Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

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...

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 start...

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 evi...

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...

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 cro...

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.

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