VOLUME XXXIII The Historic NUMBER 3 Collection Quarterly SUMMER 2016

Party bowl, 6" across, $36

Shop online at www.hnoc.org/shop

TAKING NOTES: Money in EVENT CALENDAR EXHIBITIONS & TOURS

CONCERTS IN THE COURTYARD All exhibitions are free unless noted otherwise. The Collection’s spring concert series, sponsored by AOS Interior Environments, wraps up with a performance by local indie favorite Sweet Crude. Admission includes three CURRENT complimentary drinks. Voices of Progress: Twenty Women Friday, June 17, 5:30–8 p.m. Who Changed New Orleans 533 Royal Street Through September 11, 2016 $10 admission; free for THNOC members Williams Gallery, 533 Royal Street “BEYOND A COMPANY MAN” LECTURE Money, Money, Money! Currency Holdings Join THNOC Curator/Historian Erin M. Greenwald as she introduces and signs her new from The Historic New Orleans Collection book, Marc-Antoine Caillot and the Company of the Indies in Louisiana: Trade in the French Through October 29, 2016 Atlantic World (LSU Press, 2016). Greenwald pushes beyond the first-person narrative Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street introduced in A Company Man: The Remarkable French-Atlantic Voyage of a Clerk for The Seignouret-Brulatour House: the Company of the Indies (THNOC, 2013) to explore Louisiana’s place within the wider A New Chapter 18th-century world. Through January 2018 Tuesday, June 21, 6 p.m. Orientation center, 533 Royal Street Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street A scale model, facility plans, and historical Free vignettes illuminate the past, present, and future “RUM, RHUM, RON! A HISTORY OF RUM IN THE NEW WORLD” of the 200-year-old Seignouret-Brulatour building on Royal Street, which The Collection will open This culinary symposium will celebrate the history, production, and consumption of the to the public in 2018. most widely produced liquor in Louisiana. The event will be moderated by Jessica Harris and features Ed Hamilton from the Ministry of Rum, New York Times drink columnist PERMANENT Rosie Schaap, cocktail historian Elizabeth Pearce, and more. The program also includes a Louisiana History Galleries happy hour event on Friday at the Palace Café and a rum tasting Saturday evening at the 533 Royal Street Hotel Monteleone. Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Friday–Saturday, June 24–25 Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street $70 per person; $60 for teachers, students, and THNOC members; attendees must be 21 The Williams Residence Tour or over THNOC Architectural Tour To register or for more information, including a full schedule of events, visit 533 Royal Street www.hnoc.org, email [email protected], or call (504) 523-4662. Tuesday–Saturday, 10 and 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday, 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. LES COMÉDIENS FRANÇAIS LECTURE $5 per person In this year’s French-heritage lecture, “Rediscovering Victor Séjour,” WRC Director Alfred Groups of eight or more should call (504) 598-7145 E. Lemmon will discuss the life of the Creole author, and others will read from his works. for reservations or visit www.hnoc.org. Thursday, July 7, 6 p.m. Educational tours for school groups are available Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street free of charge; please contact Daphne L. Derven, Free; for reservations, call (504) 523-4662 or email [email protected]. curator of education, at (504) 598-7154 or [email protected]. VOICES OF PROGRESS LECTURE Presented in conjunction with The Collection’s exhibition on women of influence, this UPCOMING book signing and lecture spotlights the work of Pamela Tyler, author of New Orleans Goods of Every Description: Shopping in Women and the Poydras Home: More Durable than Marble (LSU Press, 2016). New Orleans, 1825–1925 Wednesday, July 27, 6 p.m. September 23, 2016–April 9, 2017 533 Royal Street Williams Gallery, 533 Royal Street Free 2016 NEW ORLEANS ANTIQUES FORUM See inside back cover for more information about this year’s forum, “Dinner Is Served: Decorative and Dining in the South.” Thursday–Sunday, August 4–7 GENERAL HOURS Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street 533 Royal Street Registration is required. Visit www.hnoc.org/antiques.htm or call (504) 523-4662. Williams Gallery, Louisiana History Galleries, Shop, and Tours VOICES OF PROGRESS LECTURE Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.; Janet Allured, professor of history at McNeese State University, will discuss her Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. forthcoming book, Remapping Second-Wave Feminism: The Long Women’s Rights Movement in Louisiana, 1950–1997 (University of Georgia Press, 2016). 400 and 410 Chartres Street Thursday, August 11, 6 p.m. Williams Research Center, Boyd Cruise Gallery, 533 Royal Street and Laura Simon Nelson Galleries Free Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.

