Discoveries in Jones Hall

The thousands of manuscript collections in Jones Hall may seem mysterious and remote, but we’re in the process of making them more discoverable, both to on-campus users and to researchers across the world. Many of our unique items will be digitized for preservation and widespread access. Detailed inventories of the collections are being more fully written, scanned, and made accessible on the internet. Collections are being methodically cataloged for inclusion in WorldCat and the Howard-Tilton catalog.

Within the catalog, keyword searching may be the primary method being used by many students. However, it’s important to know that the traditional Library of Congress subject headings are being assigned to the collections as they are cataloged, just as they are for books, serials, and holdings in all formats. These headings provide another powerful technique of discovering the fascinating contents of the Louisiana Research Collection, and pulling together sources of various types. A new search filter, “Search archival collections,” allows for the idea of limiting results by this type, when searching by any of the basic or advanced strategies. But using the filter is not required, in order to reveal the existence of our archival collections, since the records for archival collections will also be retrieved in general searches. Actually, researchers will be best served by understanding that relevant materials are available to them on both sides of the parking lot, as well as on the internet.

Here are a few possibly unexpected Library of Congress subject headings in WebVoyage and WorldCat which will point to manuscript resources at the Louisiana Research Collection in Jones Hall:

Alphabet codes.
Art restorers – United States.
Beatles.
Biologists—United States—History—19th century.
Bus travel—United States—20th century.
Cemeteries—Louisiana—New Orleans.
Choctaw Indians—Missions—Louisiana—Saint Tammany Parish—History—19th century.
Church architecture—Soviet Union—History.
Confederate States of America.
Costa Ricans—United States.
Dinners and dining—Louisiana—New Orleans.
Engineering—History—19th century.
Folk songs, Creole—Louisiana—New Orleans.
Freemasonry—Rituals.
French language—United States—History.
Geometry in art.
Irish Channel (New Orleans, La.)—History.
Jewish orphanages—United States—History.
Ku Klux Klan (1915- )—Louisiana.
Leather clubs (Organizations)
Lumber trade—Louisiana—20th century.
Motor vehicles—History.
Musicians as authors.
Physicians as artists—United States.
Tetrahedra.
United States. Army. Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, 29th (1862-1865).
Urban renewal –Louisiana—New Orleans.
Vietnam War, 1961-1975—Foreign public opinion, American.
Wood-carvers—United States.
X-ray holography.

Try a few searches using subject headings, and then visit our reading room to use the collections.

Posted by Susanna Powers