Tulane University's
Louisiana Research Collection

The Louisiana Research Collection is pleased to announce the release of mystery writer, novelist, poet, and essayist James Sallis’ papers. The newly processed collection features manuscripts and revisions to nine publications including the Lew Griffin novels, a mystery series set in New Orleans, The Guitar In Jazz , his translation of Raymond Queneau’s novel Saint Glinglin , as well as his critical anthology of science fiction writer Samuel Delany, Ash of Stars . The collection also includes correspondence with various mystery and science fiction writers and pitches for articles and short stories to publications such as Amazing Science Fiction. Sallis was born in Helena, Arkansas in 1944 and grew up listening to Sonny Boy Williamson on KFFA radio, reading the mysteries of Chester Himes and Jim Thompson, and roaming the banks of the Mississippi. He began publishing in science fiction and mystery anthologies and magazines in the 1960s, including moving to London to edit the acclaimed...

With eleven researchers, LaRC has a full house today. Many people think our activity is slower in the summer, but actually it's one of our busiest times because many researchers are freer in the summer to travel for their research projects. This week LaRC has welcomed researchers from Baton Rouge, Berkeley, Berlin, Boston, Chapel Hill, Cleveland, Fargo, Fort Worth, Hammond, Metairie, New York, Quebec, and Slidell, and it’s only Wednesday. They are mining LaRC’s holdings for research in fields as diverse as African American Studies, anthropology, architecture, art, carnival, education, gender, law, LGBTQ, preservation, public health, sociology, and Women’s Studies.   By the way, the painting at the front of the room is the largest known A.J. Drysdale. It was painted in 1930 for the walls of a residential dining room.

Burkenroad in the Louisiana marshes near Port Sulphur, marking off a section of marshland and then counting the crustaceans in it. A special mission of the Louisiana Research Collection (LaRC) is documenting our state’s environment. Recently, LaRC made available a small collection of correspondence, handwritten notes and maps, and notated photographs of transect locations of Martin Burkenroad’s work for the Freeport Sulphur Company. Burkenroad studied the high mortality rate of oysters in Port Sulphur, La., the Freeport Canal, and other locations. Martin David Burkenroad (1910 March 20 – 1986 January 12) was a marine biologist who specialized in decapod crustaceans and fisheries. Burkenroad was born in New Orleans and attended Tulane University for a short time. While he published several scientific papers at Tulane, he left the University without earning a degree. Afterwards, he worked for the Marine Biological Laboratory in the Dry Tortugas part of the Florida Keys and the Loui...

1510 St. Charles Ave. Margaret Epstein has donated the photograph collection of her late husband, Joseph H. Epstein, Jr., to the Louisiana Research Collection. It comprises roughly 600 photographs (about 1 linear foot) spanning the 1930s through the early 1960s. Mr. Epstein saved the photographs from being discarded while working as a commercial realtor for Latter and Blum Inc. All but two of the photos are from the East Bank of New Orleans and almost all are exterior scenes recording street life. Some include lot descriptions, price, or rental income. The great majority were taken by Charles L. Franck. Click to enlarge the photos. 1617 Orleans A New Orleans native, Joseph Hugo Epstein, Jr., (1932 – 2018) attended Isidore Newman School and graduated from the University of Michigan with honors in journalism. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard the U.S.S. PCE 904 and was its Commanding Officer at the time of decommissioning. After his military service, he returned to New O...

J. Rock vs. His Creditors. Second District Court, Parish of Orleans, No. 18, 537. Sheriff's Sale! By John P. Walden, Sheriff of the Parish of Orleans. Will be sold at public auction, on the premises hereinafter designated, on Wednesday, December 4, 1861, at half-past 10 o'clock, A.M., for account of the creditors of said insolvent: The contents of a hat and cap store, situated at 105 St. Charles street, in the First District of this City, as per inventory on file. Seized in the above suit. Terms cash on the spot. Printed on cheap acidic newsprint, this 1861 broadside had been folded in quarters for decades, causing it to break into several pieces along the folds. The acid in the paper had made it brittle, with the edges torn, friable, and missing paper along the periphery. It also suffered from attempts in the past to repair it with the bane of archives, Scotch tape. The goal of conservation is not merely to repair a document, but also to make it stable and usable for researc...

Mrs. Rufus C. Harris' certificate as a member of the 1939 New York World's Fair Louisiana women's advisory committee. The Louisiana Research Collection depends on donors dedicated to preserving our past. During March and April, donors helped permanently preserve materials pertaining to a wide range of New Orleans and Louisiana fields, including fish and fisheries, LGBTQ life in the French Quarter, civic associations, vintage real estate photographs, Carnival, family life in the early 1900s, and Rufus C. Harris, who was president of Tulane University from 1937 to 1960. Henry L. Bart, Jr. , of New Orleans has donated field notebooks, correspondence, specimen collecting permits, and other materials pertaining to Professor Royal D. Suttkus (1920 - 2009), biologist, natural historian, and head of the Tulane Natural History Museum (now The Tulane University Biodiversity Research Institute). Louis M. Bernard, Jr. , of New Orleans donated four binders of photographs taken f...

Algernon Badger portrayed in a costume design from Mistick Krewe of Comus 1873 "Missing Links" parade. With roughly four linear miles of holdings, LaRC's vast collections will never all be available online. However, we constantly add to our extensive digital resources in order to make our holdings as widely and easily available as possible. LaRC's online holdings are available to everyone on an equal basis; researchers never need a user-ID or password to view them. Here are three of our newest digital collections. The Registre du Comite Medical de la Nouvelle Orleans, 1816 - 1854 , is the official document of the Eastern licensing district of the state of Louisiana and records the names of licensed pharmacists and physicians. Algernon Badger Family Papers, 1813-1920 . Badger is best-known as Chief of the Metropolitan Police of New Orleans from 1870 to 1875. He was on the front lines of the increasing political unrest between Southern white conservatives and L...