THE HISTORIC COLLECTION li!i!!!!!!!!!!! QUARTER LY Volume XVII, Number. 3

I. I. I' 'l 'l , ',

AMERICAN INDIANS IN 19TH-CENTURY NEW ORLEANS

JULY 20 - OCTOBER 16 AMERICAN INDIANS IN 19TH-CENTURY NEW ORLEANS JULY 20-0CTOBER 16

he Collection's latest exhibition, a ing Indians and began to con­ of people, who are rapidly passing away look at Indians in the New sider how these images compared to the from the face of the earth." About those Orleans area during the 19th cen­ realities oflndian life in the last century. Indians still living in the southeastern tury,T captures through pictures and Most people are generally familiar United States, however, the American A words the ways artists and writers depict­ with how American Indians were por­ artist confessed that he had "little to say, at ed those American Indians still living in trayed in 19th-century popular and liter- present, that could interest you. The sum I close proximity to white total that can be learned or society after many years of seen of them ... is, that they contact and conflict. are to be pitied." Catlin Many images of Indians wrote these words in refer- during the 19th century are ence to a sketch that he made found in lithographs, draw­ of an Indian family fishing ings, and photographs in the on Santa Rosa Island, Collection's holdings. Some near Pensacola. of this visual material is A commonly held commonly reproduced in point of view was to think local histories, pictorial col­ of Indian communities as lections, scholarly books, pitiful remnants of once and museum exhibitions, nobler tribes, and many suggesting to the viewer that were convinced that Indians this culturally heterogeneous would vanish from America city included Native unless transplanted to a dis­ Americans among its occu­ Vue d'une Rue du Faubourg Marigny, N[ouve]lle Orleans by Felix Achille de Beaupoil, tant place. Perceived as Marquis de Saint Aulaire, lithographed by P. Langlume, ca. 1821 (19372.2). The Marigny pants. An Indian family demoralized and disabled plantation house is in the background, with an Indian family in the foreground. crosses a street in New by the influences of white Orleans's Faubourg Marigny and another ary culture. An idealized image of society, these groups came to represent stands beside the in lith­ Indians as "children of the forest" had why American Indians needed to be ographs dating from the 1820s by Felix long served European notions about the removed from their homelands. In 1831 , Achille de Beaupoil, Marquis de Saint freedom and innocence of natural man. for example, the Commissioner of Aulaire. The Choctaw women at the By the 19th century, the "noble savage" Indian Affairs justified the government's French Market in post-Civil War maga­ held a romantic place in American arts removal policy with this summary zine illustrations by Alfred Waud and and letters, where it was assumed that of southern and eastern Indians: Charles Upham convey the impression of American Indians could not survive the "Gradually diminishing in numbers and the fleeting and exotic presence oflndians onslaught of civilization. Many observers deteriorating in condition; incapable of on the margins of urban society. lamented the destruction and displace­ coping with the superior intelligence of When John Lawrence, director of ment of Native American societies, bur the white man, ready to fall into the museum programs at the Collection, nonetheless accepted their fate as prede­ vices, but unapt to appropriate the bene­ asked me to serve as guest curator of the termined and necessary. Writers and fits of the social state, the increasing tide Indian exhibition, I began not only to artists perceived their own role to be that of white population threatened soon to compile an extensive list of the of capturing Indians in a natural state - engulf them, and finally to cause their Collection's images bu.t also to search in before they inevitably, but tragically, total extinction." ~ other places for additional glimpses of vanished. George Catlin traveled west in American Indians living around New American Indians in 19th-century 1832 to produce "a literal and graphic Orleans and in other parts of Louisiana I Louisiana. To my surprise, I found a delineation of the living manners, cus­ were categorized by Secretary of War John large array of scenes and portraits featur- toms, and character of an interesting race C. Calhoun in 1825 as "remnants of

2 Indian Encampment, Louisiana by Franrois Bernard, oil on canvas, ca. 1860 (1992.129.5) tribes." This marginalization of their consisted mainly of Houmas in shadows cast by those observers who status is visually reflected in 19th-century Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes, took some notice of their presence. images of Louisiana Indians found in the Alabamas and Coushattas in the parish of Nostalgic images in print and art Collection. At the time of the Louisiana Calcasieu, the Tunica-Biloxis in Avoyelles lamenting the misfortune of American Purchase, approximately 5,000 American and Rapides parishes, in St. Indians tended to obscure the ways that Indians inhabited the Orleans Territory, Mary, St. Martin, and St. Landry parishes, the people themselves managed to sur­ soon to become the state of Louisiana. and several Choctaw communities in the vive, almost dismissing from considera­ These Houmas, Tunicas, Chitimachas, parishes of St. Tammany, East Baton tion how they dealt with the constraints Atakapas, Opelousas, Biloxis, Apalaches, Rouge, Rapides, La Salle, and Sabine. and prejudices suffered on the margins Alibamons, Pascagoulas, Choctaws, and The survival of these American of plantation society and how they cre­ Caddos had already tragically declined in Indian communities throughout the atively adapted cultural traditions to population since early European contact. 19th century, in the face of tremendous changing circumstances. A valuable step But by the middle of the 19th century adversity and prejudice, actually chal­ toward recovering the agency and voice they diminished even further to fewer lenged the dominant narrative that of Louisiana Indians is to highlight how than 1,500, largely because the Caddo insisted on the inevitability of their dis­ they became the silent and passive fig­ nation and a sizable number of Choctaws appearance. The "vanishing Indian," in ures that we see on paper. Within an were relocated outside the state's bound­ other words, refused to vanish from imagery that derided or pitied Indians aries. By 1910 only about 800 Indians Louisiana. The responsibility of histori­ facing extinction, we might even find were counted in Louisiana. Although ans thus becomes one of rescuing the clues to the resourcefulness and resis­ probably undercounted by census takers, real experience of Louisiana Indians in tance that would carry them into the the Indian population of Louisiana then the 19th century from the romantic 20th century.

