleans Local No. 194 from 1902 – 1948. A large portion of the collection consists of correspondence, labor protests, worker contentions regarding pay, hours, administration, and strike relief, and administrative changes to the management of streetcars and streetcar lines.

The main focus of this collection, however, relates to the strikes enacted by Local No. 194. Strikes occurred in the years 1920, 1926, and 1929. The strike of 1929 had the longest duration, held the greatest impact, and was the result of contentions with the New Orleans Public Service Company and the Progressive Benevolent Association - a dual organization that Division No. 194 deemed an attempt to undermine the labor union. The strike began with the removal of Local President Ben Commons for his involvement in the P.B.A. and ended in arbitration initiated by the American Federation of Labor President William Green and Ben Commons' reinstatement. The strike lasted for several years, stopped the distribution of funeral and old age benefits, drained union funds, left hundreds unemployed, and affected the entire city's system of public transportation. Following the strike's end, the union saw a period of recuperation - recovering losses from extensive lawsuits and the draining distribution of strike benefits. The union records then reveal a shift toward politics and elections. The election of Huey P. Long and his reign of corruption are common topics addressed later in the collection.

The A.A. of S.E.R.E. of A. Division No. 194 records also effectively trace the progression of the labor movement in the U.S. with references to "one man car" opposition, yellow dog contracts, the American Federation of Labor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the W.P.A., segregation, the employment of women, and legislation dictating work day length and working conditions. Of the labor related legislation passed between 1902 - 1948, Local Division No. 194 supported bills and acts such as the Hawes-Cooper Convict Bill, the bill for women's 8 hour work day, the Caper-Robison Bill, the Johnson Immigration Bill, the Volstead Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations Act, and the Wagner Bill.

The finding aid for the New Orleans Street Railway Union records can be accessed online.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

Congratulations to LaRC Head Leon Miller

2010-09-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

At this year's Society of American Archivists (SAA) annual conference in Washington DC, the Louisiana Research Collection's head, Leon Miller was named one of seven new Fellows. The SAA Fellowship is the highest honor awarded by the organization. Lee was recognized for his record of service to the archival profession, including his leadership of the Society of Southwest Archivists, the Academy of Certified Archivists, his work on several SAA committees and the creation of the SAA Mentoring program. Please join us in congratulating Lee!

Posted by Eira Tansey

The mural in the Special Collections reading room

2010-09-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

The very large and lovely mural in the front of the Victor H. and Margaret G. Schiro Reading Room depicts a panoramic Louisiana landscape, painted predominantly in shades of green. It sometimes seems to lend a peaceful tone, and makes a strong visual impression all the way to the back the room. The mural consists of a continuous series of wall panels, collectively entitled “The Weiss Dining Room” by Alexander John Drysdale (American, 1870-1934). Although intended to be on display together, each of the canvas panels stands on its own as a complete painting, and each is signed and dated 1930. Its height is 82 inches, and the total length of the mural is 427". The set was carefully restored by art preservationist Phyllis Hudson, one of LaRC’s self-archiving donors.

This was photographed this summer by Sally Asher, of Tulane’s Office of Public Relations, when she did a photo shoot in the reading room, to provide illustrations on the new LaRC website.

Posted by Susanna Powers

The five-year mark, August 29, 2010

2010-08-18T13:51:00.000-07:00

The year 2010 has so far delivered to Louisiana a range of events from the Saints Superbowl win to the ongoing BP oil catastrophe, and appropriately, through everything, we are marking the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Every August 29th since the disaster we memorialize those who died in the disaster and its aftermath, as well as celebrate the resilience and the accomplishments of the citizens of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. A few informational links about the subject are included below.

“Mayor Landrieu announces Katrina Commemoration, an event to celebrate New Orleans resilience 5 years after Katrina.” This is planned for Sunday, August 29th at 6:30 pm at Washington Artillery Park, across from Jackson Square.

Katrina V: Commemoration & Determination.

"Telling their stories, the lingering legacy of the Katrina photographs," an exhibit of Katrina imagery at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art.

Offbeat magazine, August 2010, “Where are we now?” by Michael Patrick Welch. Freely accessible online, and one of the best free publications around town, subtitled “Louisiana music, food and culture.”

Rising Tide Conference.

New Orleans Katrina Memorial, located within the Charity Hospital Cemetery, 5056 Canal Street.

Katrina National Memorial Park Charitable Foundation.

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library research guide on Katrina resources. Wide-ranging support for learning about the hurricane, the flood, and the recovery efforts.

Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. A compilation of first-hand accounts and images contributed by individual survivors.

“Fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,” post on this blog last summer.

Another recommended new Katrina monograph available in the LaRC: Nursing in the Storm, Voices from Hurricane Katrina, by Denise Danna and Sandra E. Cordray. This includes descriptive material, photographic illustrations and selections from interviews of nurses on duty in area medical facilities during the storm and its aftermath, including Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (Charity and University Hospitals), Lindy Boggs Medical Center, Memorial Medical Center, Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital, and Chalmette Medical Center. RT 108 .D36 2010 LACOLL

Caption for photograph: Detail of the fence designed for the New Orleans Katrina Memorial on Canal Street.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Reading Room hours

2010-08-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

The Special Collections Reading Room (Jones Hall 202), serving the Louisiana Research Collection, University Archives, and Rare Books, will be open the following hours this coming week:

Monday, August 9 - Wednesday, August 11, 2010: 9am – noon

Thursday, August 12 – Friday, August 13: 9am – noon, and 1pm – 4pm

Saturday, August 14: Closed

New daily hours beginning Monday, August 16: 9am – noon, and 1pm – 4pm

Posted by Susanna Powers

53,110 days ago, or, February 20, 1865

2010-07-20T14:11:00.000-07:00

The Stibbs family papers were given to the Louisiana Research Collection over 30 years ago by Dean Stibbs, dean of students at Tulane University. His family papers contain a considerable amount of material written by John Howard Stibbs, who enlisted in the First Infantry Iowa Volunteers in 1861. He was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in 1863 and to Colonel in 1865. Stibbs was a POW following the battle of Shiloh, and would go on to serve as a member of the military court which tried and convicted Henry Wirz.