D The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly ON THE COVER United States of America one-dollar legal tender note (reverse side) August 1, 1862; by National Bank Note Company, printer (New York) 2016.0021.2

FROM THE DIRECTOR

CONTENTS Whether monetary, proprietary, or cultural, capital is a powerful force in our world. This summer The Collection is examining capital from several angles: our newest ON VIEW/ 2 exhibition, Money, Money, Money! Currency Holdings from The Historic New Orleans Federal money emerges from currency Collection, chronicles the rise of America’s first federal currency out of a cluttered land- chaos in the 19th century. scape of locally produced tender. From boom-and-bust financial cycles to the division of Off-Site the country during the Civil War, the story of currency production in the 19th century The Williams Residence showcases the can tell us much about our development as the United States. fashion flair of its mistress. In the new installment of our anniversary-year special series, the Quarterly takes a look at the buildings of The Collection. Real-estate capital may seem inconsequential to BOOKS/ 8 our greater mission of preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf Scholars discuss screen adaptations in South, but from the start we have sought also to preserve some of the historic architec- the Tennessee Williams Annual Review. ture of the French Quarter. This concern was a defining wish of founders Kemper and A Company Man arrives in paperback. Leila Williams, and our stewardship of Vieux Carré property over the past 50 years has helped us grow not only as a museum, research center, and publisher but also as an agent THNOC AT 50/ 10 of historic preservation. Exploring the architectural history of THNOC proudly and conscientiously explores New Orleans’s complex history The Collection. through our exhibitions, programs, and publications. Recognition of these efforts came in April, with the news that we received a substantial grant from the National COMMUNITY/ 14 Endowment for the Humanities—the only one in its category to receive full funding. On the Job This amazing opportunity will allow our 2015 exhibition Purchased Lives: New Orleans On the Scene and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865 to travel to three different cities over the next Become a Member two years. Thanks to additional support from the NEH, Entergy Corporation, the National Park Service, and other sponsors, a smaller, panel version of the exhibition will Focus on Philanthropy travel to libraries and other venues throughout Louisiana. Donors In the realm of arts and culture, our new issue of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review mines the rich oeuvre of the celebrated playwright to extract new meanings for ACQUISITIONS/ 21 literary scholars. New Orleans’s cultural and historical capital is one of our most power- Acquisition Spotlight: Colonial diplomacy ful resources, and here at THNOC we hope the lessons and cultural gifts of the past can and the dubious honor of medal chiefs. lend meaning to the present and guide us into the future. —PRISCILLA LAWRENCE Recent Additions ON VIEW

A

EXHIBITION Money, Money, Money! Currency Paper Backed Holdings from The Historic New Orleans Collection An exhibition of currency from throughout Louisiana history chronicles the rise of America’s first paper money. Through October 29, 2016 Williams Research Center, American banknotes in the 21st century are known for their uniform size, green ink, 410 Chartres Street built-in anticounterfeiting features, and universal acceptance as the United States’ only Free paper money. Prior to the , however, the nation had no single currency, with the exception of the small-denomination coinage issued by the US Mint following the American Revolution. In the decades that followed, thousands of American banks, states, cities, parishes, counties, and towns printed their own banknotes for circulation in local, regional, and national markets. THNOC’s newest exhibition, Money, Money, Money! Currency Holdings from The Historic New Orleans Collection, features 200 original objects—from 18th-century French and Spanish coins and antebellum printing plates to Civil War–era parish banknotes—illustrating the history of money in America, with a special focus on Louisiana. Louisiana’s first banks—the Bank of Louisiana and a branch of the Bank of the United States—opened on Royal Street in 1805. Each circulated its own notes, extended credit, accepted deposits, exchanged money, and engaged in a variety of other financial activities suited to a booming port town. By 1830 New Orleans boasted five banks, and just four years later that number had ballooned to 12. New state-chartered banks—such as the Bank