3 The exhibition brings together from The poetry of Father Adrien­ several different collections a number of Emmanuel Rouquette romanticized original sketches, drawings, paintings, pho­ Indian life in an imaginary wilderness, but tographs, and relevant artifacts. In 1830 this New Orleanian's intimate familiarity French naturalist Charles Alexandre with Choctaws from the north shore of Lesueur sketched groups of Indians camp­ Lake Pontchartrain also produced some ing along the Mississippi River and playing informative descriptions of Louisiana a ball game in New Orleans. He also pro­ Indian life during the 19th century. "They duced portraits of several different live in log cabins neat and substantially Choctaws in the city as well as in other river built," Rouquette reported in 1882, but towns. These images are on loan from the Daniel Usner, guest curator "have palmetto lodges" on their seasonal Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Le Havre. stories, and reminiscences will provide a hunting and gathering trips. For a tradi­ Also during the 1830s, Karl Bodmer paint­ fuller context for the pictorial images. tional ceremony held once or twice a year ed portraits of individual Choctaws and Observing the New Orleans French Market at Bayou Lacombe, Choctaws traveled scenes of Indians in their riverside camps in 1851, Fredrika Bremer noticed that "little from as far away as Biloxi and wore "a and on city streets, reproducing in rich Indian girls were seated on the ground, peculiar costume made up of calico of the detail the clothing and demeanor of the wrapped in their blankets, with their seri­ most showy colors." Indians who still frequented New Orleans. ous, uniform, stiff countenances, and The exhibition will examine how These works, held at the Joslyn Art downcast eyes riveted upon an outspread residents and visitors depicted American Museum in Omaha, will be shown in color cloth before them, on which were laid out Indians in 19th-century Louisiana - as facsimile. Larger paintings include Franc;:ois wild roots and herbs which they had figures in a romantic landscape, victims Bernard's Indian Encampment, Louisiana brought hither for sale. Behind them, and of civilization, or subjects of anthropolo­ from the Historic New Orleans Collection, outside the market-place, Indian boys were gy. But it will also suggest how a new Alfred Boisseau's Louisiana Indians Walking shooting with bows and arrows to induce look at such a variety of sketches, draw­ Along a Bayou from the New Orleans young white gentlemen to purchase their ings, paintings, and photographs can Museum of Art, and Alphonse Gamotis's toy-weapons." George Castellanos remem­ help us learn about the persistence of Indian Village on the Shores of Lake bered seeing Indians-"fragments of this American Indians in the Deep South. Pontchartrain from the Ogden Collection. erratic race" as he called them-in the rural Romance and Reality is on view in the The exhibition will also feature illustrations parishes of south Louisiana as well as in the Williams Gallery through October 16. that appeared in books and magazines, Crescent City. "They used to flock to New -Daniel H. Usner, Jr. from the lithograph Sauvages du Mississipi Orleans at times in considerable numbers, Daniel Usner, a native ofNew Orleam, is guest cura­ [sic] in Edouard de Montule's A Voyage to their usual places of resort in the daytime tor of the exhibition and a professor of history at Cornell University. He is the author of Indians, North America (1821) to ethnographic being the Place d'Armes and lower markets, Settlers, and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange photographs in David Bushnell's The where they went to peddle their wares. In Economy: The Lower Mississippi Valley Before Choctaw ofBayou Lacomb (1909). the night-time they usually pitched their 1783 and American Indians in the Lower Written excerpts from travel accounts, camp along the Bayou St. John." Mississippi Valley: Social and Economic Histories.

he image pictured at left of a Native woman was a tobacco merchant in the TAmerican woman and her two children French Market. In front of her is some is actually a stop on a virtual tour of New fine-cut tobacco "for sale to the stevedores Orleans in 1884. The hand-tinted lantern and sailors who infest the neighborhood." slide is one in a set of 100 scenes linked Lantern slides were heir to the narrated, together by a colorful narrative and distrib­ painted panoramas of the first half of the uted as part of Wilson's Lantern journeys: 19th century and appeared when technolog­ New Or/,eans and the World's Industrial and ical advances in the mid-1850s permitted Cotton Centennial &position. the production of positive images on glass. The work of noted Philadelphia pho­ Not only did the lantern-slide form provide tographer Edward L. Wilson, this "magic a means for photographers to sell their lantern show" took the viewer on a imagi­ work, but the invention helped make pho­ nary jaunt through the French Quarter, the tography a narrative medium, anticipating Garden District, and the Exposition in some respects, the motion picture.

(1981.290.50) grounds. Wilson notes chat the Indian -Mark Cave

4 FROM THE ACTING DIRECTOR KEMPER AND LEILA WILLIAMS PRIZE ince we operate on San April through AWARDED TO CARL EKBERG March fiscal year, I am now reflecting on a '""r.he 1998 Kemper America and Europe, full year of serving as l and Leila Williams and the forging of this acting director. A Prize in Louisiana material into a com­ myriad of thoughts and observations come History has been award­ pelling narrative, com­ to mind. ed for the work French bine to make it as a Accomplishments of board and staff Roots in the Illinois most welcome addi­ over the past year include a reaccredita­ Country: The Miss­ tion to the study of the tion visit from the American Association issippi Frontier in French colonial and of Museums and the adoption of a revised Colonial Times by Dr. early territorial periods mission statement and an institutional Carl J. Ekberg of Illinois of Louisiana's history. code of ethics. The Williams Residence State University This year's prize kitchen was renovated and opened for (University of Illinois committee consisted tours; and visitors to the museum were Press). The prize is of the late Dr. Kim­ given the opportunity to see more chang­ funded and adminis­ berly S. Hanger, Uni­ ing exhibitions, not only in the Williams tered by the Historic versity of Tulsa, Dr. Gallery, but also in the newly adapted New Orleans Collection Steven Reinhardt, Toulouse Street Gallery. The Williams and awarded by the Louisiana Historical University of Texas at Arlington, and Research Center continues to assist record Association at its annual meeting. John H. Lawrence. The Williams Prize numbers of researchers, many of whom Dr. Ekberg's work examines the Committee invites nominations of eligi­ attend the WRC's popular "Third upper portion of the Louisiana Territory ble works published during the 1999 Saturday'' orientation programs. And our from a standpoint of land layout, use, calendar year. Works about all aspects of January symposium, The Pearl of the and economic development and relates Louisiana history and culture are Antilles and the Crescent City: Historical these themes to other French territories eligible, as are works placing Louisiana Connections between Havana and New in North America, including lower subjects in regional, national, or interna­ Orleans, was wonderfully successful. Louisiana and Canada. He points out tional context. The deadline for all Another fortunate occurrence has the distinctions that define the unique 1999 Williams Prize submissions is been an increase in volunteer support. characteristics of each region and makes January 15, 2000. Collecting and preserving, processing col­ compelling and persuasive arguments for Nomination forms are available from lections for public use, running a research the strongly shared European heritage of John H. Lawrence, Chair, Kemper and center, publishing books, mounting exhi­ this tradition. In the year of the tricen­ Leila Williams Prize, Historic New Orleans bitions, providing tours of our galleries tennial of the French presence in Collection, 533 Royal Street, New Orleans, · and house museum, and organizing and Louisiana, the scope of this work, its Louisiana, 70130-2179, and at the presenting lectures and symposia, all examination of records in North Collection's web site: www.hnoc.org. require large commitments of time. Without our volunteers, the work would be more difficult and many things would BOARD APPOINTMENT not get done. From docents and reception ary Louise Christovich, president staff to collections processors, volunteers Mof the Kemper and Leila Williams aid in daily tasks as well as with major Foundation, announces the appoint­ programs. We are very grateful! ment of Meg Allan to the foundation But thoughts on the year are not board, governing body of the Historic confined to reflections - the Historic New Orleans Collection. New Orleans Collection will continue to Ms. Allan is with Banc One's build on its strengths. Additional out­ investment management group and reach programs and community involve­ serves as regional director, global corpo­ ment are part of our future plans during rate trust services, for Louisiana and this exciting time. Thank you all for your Oklahoma. She is a cum laude graduate support - past, present, and future! Meg Allan ofWebster University in St. Louis. -Priscil/,a Lawrence