In 1865, US Representative William B. Allison and Senator James Harlan wrote to Lincoln's Secretary of War asking for Stibbs' leave of absence to be extended (click image for larger view):

Apparently the matter was referred to the President, who noted his approval on the back of the letter:

The Louisiana Research Collection preserves extensive Civil War holdings, including the papers of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Stonewall Jackson. In addition, we have many papers, diaries and letters both of Confederate soldiers from Louisiana and Union soldiers who served in Louisiana. As the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War approaches, we plan to continue highlighting our Civil War archives, acquisitions, and increasingly, our digital collections.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Image from the Stibbs family papers, Manuscripts Collection 246, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

Books in the collection--newer favorites: Carry Me Home.

2010-07-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Carry me home, a journey back to New Orleans, by Mark Folse.

Jones Hall Louisiana Research Collection

PS3606.O467 C37 2008

multiple copies available

In the Louisiana Research Collection, it seems we might consider a book "newer" if it was published after 1899. But for the current purpose, "newer" will mean published within the last few years. Last summer, we presented a very brief selection of our Katrina-related books. Another important and very emotional contribution to the Katrina literature is made by Mark Folse in Carry Me Home, a Journey Back to New Orleans.

This is the story, in diary form, of New Orleanian Mark Folse's reaction to learning of the flood's devastation. In 2005, he lived in North Dakota. Carry Me Home describes the surprising process that he and his family went through to move back to New Orleans early in 2006. The text is largely composed of selections of his blog posts in the now-complete Wet Bank Guide, which he frantically started publishing upon learning news of the flood. The author's poignantly-dated selections are richly descriptive, and at times graphic and sorrowful. But the bottom line of the narrative is optimistic, especially in light of the continued reconstruction of neighborhoods we have witnessed through summer 2010. From the chapter "Little House On The Bayou", originally written May 2, 2006:

"New Orleans needs us, people smart enough to measure the risk and fool enough to take it. As you wonder where the hell you'll live and how to pay the new cost of living in New Orleans, as you look at your children and wonder if they'll be safe and find good schools, look in the mirror and remind yourself: it will work out because we will make it so. The place you stand today was made by fools like us. Now it's our turn."

Mr. Folse is looked up to in the New Orleans creative community, and is active in authoring several blogs, including: Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans, Poems Before Breakfast, and the black flood, a creative response to disaster. He has also been involved with the production of the new HBO series, Treme.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Books in the collection--older favorites: To Glorious Immortality.

2010-06-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

To glorious immortality; the rise and fall of the Girod Street Cemetery, New Orleans' first Protestant Cemetery, 1822-1957, by Leonard V. Huber and Guy F. Bernard.

Jones Hall Louisiana Research Collection
F379.N5 H8
Multiple copies available

When cities grow, what was once on the outskirts of town tends to become prime real estate… even if cemeteries are on those grounds. In the 1950s, the historic but badly neglected Girod Street Cemetery was a casualty to urban development in New Orleans. Fortunately, prior to the demolition, historians Huber and Bernard made a point of documenting the existence of this place, originally meant to be a final resting place.

The Girod Street Cemetery was founded in 1822 by Christ Episcopal Church, and "came to a sorry end" in 1957, following a lengthy period of financial failure and physical neglect. More than 22,000 bodies were removed from the crumbling cemetery, when the land was sold to the City of New Orleans. Mass burials were in evidence, resulting from the yellow fever epidemic. The Protestant cemetery was deconsecrated on Jan. 4, 1957. Most of the remains were entombed in a drum in the Hope Mausoleum, 4841 Canal Street. The identities of many of those who had been interred in the cemetery are unknown, such as infants, slaves, and epidemic victims. Statuary and carvings were salvaged, and an estimated three million bricks were recycled for use in other building projects.

As we know very well in post-Katrina New Orleans, long-term neglect of a property results in a return to nature, reminiscent of scenes from the History Channel series, Life After People. The authors carefully and explicitly illustrate the decline of the Girod Street Cemetery, while remaining entirely respectful of the deceased, and of the original intentions of those who had created and cared for the cemetery in an earlier era.

More information about the cemetery, including a compilation of information from tombs, is available in the Louisiana Research Collection, Girod Street Cemetery records, Manuscripts Collection 220.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Gulf of Mexico oil disaster research guides and other resources

2010-06-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

To access sources of information about the BP oil spill in the Gulf, please see the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library's Earth & Environmental Sciences Research Guide, as well as the 2010 Gulf Oil Drilling Incident Timeline, by Tulane's Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy, and the Tulane Oil Spill Response web site. Additional relevant links have been provided by the Rudolph Matas Library Reference Dept. in the Disaster Management guide, Louisiana Oil Spill Disaster, May 2010-

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is participating in Tulane's program to donate clean t-shirts to the oil-spill cleanup workers. Donna Capelle Cook, Director of Technical Services, has made arrangements for setting up donation boxes, which are located in several places in the main library building. The donated t-shirts will be picked up daily and taken to the Tulane Cancer Center, where the program is being managed. For more information about this project, see the June 22 issue of the New Wave .