2 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly B

B

C D

of Orleans, Citizens’ Bank, Mechanics and Traders Bank, Union Bank, and Consolidated A. and B. City of New Orleans, First Municipality, 200-dollar note (reverse and Association of Planters—competed to underwrite expanding markets in land, cotton, obverse sides) sugar, and slaves, all of which could be purchased using paper money. October 30, 1837; engraving The beauty of bank notes was that as long as the public had confidence in their value, by John V. Childs, engraver (New Orleans) gift of Boyd Cruise, 1947.28 banks could print and circulate more paper currency than the amount of specie kept in their vaults. But when trust in that system failed, as it did when transatlantic credit C. Magee and George (saddlers) markets contracted in the late 1830s, so too did banks, leaving businesses and individuals three-dollar note January 21, 1862; engraving holding worthless paper notes. During the Panic of 1837—one of the worst financial crises by Price Current Office, printer (New Orleans) in US history—banks suspended specie payments, and creditors ranging from state govern- 1970.19.4 ments to individual property owners defaulted on their debts. The Panic of 1837 was not D. St. John the Baptist Parish three-dollar the only economic crash of the antebellum period. Markets followed a boom-and-bust note (obverse side) pattern throughout the 19th century, with much of the credit available in the South prior 1862; engraving to 1865 tied up in cotton and the enslaved laborers who picked it. 2015.0426.3 The era best represented in Money, Money, Money! is the Civil War, when the United E. French sou (reverse side) States and its Confederate counterparts, including states, parishes, 1722; copper counties, towns, and even merchants, printed vast quantities of minted in La Rochelle, France 1978.137 currency. Soon after seceding from the Union in early 1861, the Confederate States of America began printing its own paper banknotes. The earliest were printed in New York by the National Bank Note Company and smuggled across Union lines. Subsequent issues were printed in New Orleans; Richmond, Virginia; and Columbia, South Carolina. E

Summer 2016 3 ON VIEW

State treasuries were also actively engaged in financing the war and state economies. Louisiana mobilized its state banking system in support of the war in 1861, and Governor Thomas Overton Moore issued an order to all Louisiana banks to suspend specie payments in November of that year, leaving the state and its inhabitants to operate in an economy based entirely on paper money. Of Louisiana’s 48 parishes, 40 printed their own paper money during the Civil War, and towns across the state sought to satisfy the demand for a circulating currency by turning to the printing press. Even private busi- nesses issued notes redeemable for goods and services when national, state, and even municipal notes were too scarce to offer as change. While the Confederacy began printing money at breakneck speed as early as March 1861, the United States struggled to devise its own system for financing the war. Like the F. Confederate States of America 100- Confederacy, the US government turned to paper money. The first federal banknotes, dollar note (obverse side) November 24, 1862; engraving made possible by an act of Congress, appeared in the summer of 1861. These bills, known by Keatinge and Ball, printer (Columbia, SC) as demand notes, circulated throughout the Union and were officially declared legal 1974.25.22.55 tender on February 25, 1862, with the passage of the Legal Tender Act. The green-backed

G. City of Baton Rouge twenty-five- notes appeared in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, $100, $500, and $1,000 cent note and were first issued between March 1862 and March 1863. July 18, 1862; engraving The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 further strengthened federal authority by 1970.19.48 bringing all banking activities under federal jurisdiction. The acts prohibited nonfederal H. United States of America one-dollar entities from issuing coins, and, perhaps most important, at least in terms of the creation legal tender note (obverse side) of a national currency, they made the issuance of banknotes by nonfederal entities subject August 1, 1862; engraving to taxation, which led the vast majority of banks to cease printing paper alternatives. By by National Bank Note Company, printer (New York) 1870 federally issued notes reigned supreme throughout the newly reconciled United 2016.0021.2 States. —ERIN M. GREENWALD

A

F

G H

4 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly OFF-SITE Purchased Lives to Travel Thanks to NEH Grant Our quarterly roundup of holdings that have appeared outside The Collection, either on loan to other institutions or reproduced in noteworthy media projects.