5 ot far from New Orleans, about LA COTE DES ALLEMANDS: N 36 miles upriver, is an area known as the German Coast, or La Cote des THE SETTLING OF THE GERMAN COAST Allemands, named after the German farmers who settled there in the 18th century. These were originally brought to Louisiana under contract to John Law. Law, as head of the Company of the West, was granted the charter to Louisiana in 1717 by the Due d'Orleans, regent of France. John Law foresaw that the German immigrants would help Louisiana develop into a stable, thriving colony. After an unsatisfactory attempt to force immigration by transporting France's criminals and unemployed, John Law took his propaganda to the Germans who had already earned a reputation for industry and sobriety in the British colonies. Law found a receptive audience among those who had suffered from war, Thomas Jejferys's map, between 1760 and 1765, (1993.2.19) shows the German Coast, bitter winters, and lingering religious con­ indicated as les Allemands or Carlstein, situated upriver from New Orleans. flict. Many Germans found Law's descrip­ Also noted are the locations ofIndian tribes. tions of an American paradise very com­ concession. When Karl Friedrich German settlers were able to make a living pelling. Recent research has revealed that d'Arensbourg, who would become com­ off the land. Besides clearing the land and nearly 4,000 Germans and Swiss made the mander of the German Coast, arrived in building up the levees, the Germans raised journey to Lorient on the coast of Brittany Louisiana aboard the Portefaix on June 4, cows, pigs, and chickens, and grew vegeta­ in France, seeking passage to John Law's 1721, he brought the news that John Law bles on their small farms, producing paradise in Louisiana. was bankrupt and the Company of the enough to offer the surplus for sale to Unfortunately for the immigrants Indies had assumed his concession. neighboring plantations and at market arriving in the port city that spring of The Germans, under contract to Law day in New Orleans. Several contempo­ 1720, an epidemic, which may have been personally, were now free, but the company raries credited the German farmers with the bubonic plague, was sweeping France. persuaded them to stay in Louisiana by saving the city from starvation. Marcel Thousands died throughout the nation, granting them small parcels of land along Giraud, in A History of French Louisiana, including many of the hapless Germans. the Mississippi River. A census taken May describes the Germans' efforts: Fewer than 2,500 Germans - many of 13, 1722, shows 247 persons living in the A beginning had been made in conveying them carrying the fatal infection - sailed three German villages, Mariedal, Augsburg, to town the produce of the habitations for Louisiana between the fall of 1720 and and Wen, also called Hoffen. spread out along the river, especially those the following spring. Only 1,500 survived Only two and a half years later the of the Germans, whose fields, tilled by the voyage to reach the Gulf Coast at census shows a drastic population change hard-working and orderly people, con­ present-day Biloxi. Once there, another in the German Coast villages: by the 1724 tributed an abundance of vegetables of 500 perished from sickness and hunger. census only 161 persons remained. It is every kind, as well as maintaining siz­ Most of the Germans sent to difficult to determine, from available able numbers ofpigs and poultry .... In Louisiana in 1720 and 1721 had, in return records, exactly what happened to one 1724, despite the distance, pirogues laden for passage, contracted to work as engages. third of the population. Undoubtedly, two with vegetables created a rudimentary These indentured laborers had agreed to natural disasters took their toll - the hur­ market on the levee, at the point where work for a designated period of time on ricane of 1722 and flooding from the the vessels landed John Law's own concession, located at the Mississippi River in 1724. By 1731 the censuses began to reflect a confluence of the Arkansas and Mississippi Other difficulties continued to tor­ significant increase in both the population rivers, before they regained their freedom. ment the German settlers. Yet, despite a and prosperity of the German Coast set­ Scholars debate whether the German lack of help or sufficient land to grow the tlers. The number of children more than engages ever made it to the Arkansas large cash crops demanded by France, the doubled, from 62 in 1727 to 130 in 1731.