See President Obama's weekly address, June 4, 2010, speaking from Grand Isle, Louisiana, on the BP oil spill. Also, here is information and video of his Oval Office address on the BP oil spill, on June 15, 2010.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Mistick Krewe of Comus 1910 float designs

2010-05-26T12:54:00.000-07:00

Another new digital collection of images derived from artwork in the LaRC Carnival Collection has been published in the LOUISiana Digital Library. This one is the complete set of ornate, colorful float designs for the 1910 Comus parade. These drawings were done by Jennie Wilde (1865-1913), an artist who designed floats for many New Orleans Mardi Gras parades. These images are believed to be tracings she made from her earlier original designs, possibly given as a presentation copy to Comus captain, S. P. Walmsley. The parade had an Islamic theme, and certainly at least the float designs were created with an imaginative and respectful tone.

This is one in a series of subcollections, within the large physical Carnival Collection, which are being created for inclusion in the LDL. Earlier in 2010, the 1873 Comus parade costume designs by Charles Briton appeared. In 1873, not only were there no floats in that year’s less-than-respectful Comus parade, the city police refused break up the crowd at Canal Street, making the famous parade very brief.

To access a wide array of digital collections contributed by Louisiana libraries and archives, on various topics, see the LOUISiana Digital Library homepage.

Captions: top, The Garden; bottom, The Koran. Float design drawings by Jennie Wilde for the 1910 Mistick Krewe of Comus parade in New Orleans.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Job Announcement: Public Services Librarian

2010-05-19T12:06:00.000-07:00

The Louisiana Research Collection at Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is pleased to announce a job opening for a Public Services Librarian. Please click here for more information.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

Summer reading room hours

2010-05-12T06:33:00.000-07:00

Please note our slightly different reading room hours for the summer.

Special Collections reading room hours
Beginning May 15, 2010

Monday-Friday 9:00-noon, & 1:00–5:00
Saturday 10:00 – 1:00
Sunday Closed

Closed on holidays:
Monday, May 31
Monday, July 5
Monday, Sept. 6

Also closed Saturday, May 29
closed Saturday, July 3
closed Saturday, Aug. 14
closed Saturday, Sept. 4

Starting Monday, Aug. 16, our normal hours will be:

Monday-Friday 9:00-noon, & 1:00–4:00
Saturday 10:00 – 1:00
Sunday Closed

Please watch for updates. Hours subject to change.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Lippman collection of Civil War postal covers now online

2010-04-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

In 2009, the Louisiana Research Collection acquired a collection of Civil War period letters and postal covers from donor Al Lippman. The forty postal covers, with one exception, depict Union sentiment and patriotism. Many depict Confederate figures such as Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard. Sometimes these depictions are animal-like caricatures, others tend towards violent depictions, including several showing a hanging Jefferson Davis. Some postal covers portray a disdain of Britain's relationship with the Confederacy, others are steeped in Union patriotism and imagery of Uncle Sam.

We have digitized the postal cover collection, and are pleased to announce its debut on the LOUIS Digital Library site. You can access the entire collection here.

(Image from the Al Lippman Civil War Collection, Manuscripts Collection 993, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

Posted by Eira Tansey.

Jazz Fest Thursday

2010-04-30T06:33:00.000-07:00

The only Thursday in the Jazz Fest schedule is often a favorite for locals. It’s less crowded and the food is just as delicious. Among the activities to enjoy yesterday was an interview of Dennis Stroughmatt and other members of L’Esprit Creole by our Special Collections colleague and Tulane history teaching fellow, Kevin Fontenot. Musical performance was liberally woven into the interview, and included French-language folk songs as well as complex, out-of-the-ordinary fiddle playing in country-sounding tunes.

This afternoon (Friday, April 30), on the same Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage inside the cool, dry grandstand building, another interview is scheduled: Bruce Raeburn, Director of Special Collections, will interview Louis Prima, Jr., Paul Ferrara, and Joe Segreto in a Tribute to Louis Prima. Both interviews are sponsored by the Louisiana Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

Lagniappe photograph from me, just for fun:
Terrance Osborne proudly posing with festgoers in front of his paintings. This year's official Jazz & Heritage Congo poster is named "Say Uncle" and features Uncle Lionel, of the Treme Brass Band. To the artist's right is "Rebirth", the official Congo poster for 2007.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Calling, advertising, and greeting cards, 1906-1920.

2010-04-24T09:20:00.000-07:00

In 1975, Elizabeth Shoughro of New Orleans donated to Tulane University her collection of early twentieth-century commercially printed cards, of three types: calling cards, advertising cards, and greeting cards.

Calling cards were commonly used, a hundred years ago and earlier, as an informational memento to give to a host family when visiting. The examples in this collection are small in size, similar to a modern business card, and range from plain white with only the name in black, to more elaborate and imaginative with color printing, tiny envelopes, and expressions of love. These reveal a social networking intention which is familiar to us, but the style of the cards reveals the innocence of an earlier time.

Greeting cards were mailed and given out as they are today, to celebrate the holidays and special occasions, and in fact are very much in the same spirit. They are decorative, light-hearted and sometimes humorous. Occasionally, a religious theme appears, but more often the treatment is secular in nature. The only striking difference is physical, as these greetings are in an unfolded post-card format. Evidently, at some point in the collection’s life, Ms. Shoughro’s family members added some of their own artwork to the cards. Having cataloged this collection yesterday, I checked to see if my use of the word “glitter” was unique in WorldCat, but in fact, a keyword search shows that there are 14 bibliographic records there for archival material which use that word, and several of those use that term when literally describing the contents of their archival containers.

Advertising cards may be of scholarly interest to those researching the historical aspects of American lifestyles, home economics, graphic arts, business and commerce of the era. These were perhaps both mailed and distributed at stores. It is fortunate and surprising that these were kept within a collection of social keepsakes. Advertisers may have been hoping for this positive subliminal association.

