Lusher Playground Project records, 1967-1974.
LaRC Manuscripts Collection 809 holds the records of the planning of a multi-purpose playground on the uptown New Orleans campus of Robert M. Lusher Elementary School (7315 Willow St.) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Lusher Playground Project, also called the Lusher School Community Recreation Area Project, came about because of a common need of the school’s enrolled students and other children living in adjacent neighborhoods of New Orleans, for a supervised play area after school hours. Racial tensions involved in this discussion are apparent in the collection's correspondence. The school leaders and students, parents, the school board, the city recreation agency (NORD), Tulane University School of Architecture, and other community members all collaborated successfully on this project, opening the grounds for community use in 1971. Included in the collection are handwritten and typed letters, printed newsletters, financial records (such as accounts, contribution records an...