LAMA News
The LAMA annual meeting will take place at Melrose Plantation on November 3, 2000 The sessions will focus on the Cane River Creole community and the meeting will feature a tour of Melrose, Magnolia, and Oakland Plantations.
Please see the announcement and registration form at the end of this newsletter.
SOCIETY OF SOUTHWEST ARCHIVISTS
Tara Zachary has been named the news editor of The Southwestern Archivist. Please send news items to her at tzachar@lsu.edu or Hill Memorial Library, LSU, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803. Louisianians may also send news to our SSA information liaison, Carol Mathias at Nicholls State University.
Amistad Research Center
The Rosa Freeman Keller Addendum (1911- 1998) 2.5 ln. ft. of personal papers, speeches, correspondence, clippings, awards, and photographs donated by Mrs. Mary Keller Zervigon. The papers chronicle the life of Keller, a prominent New Orleans civic leader, philanthropist, and civil rights activist.
The Arnold de Mille Papers, donated by Valerie De Mille. 3 ln. ft. of manuscripts, photographs of celebrities, and teaching materials. De Mille served as Director of Press Relations for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Chief of the New York Bureau. The papers include NAACP press releases, United Nations correspondent files and interviews with several African leaders.
James E. Blackwell addendum. 4 ln. ft. of manuscripts and an outstanding collection of books and periodicals. Other materials include correspondence, professional publications, reports, clippings, and legal materials. This gift also includes two brass tables with Qur'anic Arabic calligraphy acquired in Cairo, Egypt.
Sybil Kein Ph.D. addendum. 4 ln. ft. Donation includes personal papers, poetry, and music documenting her research and writing on Louisiana Creole culture.
Keira William donated transcriptions and audio- tapes of interviews with John P. Nelson Jr., New Orleans civil rights attorney; Perlie Hardin Elloie, a plaintiff in the 1962-63 suit to desegregate Tulane University; and Dr. Addison Carey, Southern University and UNO professor, and one of the first African-Americans to attend Tulane University.
Robert S. Green Photo Collection (1954-1970) 3 ln. ft. Includes photographs and negatives depicting New Orleans religious and social events recorded by the Green.
The Cammie G. Henry Research Center
Kent Courtney donated his book collection to accompany his manuscript collection.
Robert DeBlieux donated the records of the Natchitoches Historic Foundation.
Eunie V. Christian Stacy's NSU and teaching- related papers were donated by her family.
Robert Buckner donated a painting by Grant Farnes Kenner, former NSU professor.
Former Natchitoches Mayor Joe Sampite donated his scrapbooks covering every year of his tenure as mayor of Natchitoches, three flags, and two portraits.
New Orleans Public Library City Archives
Mayor Sidney J. Barthelemy. Records, 1986- 1994 (232 cartons, 53 videocasettes, plus memorabilia).
Arts Council of New Orleans. Records, 1975- 1993 (150 cu. feet). The records include correspondence/subject files, grant files, financial documents, files relating to individual ACNO projects, and miscellaneous files. They document the Council's grant-making function, activities of the Board of Directors, arts and community activities of the Executive Director and other staff members, and the relationship of ACNO with individual artists, arts organizations, donors (both individual and corporate), and government agencies.
City Court of New Orleans. Suit Records, 1807-1819 (19 boxes). The suits from this early court document a variety of business, property, and personal disputes between merchants, landowners, other New Orleanians, and individuals from around the world who had dealings in the city or with its citizens.
The City Archives received 33 cu. ft. of audiotapes of Historic District Landmarks Commission and Central Business District Landmarks Commission minutes, 1976-1994 and three manuscript volumes from the New Orleans Police Department, including an arrest book from 1858.
Hill Memorial Library
"Adrien Persac: Louisiana Artist" is on display in Hill Memorial Library and the LSU Museum of Art. This is the most extensive exhibition ever mounted of Persac's works, including the holdings of the LSU Museum of Art and loans from the Historic New Orleans Collections, the New Orleans Notarial Archives, and private collectors. A day-long symposium was held in conjunction with the exhibition on Saturday, October 7. The exhibition will run through December 21, 2000.