Captions: Inventive calling card of Cornelia Worden, of one of the families included in this collection; Easter card, copyright 1906, by the Rotograph Co., N.Y., mailed April 15, 1908 to Mrs. John Sherman of Saunderstown, R.I. “This card is a REAL PHOTOGRAPH on bromide paper.”; advertisement card for Willimantic Thread, bearing on the verso, “America ahead once more!” (awards won at the New Orleans World’s Exposition years before were still being boasted about); and finally, advertisement for Mrs. Dinsmore’s Cough & Croup Balsam, which promises “Cures a Cough in One Day, and the Croup in One Minute”, showing a happy baby.

Posted by Susanna Powers

LaRC Head in today's New Wave

2010-04-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

Leon Miller, head of the Louisiana Research Collection, made an appearance in today's edition of the Tulane New Wave. The PBS Series "History Detectives" recently visited Tulane's campus, and filmed some shots in our own Jones Hall. You can read the story and see a picture of Lee here.

Those boxes pictured in the corner of the photograph? They're from the Kuntz Collection.

Posted by Eira Tansey

Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis papers, 1906-1953.

2010-04-13T13:28:00.000-07:00

So many of the manuscripts collections in the Louisiana Research Collection are interdisciplinary in nature, and contain a wide variety of objects within them. Often, the word “manuscripts” is associated with ornate handwriting on fragile paper—and certainly we do have many valuable holdings which meet that description. But personal papers, and corporate records also, take many forms and may have been collected over a lifetime or longer. Through cataloging and creating accessible inventories, we are attempting to support researchers’ needs by facilitating the discovery of these unique resources.

One such collection, the papers of Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis (1881-1953), contains the New Orleans architect’s personal and professional correspondence, teaching materials, clippings, research notes, printed material, sketches, photographs, architectural drawings, and original watercolors and pastels. The collection was donated to Tulane University by his son, Nathaniel Cortlandt Curtis, Jr. (1917-1997).

Both the father and the son were involved, at different times, in the design of the original Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building, now known as Joseph Merrick Jones Hall, the current home of Special Collections. The Curtis papers may be of interest to researchers in architecture, design, art, history, urban studies, education, and New Orleans and regional studies.

Captions: Two New Orleans photographs in Manuscripts Collection 5, by N. C. Curtis, Sr., with his handwritten captions: 1. “A characteristically elegant window & balcony treatment of wrought iron. Small ornaments were moulded in lead.” 2. “Interesting details freely composed. From the Cabildo.” Please request permission for reproduction of these images.

The inscription in the entryway of Jones Hall describes the relationships between designers and builders: "This building was originally designed by Moise Goldstein and Associates, Architects, in 1939. Nathaniel Curtis, Sr., was the principal designer. It was named in honor of Joseph Merrick Jones in 1968, housing the School of Law until 1994. Jones Hall was renovated for library and other academic uses in 1996 by Moses Engineers. Nathaniel Curtis, Jr., was the principal designer. "

Posted by Susanna Powers

Spring Break hours

2010-03-26T11:16:00.000-07:00

Saturday hours for the Special Collections Reading Room on March 27 will be 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, as usual. However, during the weekdays today through April 1, we will close at 4:45 pm. The Reading Room will be closed April 2 (for the Good Friday holiday) and Saturday, April 3.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Irish Channel architectural survey, 1974-1976.

2010-03-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Manuscripts Collection 505 is a survey of the New Orleans neighborhood known as the Irish Channel, a part of town which is bounded by Philip, Delachaise and Constance Streets, and the Mississippi River. For each of the approximately 3,600 housing units standing in the mid-seventies, there is a 5 x 8 inch printed form with handwritten notes regarding: street, number, original use, present use, style/type, materials, architectural/historical rating, physical condition, number and kind of trees, general comments and negative factors. Each structure is featured in a black and white contact print, many of which include parked cars. Included also are handwritten and photocopied typed sheets, journals of projects, flyers, and photographic negatives, summary statistics for the area, Trinity Episcopal Church survey, and class notes of some of the students who produced the survey as part of an Architecture Seminar in Historic Preservation given by Dr. Bernard Lemann at Tulane University, fall 1975.

For more historical information about the Irish in New Orleans, see "If I Should Fall From Grace With God," (today's post by Mark Folse in Odd Bits of Life in New Orleans).

Caption: 433 First, brick doubles, from Irish Channel architectural survey, 1974-1976, Manuscripts Collection 505, Louisiana Research Collection. Please request permission for reproduction of this image.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Digital collection of Comus costume drawings now available

2010-03-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

Tulane University’s Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) is pleased to announce its first digital collection available through the LOUIS Digital Library. LOUIS, the Louisiana Library Network, hosts the LOUIS Digital Library, which contains thousands of images of documents, publications, artifacts, art and other materials from libraries, museums, and archives around Louisiana. Our first collection is the 1873 Mistick Krewe of Comus costume drawings. This parade is particularly famous in Mardi Gras history, as it was one of the first major parades steeped in political satire and ridicule. The "Missing Links" referred to the work of Charles Darwin, and the parade not only sent up the theory of evolution, but other topics of the day including Reconstruction.

Tulane's Louisiana Research Collection has a complete set of the Missing Links costume designs. This particular set of designs is part of a much larger Carnival collection. We are planning other online digital collections of Carnival material from other krewes.

We are also debuting a new email newsletter. It will be sent our periodically, and contain news updates, images, and short articles. If you would like to receive our email newsletter, please contact us.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

William Craft Brumfield papers

2010-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

Author, photographer, and Tulane professor William Brumfield’s papers are in the process of being assembled as our Manuscripts Collection 709. The collection got its start with the typescript and galleys, with color and black and white printed photographs, created in preparation for the 1983 publication of Gold in Azure : One Thousand Years of Russian Architecture. Several other items from that era are in the processed collection in our stacks. Over the last few months, Professor Brumfield has begun to contribute more material to the collection, such as the complete set of Kennan Institute annual reports since 1989, as that publication has liberally published his photographs almost exclusively in every issue.