6 Where there had been no servants or slaves listed previously, the census of 1731 record­ TRIBUTE TO JULES CAHN ed 18 engages and 113 slaves. The total population had risen from 152 to 394. The German settlers' hardships, how­ ever, were not at an end. In 17 48, after a bitter winter freeze killed citrus trees and left many people ill, Choctaw Indians attacked the settlements on the east bank of the Mississippi River not once, but twice. In terror, the farmers deserted their crops and fled to comparative safety on the west bank. Even after the governor had built a guardhouse facing d'Arensbourg's house and established a village of friendly Indians on the east bank, he could not reassure the settlers or persuade them to return home. As late as 17 53, Governor Louis Billouart de Kerlerec was desperately seeking a way to keep this highly productive segment of the colony on their farms. At the settlers' request he moved 15 soldiers from the Swiss troops to the German Coast with a promise of as many more to follow. Many of the Swiss stayed and married Grand Marshal, ca. 1965. Photograph by Jules Cahn German women. The settlement contin­ ued to grow as Creoles and mar­ edited the film. Cahn, a local business­ ried within the group and settled nearby. man with a passionate interest in jazz, cre­ By 1763, the year after France ceded ated an outstanding photographic legacy Louisiana to Spain, the census revealed a that covered the varied character of the thriving community with more than 800 music culture of New Orleans. free persons, 400 slaves, 2200 head of cat­ He was not only a visible but an tle, and 1600 sheep. When Antonio de expected presence at marching club U~oa, the new Spanish governor, arrived in parades, Mardi Gras Indian processions, Louisiana in 1766, it was the Germans who Krewe of Zulu festivities, Preservation supplied the Spanish with grain and food. Hall, jazz musicians' funerals, and the Jazz Historians have only recently begun to and Heritage Festival. Cahn documented give well-deserved attention to the first these events from the point of view of a German immigrants and their role in participant - not just an observer - using Louisiana's formative years. Not only did a 35mm Leica still camera or a 16mm they survive - their efforts also sustained Bo lex movie camera (sometimes both). the struggling colonial city of New Orleans. Following Jules Cahn's death in 1995, Jude Solomon with photographs from the Cahn -Siva M Blake exhibition his family made gifts and promised gifts of his work to the Collection to ensure its Sourc.es: Helmut Blume, The German Coast During selection of Jules Cahn's pho­ preservation and availability. The donation the Colonial Era, 1722-1 803 (1956), Ellen C. tographs and a short video produced includes thousands of photographic prints Merrill, ed., trans., reprint (Destrehan, La., 1990); A J. H anno D eiler, The Settlement of the German from Cahn's vintage motion picture film and negatives, hundreds of reels of motion Coast ofLouisiana and the Creoles ofGerman Descent and audio recordings were exhibited at the picture film, slides, and audio recordings (1909), reprint (Baltimore, 1975); Marcel Giraud, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival of New Orleans music. Processing the Histoire de la Louisiane Franraise, 5 vols. (Paris, April 23 through May 2. Jude Solomon Jules Cahn Collection is ongoing, and as 1953-1987); Albert J. Robichaux, Jr. , German selected the photographs from the rehousing and identification occur, materials Coast Families: European Origins and Settlement in Colonial Louisiana (Rayne, La., 1997). Collection's holdings, and Karen Snyder are made available for public use.

1 1 J

Far left, Still Life with Cheese and Mice, 1876 (1997.130.27} and center, Still Life v William Aiken Walker; above, right, The Lotus Fountain, Newcomb College Campu right, Henderson Point, Mississippi by William Woodward, 1909 {LN100}

~hout the years, important dona­ painted throughout the South. During Stanley Green, a close friend and supporter tions to the Collection have resulted in a time spent in New Orleans in the 1880s of Walker's, owned the Standard Photo large holding of artworks in many genres and 1890s, Walker took particular interest Supply Company in New Orleans and covering more than 200 years of art in in the lifestyle of field hands and dock was often host to Walker during his Louisiana. Paintings from the Monroe­ workers. In doing so, Walker subscribed to visits to New Orleans. Monroe, Green's l Green Collection and the Laura Simon the genre school emerging in the late grandson, was an art collector who took Nelson Collection are on permanent 19th century, which focused on the every­ particular interest in the works of his 1 display at THNOC, 533 Royal Street. day life of southern African Americans. grandfather's friend. It is his collection of The Monroe-Green Collection con­ Malcolm W. Monroe bequeathed Walker paintings that is now housed at tains portraits, landscapes, and still lifes by 30 Walker artworks to the Historic THNOC in gallery 11 of the Louisiana William Aiken Walker, who traveled and New Orleans Collection in 1997. Robert History Galleries.

8 HISTORICAL MEMOIR • OF THE WAR IN WEST FLORIDA AND LOUISIANA, 1814-15 The Historic New Orleans Collection and the University Press ofFlorida have coop­ erated in the publication of Historical Memoir of the War in West Florida and I Louisiana in 1814-15, with an atlas, the first full-length account of the Battle of New Orleans. This revised edition of the 1816 book by Arsene Lacarriere Latour has been edited by Dr. Gene A. Smith of Texas Christian University. The foreword by Dr. Alfred E. Lemmon, director of the Collection's Williams Research Center, is printed below. See page 15 for ordering information.

he origins of the Historic New TOrleans Collection can be traced to General L. Kemper Williams's interest in the Battle of New Orleans. Between 1943 and 1971, General Williams assembled a vast collection of manu­ scripts, books, pamphlets, maps, draw­ ings, and paintings focusing on the American victory over the British on the plains of Chalmette on January 8, 1815. Primary material collected by General Williams presents contemporary per­ spectives - both British and American - on the campaign and its significance. The Memorandum of James Stirling, 'e with Vegetables, 1912 (1997.130.25), both by the Edward Nicholls and William H. tpus by Ellsworth Woodward, 1917 (LN76) and Percy Letters, and the Robert Aitchison memoir reflect the British position, while various letters, orders, and papers of such individuals as Willie Blount, William Carroll, John Coffee, Andrew Also on display are artworks from characteristic of southern art, as well Hynes, Andrew Jackson, and the Laura Simon Nelson donation. Mrs. as styles that were particular to the Bartholomew Schaumburg reveal the Nelson's collection spans 130 years of New Orleans artistic community. Art­ American point of view. General Louisiana art from the 1840s to the work from the Nelson donation is Williams's initial interest in the battle 1 1970s and includes the work of Achille exhibited in the conference room gallery led him to collect a wide variety of Peretti, Paul E. Poincy, August Norieri, and in gallery 12 of the Louisiana material documenting the history of I Maria Howard Weeden, Clarence Millet, History Galleries. New Orleans, the State of Louisiana, Morris Henry Hobbs, brothers William The public is cordially invited to and the Gulf Coast. To insure the and Ellsworth Woodward, and Leonard come to 533 Royal Street and to see growth and care of his collection, Flettrich. The Nelson Collection exem­ these fine examples of Louisiana art. General and Mrs. Williams founded the plifies the artistic styles and subjects - Mary C. Mees Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation,