The Collection’s 2015 exhibition Louisiana’s Old State Capitol Museum in Baton Purchased Lives: New Orleans and Rouge borrowed one item related to civil rights the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808–1865 attorney A. P. Tureaud for the exhibition From No is the recipient of a prestigious 2016 Vote to Geaux Vote, which opened January 18 and grant from the National Endowment will be on view through the rest of 2016. for the Humanities. The $282,000 grant will allow Purchased Lives to Alexander P. Tureaud Black Citizenship Award travel within and outside the state. and NAACP medal The exhibition’s two-year tour began ca. 1970 in early June at the Alexandria gift of Michael Kirk, 1985.73.17 Museum of , where the show will be up through August 20, and it will continue to the National Civil Rights Museum, in Memphis, Tennessee, and then to Bullock Texas State History Museum, in Austin, Texas. Two additional grants, one from Entergy Corporation for nearly $40,000 and a second from the National Park Service for nearly $23,000, will support a separate panel display that will visit sites The French Quarter playhouse Le Petit Théâtre throughout Louisiana. The 10 porta- selected five images to be used in a small display ble panels allow for easy installation, commemorating the theater’s centennial season. bringing the exhibition’s narrative to an even larger audience. Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré 1956; pen-and-ink drawing by Boyd Cruise 1956.21.13 a

J. A. Beard and May auction notice for a “Valuable Gang of Georgia and South Carolina Field Hands” New Orleans: Bulletin Print, 1856 2014.0371

Fifteen images of New Orleans’s built environment are featured in the new book Revitalizing Cities: The HRI Vision, by Pres Kabacoff, Eddie Boettner, and Tom Leonhard with James P. Farwell (University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2016). The West Baton Rouge Museum’s recently closed Blue Plate Fine Foods exhibition on New Orleans artist Angela Gregory between 1979 and 1983 featured one sculpture from THNOC’s holdings. by Charles L. Franck Photographers The Charles L. Franck Studio Young Angela Gregory Collection at The Historic New ca. 1970; sculpture Orleans Collection, 1979.325.2898 gift of Michael Kirk, 2006.0156.5

Summer 2016 5 ON VIEW

Style Maven As part of The Collection’s 50th anniversary, visitors to the Williams Residence A have the opportunity to view items from the wardrobe of Leila Williams.

TOUR Born on Lundi Gras, 1901, at 2525 St. Charles Avenue, supposedly just after Proteus The Williams Residence Tour stopped to toast in front of the house, Leila Hardie Moore was raised in luxury and style. In 1907, when Leila was six years old, her father had a replica of 2525 St. Charles built Featuring rare items from the closet of in Pass Christian, Mississippi, to serve as the new family home. Leila was educated by Leila Williams through 2016 a private governess and then attended the Westover School in Connecticut. The family 533 Royal Street returned to New Orleans for social events, summered at their house in New London, $5 admission Connecticut, and regularly traveled to New York and Europe. Groups of eight or more should contact Leila came of age at the dawn of the flapper era, returning to New Orleans in 1919 for Lori Boyer for reservations at (504) 598- her debutante year. The following year, Leila married L. Kemper Williams, 14 years her 7145 or [email protected]. senior. Her wedding gown (above left) shows the changing fashion in the 1920s toward shorter hem lengths. Kemper and Leila spent the early years of their marriage based in Patterson, Louisiana, but continued to travel. Leila’s receipts show that she made regular shopping outings to New Orleans, New York, and even to Paris. She was a young, wealthy, fashionable woman in the mid-1920s and bought elegant clothes from leading designers. Young Mrs. Williams purchased a number of fashionable gowns from the house of New York–based designer Jessie Franklin Turner. Turner is credited as being one of the first