Carol J. Schlueter’s recent article in the New Wave provides a quick insight into the current scholarly and creative interests, activities and publications of William Brumfield. Another New Wave article, Photos: Remembering Russia, appeared June 30, 2011. Online exhibits of his photographs are openly accessible in various internet sites: Meeting of Frontiers: The William C. Brumfield Collection is hosted by the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress; The William C. Brumfield Russian Architecture Collection is a collaboration with the University of Washington Libraries; there is a photographic gallery of his contributions on the World Digital Library, a joint project of the Library of Congress and UNESCO; and the Culture in the Vologda Region web site hosts an online gallery and interview with Professor Brumfield which appeared on Russian television and radio. The monastery at Ferapontovo (a UNESCO World Heritage site) is the subject of Professor Brumfield's article, Ferapontovo: Medieval Treasure in the Russian North. Another 2010 addition is the article for Russia Now, Veliky Ustiug: Northern Jewel, which is illustrated by another new photographic slide-show. Internet publishing is particularly well-suited for presentation of Professor Brumfield's written and photographic work together; for example, brilliantly colored photographs also accompany his October 2010 article, Tomsk: Cultural treasure in the taiga. In 2011, the open access internet site, Russia Beyond the Headlines, has devoted their section "Discovering Russia" to a compilation of numerous photographic and audio slide shows created by William Brumfield.

Archival collections of personal and professional papers are usually the by-product of a person’s life. Often, these valuable items have been held together by relatives or other collectors, and then donated to, or purchased by, a library or other repository. But those scholars, public figures, writers and artists who intentionally gather their own papers for the benefit of future researchers, and donate them for safe-keeping to a specific repository, are a real boon to the preservation of our cultural heritage. At Tulane’s Special Collections, we greatly appreciate the generosity, enthusiasm and foresight of our self-archiving donors, including such notable individuals as Lindy Boggs, Art Silverman, Mignon Faget, Phyllis Hudson, LaVerne “Pike” Thomas, Catharine Brosman, Joel Fletcher, Bert Myers, Joel Grossman Myers, Joel Fletcher and William Brumfield.

Captions: Left: Trinity Cathedral and bell tower, with Pskova River in foreground. Pskov. Photograph taken August 2009, and published in 2008-2009 annual report of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Bottom: architectural detail of 1674 Church of the Dormition, Varzuga (Murmansk Region), Photograph taken July 20, 2001. Both photographs by William Brumfield, and were selected by him for this post.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Celebrations and awards

2010-02-10T07:05:00.000-08:00

We have so many things to celebrate in New Orleans! The Saints Super Bowl victory was savored yesterday in the form of an elaborate and phenomenal heroes’ parade, the first of its kind, being called “Lombardi Gras” and “Dat Tuesday.”

We’re happy to note another award—Filmmaker Joe Sanford’s documentary, John Kennedy Toole: the Omega Point, recently won the Rising Star Award for Excellence in Film at the 2010 Canada International Film Festival. See the blog post dated Feb. 9, 2010, in Butterfly in the Typewriter: The Brilliant and Tragic Life of John Kennedy Toole, with further details and accolades. Congratulations to Joe Sanford and his associates in the process of creating this documentary, especially our friends Cory MacLauchlin, and Joel Fletcher, both featured in interviews in the film. We look forward to a local screening before long.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Here's to the big game!

2010-02-05T13:16:00.001-08:00

Today at the Special Collections library, we're all decked out in black and gold, and anticipating what promises to be one of the most exciting weekends in New Orleans' history.

This image comes from the reverse side of the 1968 card we featured right after the Saints won the NFC championship. Pictured is Tulane Stadium, where the Saints played prior to construction of the Super Dome. Tulane Stadium was also known as the Sugar Bowl, since it was the home of the Sugar Bowl annual college football game until 1974. It was the site of three Super Bowl games, in 1970, 1972 and 1975. The stadium was built in 1926, and demolished between 1979-1980.

Have a great weekend everybody! Go Saints!

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Please click the image to enlarge. Image from the Louisiana Research Collection vertical files, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission, unless you are the NFL and need to have words with us. WHO DAT!!)

The first Saints home game schedule

2010-02-04T14:05:00.001-08:00

This is the third post in our continuing series of Saints ephemera, leading up to the Saints appearance in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

The Saints first season was played at Tulane Stadium (also known as the Sugar Bowl, due to its use for Sugar Bowl games). The team played there until relocating to the Superdome in 1974.

Trumpeter Al Hirt, who was a minority owner of the team, is pictured at the top of the reprinted schedule.

The Saints lost their first regular season game against the Los Angeles Rams, and the season record was 3-11.

We'll be featuring one last piece of ephemera tomorrow, before the big game. If you missed the first two posts, you can find them here and here.

I know most fans will be saving all their Saints ephemera from this historic season - but keep us in mind and get in touch if you have duplicates of tickets, programs, flyers, or other items. We'd love to preserve them in the vertical files.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Please click the image to enlarge. Image from the Louisiana Research Collection vertical files, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission, unless you are the NFL and need to have words with us. WHO DAT!!)

New Orleans Saints and Jax Brewery

2010-01-29T13:23:00.000-08:00

Continuing our series of blog posts highlighting Saints ephemera, I bring you Sir Saint posing with the Jax Beer logo. Sir Saint is also known as Iron Jaw, Big Chin, and Stanley Saint. The mascot logo has been around since 1967.

Jax Beer was originally brewed in Jacksonville, at the Jax Brewing Company, beginning in 1913. The naming rights to Jax Beer were sold to New Orleans' Jackson Brewing Company in 1956.