9 which operates as the Historic New were upset by its tardiness, while others on the eyewitness account of Jean­ Orleans Collection. were disturbed by the poor quality of the Hyacinthe Laclotte. Laclotte was The Collection has continued to add engraving of Andrew Jackson; some Latour's partner in a New Orleans engi­ to its holdings on the Battle of New copies did not include the engraving. neering and architectural firm, opened Orleans. The acquisition in early 1997 of about 181 O; they also operated a school Arsene Lacarriere Latour's papers relating for drawing and painting, architecture, to his Historical Memoir ofthe Wtir in West carpentry, interior design, and decora­ Florida and Louisiana in 1814-15 was an tion. Interesting artifacts related to the important addition to these primary battle are the commission, medical kit, resources on the battle. On the death of and instruments of Dr. John Talbot, sur­ Latour in 1839, his papers concerning the geon of the Thirteenth Regiment of the Historical Memoir became the property of Kentucky State Militia. The Collection his daughter; his son received the extant holds many manuscripts concerning copies of the book. The papers were Andrew Jackson, but more important is passed down through the family until a stunning collection of portraits of the they were acquired by the Collection general by such painters as Samuel from Latour's descendants. Covering the Lovett Waldo and Jacques Amans. Maps, years 181 4-1817, the papers largely con­ drawings, and lithographs help recreate sist of material received by Latour too late the events of January 1815 for today's to be published in his 1816 book. Gene A. Smith presented "The Battle ofNew scholar. The library holds notable publi­ Included are letters and documents that Orleans: An Eyewitness View " and signed the cations concerning the Battle of N~w reveal a great deal about the battle, as well revised edition oft he Latour book at THNOC Orleans, including Robert B. McAfee's as the process of writing the book and the in June. History of the Late War in the Western initial response of readers. Latour received The Latour acquisition supplements Country, The Battle of New Orleans: A much of the information for his initial important research material already held British View by C. R. Forrest, and John publication from questionnaires sent to by the Collection. James Monroe's desire Henry Cooke's A Narrative of Events in men who took part in the battle. One let­ to have a greater accounting of prepara­ the South of France and of the Attack on ter, written in response to such a ques­ tions for the battle is seen in his letter New Orleans, in 1814 and 1815. Other tionnaire, explains that the soldiers from dated October 10, 1814. In it, Monroe sources for the study of the Battle of Tennessee were able to participate only asks Governor Willie Blount of New Orleans include Niles' Weekly because rains at the last moment permit­ Tennessee to send 7,500 militiamen to Register, printed in Baltimore, which ted them to navigate the rivers to New New Orleans in view of an anticipated contains reports of the British landing at Orleans. The copy letters of Secretary of attack on the city. A glimpse of how Mobile and L'Ami des Lois, an important State James Monroe to the governors of Latour assembled his book is seen in his Louisiana newspaper containing Kentucky, Georgia, and Tennessee reveal previously acquired letter of April 10, accounts of the battle. that he probably would have preferred 1815. Writing to Major General David The Latour papers complement the that Latour focus more attention on the B. Morgan in New Orleans concerning holdings of the Historic New Orleans political maneuvers during the fall of the defeat of Morgan's forces on the Collection on the Battle of New 1814 than on the battle itself Copies of West Bank during the American battle Orleans, shedding critical new light on his letters to the governors of Tennessee with the British, Latour asked Morgan the events and providing valuable insight and Kentucky dated January 20, 1815, to defend his actions in writing and to into Latour's research methodology. indicate that Monroe was not sure of the forward his response for inclusion in the Latour's Historical Memoir was, and still outcome of the battle. These letters are forthcoming account of the battle. A is, the most important firsthand account missing from Monroe's copybook in the Bartholomew Schaumburg letter of of the battle. With the publication of Library of Congress. January 25, 1815, describes the animosi­ this revised edition of Latour's Historical Documentation in Latour's papers ty between William C. C. Claiborne and Memoir, the information that Latour indicates that the book met with criticism Andrew Jackson. was unable to include in his 1816 book in Louisiana for a variety of reasons, In addition to manuscript material has been incorporated into the original including the lack of attention given to described in Manuscripts Division publication, adding greatly to the avail­ Governor William C. C. Claiborne. The Update (volume 2, number 1), other able documentation on one of the land­ Historical Memoir, sold by subscription Collection holdings related to the Battle mark battles of American history. for five dollars, was also delivered late. of New Orleans include a scarce engrav­ -Alfred E. Lemmon Individuals such as Benjamin H. Latrobe ing by Philibert-Louis Debucourt based

10 WILLIAMS RESEARCH CENTER ACQUISITIONS

THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION encourages research in the Williams Research Center at 410 Chartres Street from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday (except holidays). Cataloged materials available to researchers include books, manuscripts, paintings, prints, drawings, maps, pho­ tographs, and artifacts about the history and culture of New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Gulf South. Each year the Collection adds thousands of items to its holdings by donation or purchase. Only a few recent acquisitions can be noted here.

MANUSCRIPTS Watercolors, sketches, clippings, notes, and letters are the donation of Karl Peterson, an artist at Spangenberg Studios, which is no longer in operation. The col­ lection includes some of the work of Jules Gabry, the first potter employed in the art department of Newcomb College (ca.18 94-18 97). His bea urifully detailed watercolors depict flowers, fruit, animals, insects, butterflies, landscapes, architectural elements, and diagrams for a potter's wheel. Gabry, originally from Sevres, France, came to New Orleans via Brazil. • Two donations supplement the ceme­ tery holdings. Located in the Garden Watercolors by Jules Gabry (99-10-L) District, Lafayette Cemetery I was one of the first planned cemeteries in New individual commitment. A donation Gay-Price-Butler Family Papers. A scrap­ Orleans. The above-ground vaults were from Mrs. William K. Christovich, book begun by Mrs. Edward J. (Lavinia) carefully laid out in 1833 to accommodate founder of Save Our Cemeteries (1974), Gay (1821-1891) contains material added processions. Wall vaults, added in 1858, indicates the continuing resolve of the by her daughter, Anna Margaret Gay Price helped meet the demand for increased preservation community. Included are (1855-1939), on Edward J. Gay (1816- burial space resulting from epidemics. In Lafayette # 1 Atlas, Preservation Plan for 1889) and Andrew Price (1854-1909). A 1969 Mrs. E. Dameron "Shingo" Manard Historic Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, May diary Anna kept from 1873 to 1888 was instrumental in preventing demoli­ 1997 by Sharyn Thompson and Shelley chronicles her early life, including mar­ tion of the wall vaults and in starting on­ Sass, and a Save Our Cemeteries, Inc. riage to Andrew Price in 1879 and mov­ going preservation and restoration efforts. Response to Request for Proposals for the ing to Acadia Plantation near Thibodaux Mrs. Manard's donation of photographs, Management of Lafay ette Cemeteries in 18 81 to begin sugar planting. Anna correspondence, news clippings, and fliers Numbers I and II, February 13, 1998. experienced the social life of Washington, not only documents her success but also • A donation by Richard C. Plater, Jr., D.C., during her father's tenure as a provides evidence of the importance of has increased current holdings of the congressman (1884-1889). Memorial