New Orleans Public Library
"Algiers: The Right Bank" provides a taste of the history and lifestyle of the Right Bank of New Orleans. The exhibit features maps, photographs, books, postcards, and other materials from the City Archives and Louisiana Division collections. It will remain on display through the end of the year 2000. An online version is available at nutrias.org/exhibits/algiers/algtitle.htm.
LSU and NOPL receive joint IMLS grant
The LSU Libraries Special Collections received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Washington, DC for a two year project to create a digital repository of research materials in three languages relating to the era of the Louisiana Purchase, 1800-1815. The project will span two years and digitize materials from LSU and from the City Archives at the New Orleans Public Library. The materials will be part of the LSU Digital Library. The $219,618.00 in grant money will fund one full time librarian and two graduate students to work on the project, and will be used to fund work by an advisory panel of public school teachers who will help to devise lesson plans to use the digital library.
The NOPL's Louisiana Division contribution to the digitization project include the records of the County Court (Orleans Parish), 1804-1807, Criminal Cases Tried by Orleans Parish County Court and City Court (1805-1812), and the minute book of the Court of Pleas (1804). LSU's contribution includes 69 books, 40 maps, and 4 manuscript groups of legal and judicial records of the era.
This year IMLS received 35 applications for digital projects of which 12 were funded. Other libraries receiving funding for digital projects this year are: Cornell University, the Georgia Department of Archives and History, Indiana University, Nebraska State Historical Society, the New York Public Library, Northern Illinois University, Tufts University Archives and Special Collections, the University of Arizona, the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of the Virgin Islands.
McNeese State University
The McNeese Archives, in conjunction with the Southwest Louisiana Historical Association, will hold a Photo Fair at the Beauregard Parish Library in DeRidder on Saturday, November 4, from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Local citizens are invited to bring in old photographs to be copied for inclusion in the archives and for possible later publication. Some of the old photos gathered at previous photo fairs were included in the book recently published by Arcadia Publishing and written by Robert Benoit, past president of the Historical Association, Images of America: Imperial Calcasieu. The book is available at Books-a-Million in Lake Charles and other area gift shops and bookstores, as well as online at barnesandnoble.com.
The McNeese Archives recently supplied historical information for the History Wall at the new Shiver Me Timbers Millennium Park. The building of the park, a children's playground, has been called the greatest volunteer effort ever made in Southwest Louisiana. Over 5000 volunteers contributed their time over a two-week period to construct the park. The playground pieces were designed to illustrate important historical aspects of the area, including a lighthouse, a steam locomotive, a paddlewheel boat, an oil derrick, an WWI airplane, a sawmill, a fort, an Indian village, and an eagle's nest. Not only did the Archives staff furnish information and photographs to aid in the design of the park, but also volunteered during the construction phase. Overall it was one of the most enjoyable projects ever for the Archives staff!
Archives of the Diocese of Shreveport
In May 2000 the Archives of the Diocese of Shreveport, along with the administrative and ministerial offices of the Catholic Center, moved to its new home in the former St. Vincent Academy, 3500 Fairfield Avenue, Shreveport, Louisiana. As a result of the move, the repository area has nearly doubled in size, and an adjacent research room is available. The Fairfield property itself is historically significant, having served as a physical sign of the presence of the Catholic Church in northwest Louisiana since 1866.
Nunez Community College
The Archives at Nunez Community College found a beautiful new home on the second floor of the NCC Library. The Archives serves primarily as the institutional memory of NCC including its preceding institutions of St. Bernard Parish Community College and Elaine P. Nunez Vocational and Technical School. The Archives also contain material donated from individuals, civic and social organizations of St. Bernard Parish.
A few highlights of materials in the collection include: 96 oral history video tapes of interviews by Frank Fernandez with Canary Island or Islenos descendants (conducted in Spanish); 12 oral history audio tapes of Islenos prepared in the 1970s; two 16 mm Spanish language films about the Canary Islands produced by the Canarian government; Frank Fernandez's Collection of personal papers, maps, articles, programs, and several books in Spanish about the early parishioners of St. Bernard Parish; and the Irvan and Louise Perez Collection containing a video cassette of Mosquitoes and High Water with Mr. Perez narrating and performing his Decimas and an audio tape of Spanish Decimas from St. Bernard Parish by Mr. Perez.