The Jackson Brewing Company was formed in 1890. It was the only New Orleans brewery to survive Prohibition. The Jackson Brewing Company's headquarters were across the street from Jackson Square. The company closed in 1974, and the Pearl Brewing Company (San Antonio, Texas) purchased the brand. The San Antonio brewery closed in 2001, after its parent company, Pabst Brewing Company, moved production to a site in Fort Worth.

Jax beer signs can still be seen around Louisiana. Although we do not have a date on this sticker, I suspect it was made sometime between 1967 and 1974.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Please click the image to enlarge. Image from the Louisiana Research Collection vertical files, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission, unless you are the NFL and need to have words with us. WHO DAT!!)

Who Dat!

2010-01-25T08:07:00.000-08:00

It's been an incredible 24 hours in New Orleans. The Saints won the NFC Championship last night, going into overtime to win against the Minnesota Vikings with a final score of 31-28. I made my way home via St Charles last night, and women, men, children, and dogs were all leaning out of their cars screaming, crying, cheering, and howling. There were impromptu second lines, fire works going off, and strangers hugging each other. This is the first time the Saints go to the Super Bowl, and the mood of the city is off the charts.

The Louisiana Research Collection preserves an extensive collection of pamphlets, brochures, flyers, posters, programs and other small printed items about Louisiana in our vertical files. Still recovering from the excitement of last night, this morning I searched through it and dug up some interesting Saints ephemera. I'm not going to show it all off right now, so you'll have to stay tuned for more. But trust me - there's some fun stuff coming up in the next few posts between now and the Super Bowl.

The 1968 team holiday card features the Saints in front of Jackson Square and St Louis Cathedral (though it does appear to use some pre-Photoshop techniques). Notice the snow on the palm trees - I'll let you write your own jokes about hell freezing over.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Please click the image to enlarge. Image from the Louisiana Research Collection vertical files, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

New exhibit open at Jones Hall

2010-01-22T13:38:00.001-08:00

The Tulane Special Collections library is pleased to announce a new exhibition in honor of the 300th birthday of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), a giant of English literature and criticism. The exhibit consists of rare first editions of Johnson’s works: for instance, his Dictionary of the English Language (the first for English), Prayers and Meditations, and his variorum edition of Shakespeare’s works. The exhibit also contains a rare first edition of Boswell’s famous Life of Johnson and first editions of other notable eighteenth-century writers, such as Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s Travels) and Laurence Sterne (Tristram Shandy). These materials are further illuminated by pages from an early print dictionary in Latin, Plutarch’s Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans, and medieval manuscript prayerbooks. All items are drawn from Special Collections, Tulane University. The exhibit is co-curated by Professors Dwight Codr and Michael P. Kuczynski, with the assistance of Samantha Bruner, an MA student in the Tulane English Department, pursuing a certificate program in Archival and Digital Humanities. Labeling provides not only bibliographic information about the books, but information about their relationship to English literary and religious culture.

The exhibit can be viewed on the second floor of Jones Hall (6801 Freret Street, New Orleans, 70118) Monday through Friday 9-5, and on Saturdays from 9-1. The exhibit will be open through March 15, 2010.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

M. D. Girard papers

2010-01-14T13:09:00.000-08:00

The June 15, 1902, issue of the New Orleans French newspaper, L’Abeille, included an article written by Marie Drivon Girard (1814-1913), in which she painfully laments the volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelee which devastated the Island of Martinique in the Lesser Antilles. At the age of eighty-eight, she recalled her childhood home in Sainte-Lucie, and was torn by the sense of loss caused by the news of the destructive event. New Orleanians of today are also compassionately linked to those in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, who are suffering the widespread devastation of this week’s earthquake.

French Quarter resident M. D. Girard became a prominent and admired teacher of the French language to the New Orleans community. She authored Histoire des Etats-Unis suivie de L’Histoire de la Louisiane, published in 1881. A biographical memoir, Madame Girard, was written by Grace King in 1922. Our Manuscripts Collection 638 consists mostly of Madame Girard’s French handwritten correspondence and family papers dating back as far as 1774.

Posted by Susanna Powers

Louisiana Research Collection closed December 23 - January 3

2009-12-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

The Louisiana Research Collection and the rest of the Special Collections library will be closed from December 23 through January 3. We wish everyone a happy holiday and a fantastic new year. We will reopen on Monday, January 4.

Birthday of John Kennedy Toole, Dec. 17, 1937

2009-12-17T06:22:00.000-08:00

"As an Expression of Appreciation for Courtesies extended to the Club..." and many of us have a great appreciation of Toole, many years later.

Caption: Certificate dated Oct. 20, 1953, thanking Fortier High School student John Kennedy Toole for serving as a guest speaker at a Kiwanis Club meeting. Note signature of Joseph Dresner, brother of Jacob Dresner; their family papers are also in the Louisiana Research Collection. Please request permission for reproduction of this image.

Posted by Susanna Powers

In the stacks with the Twins of Genius

2009-12-10T08:07:00.000-08:00

The Louisiana Research Collection is the home of the papers of George Washington Cable, author of the Grandissimes and Old Creole Days. Recently I received a reference question from a Mark Twain scholar, and had the opportunity to delve deep into Cable's papers. I found many interesting and delightful items along the way.

The collection contains many fascinating letters between Mark Twain and George Washington Cable. Between late 1884 and early 1885, Cable and Twain embarked on a speaking tour together, and the two were billed as "the Twins of Genius".

The George Washington Cable papers includes many letters from Twain to Cable. One of the more interesting letters from Twain I found was addressed to "my Dear Nephew", however it contained an envelope scrap showing Twain's return address and the outgoing address to Cable. The letter is dated January 15, 1883. I think what charmed me most was the quote Twain ended the letter with: "When an audience do not complain, it is a compliment, and when they do it is a compliment, too, if unaccompanied by violence."