11 addresses on the life of Edward J. Gay 1887 by George Henry Clements. Two of delivered in the 51st Congress, 1891, are the gouaches depict the New Orleans indicative of the family's political service. docks: the old ferry terminal near Canal Gay's grandson, Edward J. Gay II (1878- Street and dock hands moving sugar and 1952) served as a state representative cotton. The third gouache shows a cabin (1904-1918) and U. S. Senator (1918- scene on a plantation. Two abstract water­ 1921). Andrew Price served in the House color paintings, featuring repetitious of Representatives (1889-1897). female figures and vintage automobiles on Also included is extensive correspon­ Canal Street, were painted between 1944 dence (1925-1939) between Anna Gay and 1947 by Walter Inglis Anderson. A Price and family members and friends. floral still life, a watercolor painted Anna's sister, Mary Susan, and Lawrence between 1930 and 1945, is by Margaret L. Butler (a descendant of Martha . Jahncke. Oil paintings include a bayou Washington) were the parents of Anna scene, painted between 1900 and 1903 by Gay Butler who married Richard C. Charles Lee Frank, and a ca. 1935 view Plater, the donor's father. of a Louisiana railroad crossing by Watercolor by Walter Anderson (1999.18.2) -M Theresa LeFevre Roger Holt. • Additions to the print collection are The Civil War Th rough the Camera CURATORIAL several works focusing on Louisiana, its Together with Elson's New Histo ry of the A donation of photographs, an 187 4 industries, racing, and politics. A 1938 War (1912). Each of the 16 distinct parts christening dress, vases, a water pitcher set, etching, Paddock, New Orleans, Racetrack, includes full accounts of some of the war's and other memorabilia belonging to the is by Randall Davey. A 1933 lithograph by most notable battles. Black-and-white family of Marie Estalote Hebert and Jacob Hugo Gellert relating to Huey P. Long is illustrations from photographs accompany Stoltz comes from Mona Mailhes. The appropriately titled Every Man a King. the text, including images of Louisiana pitcher and two goblets, made by Barbour Also acquired are two 1940s lithographs soldiers and members of the Washington Brothers Company, were presented in of the Baton Rouge oil refinery by John Artillery of New Orleans and photographs 1892 to Benito Estalote by members of McCrady, one tided Early Morning and by William McPherson. the Paul Tulane Benevolent Association. the other, Afternoon Shi.ft. • In anticipation of the 200th anniver­ Mrs. James P. Ewin, Jr., has donated five -Judith H Bonner sary of the Louisiana Purchase in the year sterling dinner forks and a sterling silver 2003, the Collection has recently acquired punch ladle that belonged to the families LIBRARY two important items. Papers Presented To of Charles Woodward Hutson and The House of Lords, Pursuant To Addresses Gustave Richard Nelson. The silver was Two donations strengthen the Collection's to His Majesty is one of the earliest refer­ manufactured about 1871 by New Civil War holdings. Frank Leslie's The ences in print of the Louisiana Purchase. Orleans silversmith A. B. Griswold and Soldier in Our Civil War: A Pictorial One letter in the collection, dated May Company. Gordon W Callender, Jr., has History of the Conflict, 1861 - 1865, a 15, 1803, from Rufus King, U.S. Minister given four wooden tools used in the 1920s two-volume 1893 publication, is the gift to Great Britain, reveals King's knowledge in the Louisiana sugar and barrel-making of former director Dode Platou. of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory industries, including one stamped with Dedicated to the four million soldiers who from France, and Lord Hawkesbury's the mark of the Louisiana Ice Company. served in the war and based on 25 years of reply of May 19, 1803, points toward a • A commemorative copper medallion research, this profusely illustrated work commercial agreement between Britain issued in 1967 by the French government includes sketches by brothers Alfred R. and the United States. honors Louis Armstrong. The medal Waud and William Waud, Civil War A second acquisition related to shows the skylines of New York, Chicago, artists. Various Waud sketches show the Louisiana Purchase is the first and New Orleans, the three American evidence of Confederate gunboats Congressional printing of Acts Passed at cities that figured prominently in the positioned at New Orleans, soldiers on the First Session ofth e Eighth Congress ofth e career of one of the country's best-loved the foretop of the steamer Mississippi, and United States ofAm erica, Begun and Held musicians. The die for the medallion, cast a double-page panoramic view of at the City of Washington, the Seventeenth by Germaine Resseguier Lagriffoul, was New Orleans on April 25, 1862. Other ofOctobe r, In the Year 1803. This rare doc­ defaced after completion of the minting of noteworthy sketch artists included in this ument authorizes the raising of funds for an issue of 400. work are Theodore Davis, Henri Lovie, the purchase of the territory and is writ­ • Artworks by New Orleans artists Fred B. Schell, and Edwin Forbes. ten, in part, in both English and French. include three gouache views painted about Dr. Mary Nelson Guthrie has donated -Gerald Patout

