Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

Tulane University Special Collections announces a new exhibit: Captive Voices: Hearing, Seeing and Imagining Angola Prison September 17, 2019 – November 29, 2019. In coordination with the Tulane University Reading Project and One Book New Orleans’ 2019 selection, Vengeance , by Tulane Professor of English Zachary Lazar, this exhibit uses materials from the Tulane University Special Collections and Lazar’s personal archives to reveal often hidden aspects of the Louisiana State Penitentiary. The exhibit includes drawings from the Curtis and Davis architectural firm of the prison’s 1954 rebuilding, construction photographs by noted architectural photographer Frank Lotz Miller documenting the inmate construction crew, prison-related ephemera created by various political and social welfare organizations, selections of the inmate produced Angolite magazine, a multi-media display showcasing the music of former inmate Robert Pete Williams, and manuscripts, artifacts, and other inmate creat...

Photograph of Monte M. Lemann inscribed "to Edgar B. Stern, outstanding citizen and my dear friend." LaRC preserves Stern's papers. Thomas B. Lemann of New Orleans has donated the papers of his father, noted attorney Monte Lemann, to the Tulane University Louisiana Research Collection. Montefiore Mordecai Lemann (1884 - 1959) was a nationally prominent New Orleans attorney who, among his many significant accomplishments, helped modernize Louisiana law, supported good government initiatives, and promoted legal aid. Lemann was born in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, the son of Bernard and Harriet Friedheim Lemann. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Tulane University in 1902 and a second BA from Harvard in 1903. He then graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 1906 while also receiving a law degree from Tulane University in 1907. Lemann returned to New Orleans to join the law firm of Saunders and Gurley. In 1909 he made partner (with the firm becoming Hall, Mo...

Ward Reception Room, Military Hospital, Havana Cuba George Alfred Hero, III, of Belle Chasse, Louisiana, has donated a scrapbook of  Roger Post Ames. Ames (1870- 1914) was a New Orleans physician and yellow fever expert. A graduate of the Tulane Medical Department (1890), Ames served as an ambulance student at Charity Hospital and assistant house surgeon at Hotel Dieu. He was associated with the United State Public Health Service in New Orleans and served as a surgeon during the Spanish-American War. Ames believed that yellow fever was not contagious and that the disease was transmitted by mosquitoes. He served as a contract surgeon with Major Walter Reed during the famous yellow fever experiments in Cuba at Camp Lazar, where he contracted the disease during his service. Dr. Ames was 44 years old when he died on November 15, 1914, at Port Barrios, Guatemala. The scrapbook documents his travels to Hawaii, the Philippines, China, Japan, and Cuba. Most of the images are commercial...

LaRC has recently placed online the diary of Simon M. Bott, private in the 120th infantry regiment of Ohio (E Company). Bott was a Union soldier whose regiment was in Louisiana from 1863-1865. He was mustered out of the army while in New Orleans on June 5, 1865. Private Bott was age 29 when he enlisted in Plain Township, Wayne County, Ohio, August 15, 1862, in Company E, 120th Ohio volunteer Infantry. Under Sherman he took part in the battle of Chickasaw Bayou. Mr. Bott also participated in the battles of Arkansas Post, Thompsons Hill, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Black River Bridge, siege of Vicksburg, siege of Jackson, Brandon. He was on the City Belle during the Red River expedition when it fell to the Confederacy and was burned. Interesting diary entries include a brief mention of an injured friend in a lone entry on April 4th 1864, dated accounts of marching from Alexandria to Morganza (May 12th to the 21st), the burial of a C. Bandanston on Aug 11, 1864, and Bott’s ...

L-R, Althea Topek, Lori Schexnayder, Andrew Mullins Andrew Mullins , formerly with the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC), is now coordinating archival processing and supervising student workers for the Special Collections Division, which includes LaRC, the Hogan Jazz Archive, Rare Books, and the Southeastern Architectural Archive. On October 26, Andrew gave two presentations at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Archives and Manuscripts Association (LAMA) in Ruston, Louisiana. For the panel "LBBTQ Archives in New Orleans" he discussed LaRC's LGBTQ holdings. Leon Miller also participated in the panel by talking about the creation of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, for which he was a founding board member. For the panel "Supporting Scientific Research in Louisiana Historical Archives" Andrew discussed how archives can support STEM research. Courtney Kearney , Scholarly Engagement Librarian at Tulane's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, also ...

Please remember LaRC in your end-of-year giving. When the Louisiana Research Collection agrees to preserve something, we make a commitment to preserve it permanently. "Permanently" means "forever," and forever is expensive. We therefore depend on gifts to support many of our special projects. Because they provide reliable ongoing support, our greatest need is for endowed funds and positions. Named funds offer a tremendous opportunity to honor someone in a permanent and prestigious manner. For more information, please contact Leon Miller, Louisiana Research Collection, lmiller@tulane.edu , 504-314-7833. You can also give to the Louisiana Research Collection easily and conveniently by credit card at larc.tulane.edu/giving . To learn more about LaRC and how you can help, visit our website or view our new online brochure . Thank you, and may the Spirit of the Season remain with you and those you love throughout the coming year.

Mardi Gras in the French Quarter, c. 1980 by Murph Douwis LaRC's more recent acquisitions document a wide range of New Orleans issues, including Carnival, yellow fever, the French Quarter, the environment, women activists, and historic preservation. If you have Louisiana materials that warrant permanent preservation, please contact Leon Miller, 504-314-7833, lmiller@tulane.edu. Louis Bernard donated four binders of photographs documenting the French Quarter and the LGBTQ community in New Orleans in the late 1980s. Many are particularly notable for recording the interiors of bars and restaurants in the French Quarter. They were taken and compiled for The Rooster, a New Orleans gay publication that was published between 1986 and 1990. Joseph Maurice Bonin , Kaplan, Louisiana, has donated an extensive scholarly annotated bibliography of books pertaining to Acadians, Cajuns, and Franco-Americans in Louisiana. Jennifer Fugita , Westminster, Colorado, has donated scrapbo...