Twain and Cable had a reading in Chicago on January 17, 1885. On the second page of a letter to his wife, Cable describes the audience's reaction ('tempest of merriment') to Twain's reading of excerpts from Huck Finn, and reactions to his own work, "The Freedman's Case in Equity".

Sometimes the smallest pieces of ephemera from a person's life tell us interesting tales. While going through several of the boxes, I happened upon a small place card with George Washington Cable's name and a quote, and the initials AC at the top.

According to a note on the back of this place card, "At a dinner given by Mr. A. Carnegie to 24 literary men each found his card bearing a quotation from his own pen. These quotations had all been selected by Richard Watson Gilder while ill with rheumatism."

I have tried to locate information on this dinner, and who else may have been on the guest list of this dinner hosted by Andrew Carnegie. Please leave a comment if you may know anything about this event!

For more information about the Twins of Genius literary tour, please see this great website. We also have more information about the Cable collection here.

Posted by Eira Tansey.

(Images from the George Washington Cable collection, Manuscripts Collection 2, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

New exhibit on the Jewish experience in Louisiana

2009-11-21T09:53:00.000-08:00

The Southern Jewish Historical Society met in Jones Hall earlier this month. In honor of the meeting, the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) created an exhibit highlighting its holdings pertaining to the Jewish experience in Louisiana. The exhibit will be up through December and I’d like to invite everyone to drop by and see it.

Documenting the Louisiana Jewish experience is a special mission of LaRC. We serve as the official archives for most of the local temples, congregations, and synagogues. We also preserve the records of many area Jewish social welfare organizations, such as the Jewish Federation, the Jewish Children’s Home, and the Communal Hebrew School.

For the exhibit, Eira Tansey selected more than one hundred items from a wide range of our holdings. Among the materials on display are nineteenth-century marriage records in Hebrew from Touro Synagogue, a program from when Dr. Ralph Bunche spoke at Temple Sinai in 1949 in one of the city’s first integrated lectures, mimeographed class handouts from the Hebrew Communal School, dissertations about the state’s Jewish community from the University Archives, and a few of the seminal published works about the New Orleans Jewish community from the Louisiana book collection. The materials reflect more than one hundred and forty years of Jewish society.

The exhibit will be up through December. It’s in the Special Collections Gallery on the second floor of Jones Hall. We hope you’ll be able to stop by.

Written by Lee Miller.

(Image of marriage document from the Touro Synagogue collection, Manuscripts Collection 224, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

The early career of Mignon Faget

2009-10-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

Mignon Faget is best known as a jewelry designer. But when she began growing her business in the late 1960s, out of a small studio on Dublin Street in the Riverbend area of New Orleans, she designed, produced, and promoted a line of women’s clothing and accessories described as environmental fashion. Natural forms, especially sea creatures indigenous to the Gulf Coast, were among her favorite subjects, and so the belts, tunic vests and short suede dresses were increasingly adorned with likenesses of snails, sand dollars, sea urchins, and crabs, often crafted in pewter tones.

The contents of Manuscripts Collection 715, covering 1968 to 1985, were donated to our repository by Mignon Faget in 1985. This collection is composed predominantly of advertisements from that era. D.H. Holmes, Kreeger’s, and Gus Mayer were among the local retail stores placing ads the Times-Picayune depicting Mignon Faget designer fashions. Her increasing success through the years is documented, as the print ads appeared first locally (Figaro, Arts Quarterly) and then nationally (Vogue, New Yorker, Mademoiselle). The business evolved by emphasizing unique and original jewelry designs in sterling silver, gold, and gemstones, and the stores have been effectively presented as galleries.

Interestingly, in 2009, the Mignon Faget website markets not only her jewelry, but also a diversified product line including fashion accessories, made from variety of materials (fabric, leather, paper, glass), as well as a variety of decorative forms, such as the popular post-Katrina Fleur de Lis, animals, and even elements of New Orleans architecture.

The Louisiana Research Collection is greatly strengthened by individuals who intentionally donate their own papers to Tulane University for long-term preservation and research purposes, as was the case with Mignon Faget. This group also includes Art Silverman, Phyllis Hudson, LaVerne “Pike” Thomas, Catharine Brosman, William Brumfield, Joel Fletcher, Lindy Boggs, Joel Grossman Myers and Bert Myers.

Photo caption: cover of the 1983 Mignon Faget jewelry catalog. This image may not be reproduced without permission.

Posted by Susanna Powers

KO contribution #394

2009-10-28T08:20:00.001-07:00

In honor of Ken Owen's upcoming retirement, here is another in a series of remembrances of his contributions to the library.

Did you know that HTML preserves one of the country's larger SciFi and Fantasy collections: We've had the collection for a couple of decades but most of it was never cataloged and to this day is not accessible on Voyager. Now, however, there is a printed SciFi & Fantasy index in the Special Collections reading room that is cross-referenced by author and title, thanks to Ken Owen.

Special Collections created an online description and exhibit about the materials several years ago in honor of Ken's work with the SciFi and Fantasy collection. To learn more about our SciFi & Fantasy collection, to view the online exhibit, and to sing along with the "Space Cadet March," click here.

Writtten by Lee Miller.

KO contribution #531

2009-10-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

In honor of Ken Owen's upcoming retirement, here is another in a series of remembrances of his contributions to the library.

For researchers studying a wide range of New Orleans topics, Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) reports are essential. BGR is a non-profit, citizen-supported, independent research organization dedicated to informed public policy-making and the effective use of public resources in the New Orleans Metropolitan Area. BGR also focuses on state and national public policy issues which affect the metropolitan area.

Since its founding in 1932, BGR has completed over 1,500 studies, reports or position papers in the areas of municipal finance, governmental structure, metropolitan cooperation, collective bargaining, city charter provisions, tax proposals, civil service, procurement, public bid law procedures, and other aspects of local and state government.