12 DONORS jANUARY-JviARCH, 1999 LEGAL SCHOLARS KIMBERLY S. HANGER "T"'wo distinguished legal scholars, with Mrs. Gerald Andrus Mrs. Robert Joseph l ties to the Collection, died recently. imberly S. Hanger, Arthur Hardy Enterprises, Killeen Inc. Charlotte Knipmeyer Judge John Minor Wisdom, Kthe 1997 winner Sylvia Barker Dr. Alfred E. Lemmon appointed to the U.S. Fifth Circuit of the Kemper and Jason Berry Louisiana State University Jo Ellen Bezou at Eunice Court of Appeals by President Dwight Leila Williams Prize, DrewBevolo Jane K. Lowemritt D . Eisenhower, played a key role in died in March. Dr. William E. Borah Denise Klingman- Barbara Broadwell Meunier bringing an end to segregation in the Hanger was assistant Eric]. Brock John Magill New Orleans public schools in the 1960s professor of history at the University of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Mrs. E. Dameron Manard through his interpretation of the 1954 Tulsa. After receiving her Ph.D. from Broussard Mona Mailhes Mrs. John W Calhoun Barry Martyn Brown v. Board of Education decision. the University of Florida, she was direc­ Dr. Gordon W Callender, MetroBooks Judge Wisdom, who died in May, was a tor of ·research at the Louisiana State Jr. David Moltke-Hansen Mrs. William K. Mrs. P. Roussel Norman friend of Collection founders General Museum. One of the scholars leading Chrisrovich Michael Patrykus and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams. the contemporary revitalization of Ralph Collins Paul Piem.ak Ted Ernst Karl W Peterson Cecil Morgan, dean emeritus of the Louisiana history, she was awarded the Mrs. James P. Ewin, Jr. Richard C. Plater, Jr. Tulane University School of Law, edited Williams Prize for Bounded Lives, Patricia Flick DodePlatou Fulcrum Publishing Sharon Robinson the monograph The First Constitution of Bounded Places: Free Black Society in Grant L. Robertson, Inc. Lila Lewis Sandefur the State of Louisiana, published jointly Colonial New Orleans, 1769-1803 William K. Greiner Edwin C. Schilling, Jr. by the Historic New Orleans Collection (Duke University Press, 1997). She Greater New Orleans Dr. and Mrs. Cole Archivists Schneider and Louisiana State University Press. is the author of numerous articles on Grouped'Arc heologie et Seaside Press Dean Morgan died in June. colonial New Orleans. d'Histoire de Margaret K. Slimp Blanquefort Charles Snyder RayN.Hiner Time-Life Books GENEALOGICAL REsEARCH IN FRANCE: REPOSITORIES AND RECORDS R.A. Horne University ofTexas, Estate oflda Kohlmeyer Institute ofTexan A lecture by Claire Bettag The Ida and Hugh Cultures at San Claire Mire Bettag, a certified genealogical researcher based in Washington, D.C., has Kohlmeyer Charitable Antonio Foundation James Viavant written and lectured extensively to national, regional, and local audiences. French and Dr. Robert Judice Bennie Jay Zahn Acadian families of Louisiana are the focus of her research in the National Archives of France (Paris and Aix-en-Provence) and in French departmental and municipal archives. The lecture will examine research facilities and records in France as well as P~T~ alternative approaches using French records available in the United States. '""rbe approach of a new century, not to SATURDAY, AUGUST 7, 1999 l mention a millennium, is an occasion WILLIAMS RESEARCH CENTER for people to ponder the future. A pamphlet 410 CHARTRES ST. in the Collection's holdings reflects turn-of- 9:30 a.m. . the-century concerns -100 years ago. Limited seating, please call (504) 598-7171 for reservations. Due to this special Prepare For 1900, printed in New presentation, the Williams Research Center will open for researchers at 1:00 p.m. Orleans by Jos. Levy & Brothers, was written by Abbott L. Arnold. He warns THIRD SATURDAY A CONTINUING PROGRAM his readers about the dangers of money AT THE WILLIAMS RESEARCH CENTER lending at exorbitant rates and writes that "usurers have caused the downfall of all 410 Chartres Street and this is history; they say, history An introduction to research at the Williams Research Center, each session includes an repeats itself" Arnold has numerous rec­ orientation to the book, manuscript, and visual image collections. The final portion of ommendations aimed at overcoming the each session focuses on a particular resource. financial zealots and notes that "there is August 21: Researching Neighborhoods of New Orleans scarcely an industrious man in the coun­ September 18: Photographic Collections of the Historic New Orleans Collection try who is not gradually being eaten up by October 16: Resources for the Study ofVisual Arts his lawyer, his doctor, the professors, 9:30 - 11:00 a.m. usurers and politicians." Pencilled directly During the morning session, the reading room will be available only to those attending under this statement is the handwritten the Third Saturday program. note, "is true as gospel." Limited enrollment, reservations required (504) 598-7171 -Gerald Patout Light refreshments follow