A beautiful life-size reproduction of a 17th century retabla (alter piece) created by 13 artisans is on temporary display in the Nunez Community College Library. The retabla features a Canarian madonna with a mantel representing the fishing trawls used by the Islenos. The Canary Islands Descendants Association initiated the creation of this alter piece. The Association chose the madonna as their patroness in honor of the original name of the St. Bernard settlement, "La Concepcion."
Amistad Research Center
Philip MacLeod, Ph.D. has joined the NEH funded processing project. Dr. MacLeod is currently the Manuscripts Archivist at Tulane University's Latin American Library.
Michelle Hudson joined the IMLS digital humanities project as a graduate assistant. Ms. Hudson is currently a graduate student in the Library Science program at LSU.
Amistad's Visual Arts Department received an NEA Heritage & Preservation grant for its "Selections from the Aaron Douglas Collection at The Amistad Research Center" exhibit (October 2000 to February 2001). The grant will allow the Center to restore seven works by Henry Ossawa Tanner, Claude Clark, Malvin Gray Johnson, Albert Alexander Smith, Ellis Wilson, and Hale Woodruff.
The Cammie G. Henry Research Center
Mary Linn Wernet and Catherine Jannik spoke to the Vernon Parish Genealogical Society and to a class on tourism at the Louisiana Technical College in Minden.
Jannik represented Watson Library at a meeting of the Louisiana Library Network's planned Digital Library Louisiana Purchase Collection in Baton Rouge on September 11.
Wernet participated in a project which will culminate in a TV-series segment on the history and achievements of African-Americans in Northwestern Louisiana. Focus Worldwide Catholic Network and WLAE-TV in New Orleans produced the series.
Wernet continued as a member of the Louisiana Historical Records Advisory Board and the LALINC Disaster Preparedness Committee.
New Orleans Public Library
Collin Hamer has been asked to serve on the ALA History Section's Genealogy Committee.
The Louisiana Division will host its biannual genealogy classes for beginners (in conjunction with the Genealogical Research Society of New Orleans) on October 21 and November 18 from 9am-12am in the auditorium at the Main Library. Registration is required. Interested parties should call (504)596-2610.
The NOPL web site, NUTRIAS, moved from the Greater New Orleans Freenet to its own server. NUTRIAS users should update links and bookmarks to the new address, which is simply nutrias.org.
LAMA Fall Meeting, Friday, November 3, 2000
Melrose Plantation – Melrose, Louisiana
8:30-9:00 a.m. Early Bird Coffee and registration 9:00-9:30 a.m. Welcome by Mary Linn Wernet, LAMA President and Maxine Southerland, Association for the Preservation of Historic Natchitoches 9:30-10:00 a.m. Janet Colson, Louisiana Creole Heritage Center 10:00-10:15 a.m. Break 10:15-10:45 a.m. Carla Cowles, Cane River Creole National Historical Park, Nat'l Park Service 10:45-11:15 a.m. National Center for Preservation, Technology, and Training 11:15 a.m.-Noon Business Meeting Noon-1:00 p.m. Lunch and Reports from institutions 1:00-2:00 p.m. Tour of Melrose Plantation 2:00 p.m.- Driving Tour (Magnolia Plantation, St. Augustine Church, Oakland Plantation)
Melrose Plantation is located on the Cane River at the confluence of Louisiana Highways 119 and 493 - 20 miles south of Natchitoches and 40 miles north of Alexandria. Please contact Catherine Jannik or Mary Linn Wernet at (318) 357-4585 or see www.natchitoches.net for a map and accommodation listings in Natchitoches.
Registration Fee: $20.00 (includes lunch) Non-refundable.
Make check out to: LAMA
Mail form and check, postmarked on or before October 27, 2000 to:
Mary Linn WernetNote: Registration after October 27, 2000 or on the day of the meeting: $12.00 (lunch on your own)
Cammie G. Henry Research Center
Eugene P. Watson Memorial Library
Natchitoches, LA 71457
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iw 10/15/2000