The reports would be difficult (if not almost impossible) to use without an index. The public library doesn't have one. Not even the BGR indexes its own reports. The only index to BGR reports exists in the Louisiana Research Collection and that index has been online since 2004, thanks to Ken Owen.

To learn more about the BGR and view the online index, click here.

Written by Lee Miller.

Ken Owen contribution # 632

2009-10-23T10:48:00.001-07:00

In honor of Ken Owen’s upcoming retirement, here is another in a series of remembrances of his contributions to the library.

Within the Louisiana Research Collection’s vertical files is an outstanding collection of art ephemera. It includes art gallery flyers, announcements, press releases, and event invitations extending from about 1910 to the present. A special strength of the collection is invitations to gallery shows. This makes it an excellent resource for discovering which artists exhibited in New Orleans.

So, suppose you’re researching an artist and would like to know which New Orleans galleries carried his work? Suppose you have the name of a New Orleans gallery and want to know which artists that gallery exhibited? How would you do that? Where would you go?

The only Louisiana library that cross references its art ephemera by gallery and artist is the Louisiana Research Collection. If you look up a particular gallery, you will find a list of the artists that exhibited in that gallery. If you look up a particular artist, you will discover which local galleries carried her work. That resource was created by Ken Owen.

To learn more about the Louisiana Research Collection’s art holdings, click here.

Written by Lee Miller.

(Image of Arts and Crafts Club Gallery Announcement, Vertical Files, Louisiana Research Collection, Tulane University Libraries. Image may not be reproduced without permission.)

KO contribution # 238

2009-10-19T06:57:00.000-07:00

In honor of Ken Owen’s upcoming retirement, here is another in a series of remembrances of his contributions to the library.

Suppose you’re doing research in our ephemera collection, come across the names of one or two Louisiana politicians, and want to discover when they ran for office? How would you do that? Where would you go?

The only index of Louisiana political ephemera cross-referenced by politicians and the years they ran for office exists in the Louisiana Research Collection, thanks to Ken Owen.

But wait! There’s more! Suppose you know the year of a Louisiana election, but don’t have the specific day date? Suppose you have a flyer that says an election was held on May 9, but you don’t know which year? What would you do? Where would you go?

The only index of Louisiana political ephemera that tracks the dates of Louisiana elections and cross-references them by day and year exists in the Louisiana Research Collection, thanks to Ken Owen.

Ken’s election resource also records whether the date was a primary, second primary, special primary, or general election. For example, Ken’s index reveals that we preserve campaign ephemera for three elections held on January 17. They occurred in 1928, 1956, and 1998 and were all primary elections.

Special Collections created an online exhibit about our political ephemera several years ago to honor Ken’s work with our political holdings. To view the online exhibit and learn more about our political ephemera collection, click here.

Written by Lee Miller.

Ken Owen contribution # 267 (among many)

2009-10-15T14:06:00.000-07:00

Louisiana specialist Ken Owen is retiring from the Louisiana Research Collection at the end of this month. We are highlighting some of his (many) contributions over the next couple of weeks. -Eira Tansey

In a state internationally renowned for the poetic depth and sheer imaginative sweep of its political corruption, state inspector general’s reports carry a special significance. Ken Owen began collecting those reports for the New Orleans metro region ten years ago and the Louisiana Research Collection now has an almost complete collection for our part of the state.

Where can a researcher find an index to those reports? Not at the State Archives. Not even at the State Inspector General’s office. The only index to state inspector general’s reports exists at the Louisiana Research Collection; and, that index has been available to researchers online for several years, thanks to Ken Owen.

To learn more about state inspector generals reports and to view the online index, click here.

Written by Lee Miller

Joel Fletcher papers open to the public

2009-09-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

Tulane University’s Louisiana Research Collection is pleased to announce that the Joel Fletcher papers are now open to the public. Joel Fletcher, author of the book Ken and Thelma, donated his papers to Tulane University in 2006. Joel Fletcher was a friend of John Kennedy Toole, author of A Confederacy of Dunces and Thelma Ducoing Toole, John’s mother.

The papers consist of Joel Fletcher’s research files for Ken and Thelma, a book about his friendship with Ken and Thelma Toole, and how A Confederacy of Dunces came to be published. The collection contains correspondence, drafts, reviews, and supporting materials. The collection contains criticism on previous biographies of John Kennedy Toole, and Fletcher’s letters with Thelma Ducoing Toole, New Orleans author Poppy Z. Brite, University of New Orleans professor Kenneth Holditch, and friends of the Toole family.

The Louisiana Research Collection at Tulane University’s Special Collections Library also has the papers of John Kennedy Toole. The addition of Fletcher’s papers will considerably expand the scope of scholarly research on the life and works of John Kennedy Toole. The finding aid for the collection can be found at http://specialcollections.tulane.edu/archon.

Posted by Eira Tansey

Photo opportunity

2009-09-17T09:44:00.000-07:00

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library will host and co-sponsor a two-day Society of American Archivists workshop, Understanding Photographs, Introduction to Archival Principles and Practices. This will be held Nov. 5-6, 2009. From the workshop description:

While photographs are some of the most versatile and heavily-used resources in archives, many professionals lack any specialized training in how to deal with them effectively. This introductory workshop teaches the basics of how to manage and care for photographs. You will discover how standard archival techniques can be applied successfully to photographs in eight modules: appraising and acquiring; reading and researching; identification and handling; preservation, storage and housing; accessioning and arrangement; description and cataloging; copying; and public service and outreach.

Leon C. Miller, Head of LaRC, has made arrangements for us to host this workshop and another one early in 2010 on Encoded Archival Description. Please note that the early-bird registration deadline for the Nov. 5-6 workshop on photographs is Oct. 5. For all details, see the SAA continuing education calendar.

Posted by Susanna Powers