Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

Notes on slideshow images: Images are from the Louisiana Research Collection’s manuscripts collections, vertical file, portrait file, and image file, and include the following: Art Silverman creating sculpture models, Arthur "Art" Silverman papers; 1950s New Orleans high school gym class, Jane P. Walsh photograph collection; Genevieve Pitot and Joe Sullivan, Genevieve Pitot collection; The first word—Ma-ma!, page from John Kennedy Toole’s baby book, John Kennedy Toole papers; 433 First, brick doubles, from Irish Channel architectural survey, 1974-1976; Tennis players, New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club records; Site of new electrical bay--demolition of old structure, July 17, 1926, Phoenix Utility Company collection; Achille Peretti, 1918, Swiss Society of New Orleans records; Natalie Scott, Natalie Scott papers; Roark Bradford and his Saint Bernard, Nemo, Roark Bradford papers; early passenger bus, Teche Lines records; Mary Alma Riess, c. 1938, 17 Audubon Blvd., New Orleans, John ...

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin proclaimed a few days ago that “the time for vigils is past.” But as we rebuild and more fully recover, individuals and communities in Louisiana and throughout the Gulf Coast will continue to observe August 29th as a memorial day for our personal and collective losses. One way to mark the time of year would be to open up one of those books you bought, or maybe read a new one, available in Tulane’s libraries. This is a very brief selection of the Katrina-related books in the Louisiana Research Collection. Spoiled : refrigerators of New Orleans go outside in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. And they have things to say / by Tom Varisco. Location: JONES HALL Louisiana Collection Call Number: F379.N545 V37 2005 Notes: Signed by the author Overcoming Katrina : African American voices from the Crescent City and beyond / [edited by] D'Ann R. Penner and Keith C. Ferdinand ; foreword by Jimmy Carter. Location: JONES HALL Louisiana Collection Call Number: F...

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 se...

For those of you who follow our Twitter account, you may have wondered about this symbol we use. The frog is an image from the Mystick Krewe of Comus' 1873 "Missing Links" parade costume designs. The Missing Links parade was an important event in New Orleans' Mardi Gras history, becoming one of the first major instances of the use of satire and political commentary in a krewe parade. The "Missing Links" referred to the work of Charles Darwin, and the parade not only sent up the theory of evolution, but other topics of the day including Reconstruction. Tulane's Louisiana Research Collection has a complete set of the Missing Links costume designs. They are an important part of preserving the history of Carnival in New Orleans. We are currently making high quality digital copies of the designs, and plan to put together a digital collection of them later this year. (Image from Mystick Krewe of Comus' 1873 Missing Links Parade Costume Designs, Collection...

You can now find us on Twitter! Follow our tweets here . We will be posting short updates, links back to the blog, and other news as it occurs. Our icon is the frog from the 1873 Mystick Krewe of Comus Missing Links parade. Posted by Eira Tansey.

Our library has a growing number of records and papers related to Louisiana's LGBT community, history, and culture. Most of these records can be found in the Manuscripts department , and in the Louisiana Collection vertical files . You can help us contribute to the holdings of both in two ways. If you have flyers, tickets, brochures, posters, or other ephemera passed out by local LGBT groups, please collect them for us, and we will integrate them into our Louisiana Collection vertical files. If you are involved in a particular LGBT organization, club, church, krewe, outreach, or activism, and have records documenting the history of your organization, we may be interested in acquiring these as part of a collection of records for the Manuscripts department. Highlights of our LGBT Manuscripts holdings include the Otto Stierle Gay Carnival collection, and the Knights d'Orleans records. For more information on donating items to our holdings, please contact Leon Miller . For assista...

Longue Vue House and Gardens , a local National Historic Landmark, was originally the home of Edgar and Edith Stern, prominent philanthropists during the twentieth century. Although damaged by Hurricane Katrina, the grounds and building have been restored and the estate continues to serve as an educational and cultural resource for the community and visitors. As part of an NHPRC grant for archival processing, Lisa Lewis, archivist at Longue Vue, was required to submit a MARC record to OCLC representing their historical collection. As they are not members, she requested a partnership with Tulane’s Special Collections for this purpose. We collaborated with her to create and contribute the record to the WorldCat database, entitled Longue Vue House and Gardens historic collection . Within Tulane’s manuscript holdings, we have related material in the Edgar B. Stern collection (Manuscripts Collection 235), which includes further Stern family documents, as well business records of Lehman, ...