13 STAFF

IN THE COMMUNITY Gerald Patout, presi­ Benjamin Laurie Evans Jost! Zorrilla Grappin dent-elect, Louisiana and Southern Mississippi Editors: Chapter of Special Libraries Patricia Brady Louise C. Hoffman l!.i,..,,J.!!:l~--- Association; Patricia Brady, Gerald Patout annual Society of the Head of Photography: Jan White Brantley Cincinnati lecture at Washington and Lee University, "Keeping the Flame Alight: The Historic New Orleans Collection Washington, the Curtises, and Lafayette." Quarterly is published by the Historic New Pamela D. Arceneaux, interviewed about Orleans Collection, which is operated the cotton exhibition by the Times-Picayune, by the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, a Louisiana nonprofit corpora­ CityBusiness, the Arkansas Gazette, WDSU-TV Mimi Dionne, Chris Dennis; seated, Huston Bokinsky tion. Housed in a complex of historic build­ and WWL-Tv; and lecture, the Literary Study CHANGES ings in the French Quarter, facilities are open Group; John Magill, interviewed by WDSU­ Jose Zorrilla, systems support technician. to the public, Tuesday through Saturday, TV and WWL-TV, and lectures, Orleans Huston Bokinsky, Mimi Dionne, Chris from 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Tours of the Club, New Orleans Tour Guide Association, Dennis, special projects; Tom Carter, volunteer, history galleries and the residence are avail­ and curators from the Denver Art Museum; Williams Research Center. able for a nominal fee. lecture, Smithsonian Associates; INTERNS Jason Berry, Board of Directors: John H. Lawrence, interviewed for radio Benjamin Grappin, Universite de Dijon, Mrs. William K. Christovich, President about the Yacht Club exhibition and also for a France; Laurie Evans, Sweet Briar College; Zach John E. Walker Fred M. Smith videotape segment about photographer Shraberg, Loyola University New Orleans. Charles A. Snyder Elemore M. Morgan, Sr. MEMORIAL Meg Allan M. Theresa Lefevre and Warren J. The courtroom at Criminal District G. Henry Pierson, Jr., emerirus Woods, presentation, "Keeping Good Court in which F. Irvin Dymond successfully Priscilla O'Reilly Lawrence, Acting Direcror Collection Records: A Primer on Museum defended Clay Shaw in the Kennedy assassina­ The Historic New Orleans Collection Forms," Louisiana Association of Museums; tion conspiracy trial has been dedicated to the 533 Royal Street Gerald Patout, lecture, "Processing the memory of Mr. Dymond, who died last year. New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 (504) 523-4662 Ursuline Library in a Secular Environment," Lynn Dymond Adams is his daughter. [email protected] Society ofAmerican Archivists. IN MEMORIAM www.hnoc.org PUBLICATIONS The Collection mourns ISSN 0886-2109 © 1999 John Magill, articles in New Orleans the loss of Cornelius Regan, The Historic New Orleans Collection Magazine and Preservation in Print, M. Theresa photography assistant, who Additional photography by: Lefevre, book review, Gulf Coast Historical died in April. Dustin Booksh Review; Jan Brantley, photographs, Architectural Record; Judith H. Bonner, New Orleans Art Review; John H. Lawrence, book AT THE COLLECTION review, Louisiana History. MEETINGS Gerald Patout, Special Libraries Association and American Library Association; Kathy Slimp and M. Theresa Lefevre, American Association of Museums; Carol Bartels, Society of Southwest Archivists; Denise Klingman-Meunier, American Association for State and Local History; Pamela D. Arceneaux and Gerald Patout, workshop, Association of e Shepherd, Harry Karen Babb, Sue De Vz'lle . Volunteers Jeann_ hard Jackson at the Law Librarians; Sue Reyna, volunteer, Tennessee at the receptionfi ' Elite Caston and Redman, and Ric o'M, or members o'th L '. . Della Viator Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival; John . volunteer luncheon '.I , useums '.I ' e ou1s1ana A . . spring ssociatton H ..Lawrence and Pamela D. Arceneaux, work­ shop, Louisiana Historical Association.

14 THE SHOP and lacer appointed to the office oflndian Affairs, embarked on a venture with James Hall to publish a collection of Indian portraits based on paintings by Charles Bird King in the Indian Gallery of the War Department. James Gilreath writes in his introduction to North American Indian Portfolios from the Library of Congress chat McKenney and Hall fortunately preserved the likenesses of some of the most important Indians of their time because almost all the King pain tings were destroyed in a fire. Pictured at left are Asseola, a Seminole chief, and Push-Ma-Ta-Ha, a Choctaw warrior. Call the Shop at 504-598-7147 for more information about the McKenney and Hall images. Also avail­ able are two books by guest curator Daniel H. Usner, Jr., Indians, Settlers, n outstanding assortment of Hall published a series of portraits in the and Slaves in a Frontier Exchange A McKenney and Hall Indian 1830s, History of the Indian Tribes of Economy and American Indians in the portraits are available for purchase in the North America. McKenney, who had been Lower Mississippi Valley. Shop. Thomas L. McKenney and James superintendent of Indian Trade in 1816 NEW PUBLICATION A firsthand account of the Barde of New Orleans, revised and recencly published by the University Press of Florida in cooperation with the Historic New Orleans Collection, may be ordered from the Shop. (See page 9 fo r more information.) PLEASE SEND Histo rical Memoir ofth e ~ r in West Florida and Louisiana, 1814-15, with an aclas __ copies @ $49.95 $__ _ Shipping and handling $4.00 $ ___ 9% tax, Orleans Parish 4% tax, other LA residents $ _ _ _ TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $__ _ PLEASE PRI NT

Name

Address

City/State/Zip D MasterCard D VISA D Check or money order

Participants in the April symposium, The Pearl of the Antilles and the Crescent Acct. Number Exp. Date City, in Havana, Cuba: Luis Frades, assistant director, Archivo National de Cuba; Berarda Salabarria, director, Archivo National de Cuba; Alfred E. Signature Lemmon; john Hebert, chiefHispanic bibliographer, Library ofCongress; Eugene THE SHOP AT THE COLLECTION Cizek, Tulane University; Franklin Knight, johns Hopkins University; Fe Iglesias, 533 ROYAL STREET, NEW ORLEANS, LA 70130; 504-598-7147 Cuban Institute ofHistory. Photograph by john H Lawrence

15 Included in the current exhibition in the Williams Gallery is Sauvages du Mississipi [sic} by Edouard de Montule, 1821, lithograph by Brocas (1974.25. 10.159), pictured above.

De Montule, a Frenchman, wrote Voyage en Amerique, translated as A voyage to North America. He visited New Orleans in May 1817 before boarding the Vesuvius for a trip up the Mississippi River. In a small co mmuniry south of New Madrid, Missouri, de Montule encountered and wrote about an Indian "with all his baggage, encampment, wife, rwo children, and dogs for the chase. He was a remarkably handsome man, and having given him some glasses of brandy, he sat down beside me, and I took a sketch of him .... he had a ring through the cartilage, that is berween the nostrils of the nose; this ring, though oflead, was not very heavy; but those in his ears, of the same metal, were extremely ponderous .... His wife, who was sewing with a bone pierced through, his children, dogs, hatchet, gun, several skin sacks, fans formed of turkey's feathers, to brush off the stinging flies, and other objects, were all placed under a shed .... this savage of the Loups nation came to bring deer-skins ro the inhabitants, who gave him, in exchange, powder, shot, and stuffs; all merchandise comes through Louisville, or from New Orleans."-A Voyage to North America, and the West Indies in 1817, printed for Sir R. Phillips and Co., London, 1821

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KEMPER AND LEILA WILLIAMS FOUNDATION TH E HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION Museum • Research Center • Publisher 53 3 Royal Sere er New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 (504) 523-4662 Visit the Collection on the Internet at www. hnoc.org ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED