Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

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...

Riddell's plan for refrigeration, 1846. The Louisiana Research Collection’s newest online collection is the papers of John Leonard Riddell . Riddell (February 20, 1807 – October 7, 1865) was a science lecturer, botanist, geologist, medical doctor, chemist, microscopist, numismatist, politician, and history’s first science fiction author. Riddell was born in Leyden, Massachusetts, February 20, 1807. In 1835 he was appointed professor of chemistry and botany at Cincinnati Medical College and published his "Synopsis of the Flora of the Western States." He received his medical degree in 1836 from Cincinnati Medical College. From 1836 until his death in 1865, he was Professor of Chemistry at the Medical College of Louisiana (now Tulane University) in New Orleans. While there, he invented the first practical binocular microscope. In 1850, he undertook one of the earliest and most extensive American microscopic investigations of cholera. While he continued working at the Med...