Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

The Louisiana Research Collection holds resources on a wide variety of subjects, relating to events from the 16 th to the 21 st centuries.  Students in many disciplines will find archival and published items which will be relevant to their research interests.   Because of our recent strides in documenting the archival collections, through catalog records in WorldCat and Voyager, online finding aids in Archon and ArchivesSpace, and open-access digital image collections, our reference services no longer depend on anecdotal conversations from a few selectively knowledgeable individuals in the reading room, but are available directly to interested researchers via the internet.    As a cataloger of the LaRC archival collections, I’ve emphasized subject access and keyword-rich descriptions to help students happen across these excellent resources, which are available on the Tulane campus. A good place to start research on any topic is the Howard-Tilton Me...

Alice Edith Keighley (1907-2001) was a lifelong resident of uptown New Orleans. For many years in the mid-twentieth century she worked in the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, retiring as head of the bindery department.   In 1969, she donated her personal social papers to Tulane University, with later additions through 1987.  These are now held in the Louisiana Research Collection as Manuscripts Collection 849. Miss Keighley carefully preserved her invitations and other items of social ephemera, correspondence and clippings, over many decades.  The collection is predominantly related to New Orleans Carnival but also includes a scrapbook called a debut book, covering her social events of 1928-1929. Carnival krewes represented in this collection include Achaeans, Apollo, Athenians, Atlanteans, Comus, Harlequins, Mithras, Momus, Mystery, Mystic Club, Nippon, Elves of Oberon, Odysseus, Omardz, Osiris, Les Pierrettes, Prophets of Persia, Proteus, Rex, and Twelfth...

The Japanese Garden Society of New Orleans began in the mid-1980s with the purpose of establishing a Japanese garden in New Orleans.  Planning for the project continued through the 1990s and the garden was installed at City Park in 2003, near the intersection of Harrison and Marconi. Its formal name is Yakumo Nihon Teien, honoring Koizumi Yakumo (author Lafcadio Hearn, 1850-1904), recognizing his role in advancing the cultural connection between Japan and the United States, especially New Orleans. The garden and tea house were repaired after Hurricane Katrina. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 1090 holds the organizational records and other documents collected by the Japanese Garden Society of New Orleans, between 1992 and 2007.    Included are handwritten notes and correspondence, minutes, agendas, financial notes and reports, photographs, membership lists, business cards, newsletters, brochures, photocopies of newspaper clippings, and other printed items. Th...

A Bright and Merry Xmas Caption: a holiday greeting post card, postmarked Dec. 8, 1905, in Cuba, received in New Orleans on Dec. 23, 1905, addressed to Mrs. W. T. Hogg, #2854 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, La., E.U. de A., from Max.    Hogg family post cards, Coll. 608, Box 1, Folder 1.   Images of items held in the Louisiana Research Collection may not be re-published without permission. Posted by Susanna Powers

The Arts Council is currently sponsoring a festival (annual through the New Orleans tri-centennial year, 2018) called LUNA Fete --  “Light Up NOLA Arts.”   This is described as “the Arts Council’s experiential community-wide event that unfolds over the course of a week,” this year, December 7 – 10.   Light shows and other visually bright art installations are sponsored by numerous businesses, foundations, and other community partners, for the purpose of advancing the arts and advancing tourism.    A similar idea was proposed in the 1970s by the Vieux Carre Commission, and supported by Mayor Moon Landrieu, called the Sound and Light Project, inspired by the European “ son et lumiere ” productions.  It involved a year-round nightly sound and light show in Jackson Square for the tourists’ education about the history of New Orleans.   This project was rejected for a variety of legitimate reasons, including noise, taste, and expense, an...

LaRC Manuscripts Collection 610 is a small group of personal papers of Charles O. Thomas and his son, Charles O. Thomas, Jr., which feature descriptions and photographic views of Cuba at the end of the nineteenth century.  Included are numerous photographs of buildings and street scenes in Cuba, especially Matanzas and Havana, as well as typed and handwritten captions and descriptive text about Cuba. Also included are photographs relating to the 1898 Spanish-American War and the military activities of Charles O. Thomas, Jr.  One photograph depicts a cemetery in Cuba with a marker declaring "Victims of the Maine." Charles Oscar Thomas (1838-1905) was an American businessman who ran flour mills; letterhead stationery in this collection is printed with heading, "Chas. O. Thomas, Gen'l Manager, Havana Flour Co., Importers, 73 Zulueta Street, Havana, Cuba." Charles Oscar Thomas, Jr. (1871-1966) served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American...

In 1971, Mrs. B. Stanley Nelson (Mary Hutson) of New Orleans donated some of her father's papers to Tulane University.  Charles W. Hutson (1840-1936) had been a literature professor, author, and artist at Louisiana State University during Reconstruction, who later settled in New Orleans. LaRC Manuscripts Collection 563 is made up of Charles Hutson's draft typescript translation from French into English of the bulk of J. F. Lelièvre's 1838 work, Nouveau jardinier de la Louisiane, plus handwritten notes and newspaper clippings. The only dated item in the collection is a newspaper clipping from 1921. The text describes plant species most successfully grown in Louisiana in the early 19th century, covering both ornamental and edible plants. Having access to the books of the Louisiana Research Collection, preliminary research quickly turned up the original 1838 book in French, as well as an elegant, different translation of it into English, published in the 21st cent...