A. Leila Moore Williams Americans to create unique designs, rather than copying fashions from Paris. Her shop 1920; photograph was particularly known for flowing tea gowns and exotic evening dresses, many made from by Bachrach Photography fabrics that Turner designed herself. She took inspiration from historical and ethnographic gift of Mrs. Edmund B. Richardson, 1993.71.166 textiles found in the growing collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Other designers Leila B. Lady’s dress with shawl frequented were Anna Tappé Gowns Inc., in New York, and the Callot Soeurs, in Paris. 1950s; silk By the middle of the century, about the time the Williamses moved into their French gift of an anonymous donor, 1989.135.2 Quarter residence, Leila’s taste in couture shifted from the exotic patterns of Turner’s C. Fur-trimmed coat designs to the elegant shapes of Eleanora Garnett. Garnett imported designs and gowns made by 1958 (based on fur storage receipt); from Italy and was just getting her start in New York in the late ’40s. Leila’s favorite place cashmere, fur to shop, and the source of the majority of her wardrobe throughout her life, was Bergdorf retailed by Bergdorf Goodman (New York) gift of an anonymous donor, 1989.135.1 Goodman. On semiannual shopping trips to New York, she purchased shoes, gloves, hats, stockings, undergarments, day dresses, evening gowns, suits, coats, and furs from the D. Floor-length dress with sequined bodice famed Fifth Avenue department store. mid-20th century; chiffon, polyester, sequins gift of Joan Burguieres Brown, 2012.0089.14 When Leila passed away, in 1966, her clothes were dispersed among her nieces and neph- ews. Since then, only a few pieces have returned to The Collection. These pieces, combined E. Sequined dress with her receipts, scraps of textiles, and photographs from THNOC’s holdings, offer a rare mid-20th century; knit fabric, sequins by Sophie of Saks Fifth Avenue (New York) glimpse into the closet of a privileged, stylish woman who loved the thrill of the sartorial gift of Joan Burguieres Brown, 2012.0089.3 hunt. —LYDIA BLACKMORE

6 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly B C

D E

Summer 2016 7 BOOKS

Offstage and On-screen The new issue of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review centers on screen adaptations of the southern playwright’s works.

A meditation on the Shakespearean roots of a sexually charged short story. A peek between the lines of some of American drama’s most creative stage directions. A youthful play- wright’s first stage production, in print for the first time. And a cluster of essays charting the many routes from Broadway to Hollywood. Scholarly writing can get a bad rap: too esoteric, too disengaged from real-world concerns. But the current issue of the Tennessee Williams Annual Review, released in April, is all allure and accessibility, from the sultry gaze of Marlon Brando on the cover to the hard-hitting articles within. Since 2004 The Historic New Orleans Collection has collaborated with founding editor Robert Bray, of Middle Tennessee State University, to publish the Review. Each issue finds innovative ways to spotlight an American playwright whose work continues to resonate with theatergoers, film buffs, scholars, and creative artists of all stripes more than three decades after his death. The diversity of contributors to the journal—nearly 80 over the years, representing 10 countries and 55 different institutions—suggests the vibrancy of the conversations taking place within its pages. THNOC’s embrace of the journal has been a natural outgrowth of its collecting mission. The Fred W. Todd Tennessee Williams Collection, rich in film memorabilia and ephemera, is the cornerstone of the largest privately held collection of Williams materials in the coun- try. If the Review illustrates the breadth of THNOC’s literary holdings, it also manifests NOW AVAILABLE the rewards of dedicated archival research. Nowhere are these rewards more evident than The Tennessee Williams Annual Review in the “Previously Unpublished” feature that opens most issues of the journal: a Williams Volume 15 story, play, or poem plucked from archival obscurity and presented, for the first time, to the The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2016 general public. $15; available at The Shop Many of the essays published in the Review emerge from presentations at the annual at The Collection or through Tennessee Williams Scholars Conference, which, like the journal, is Bray’s brainchild. www.tennesseewilliamsstudies.org A native of Monroe, Louisiana, he earned a master’s degree from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) and a doctorate from Ole Miss; he joined MTSU’s faculty in 1994. Among his many authored or coau- thored works are Hollywood’s Tennessee: The Williams Films and Postwar America (2009) and Modern American Drama on Screen (2013). In December, Bray will retire from the classroom—and this issue of the Review, number 15, marks his last as editor. Bray is particularly proud of the Review’s associated website, tennesseewilliamsstudies .com, which offers archived journal content, audio clips from the scholars conference, and links to related resources. “When I taught American Studies in Brazil [in 1985] I became more aware of the scarcity of academic resources in developing countries,” Bray said. “Our journal website offers free, nonsubscription scholarship for academics and Williams enthu- siasts worldwide, and it is always gratifying to receive notes of thanks from places such as Egypt, India, and Iran.” Bray will become editor emeritus of the Review and will continue to helm the scholars conference. R. Barton Palmer, a frequent coauthor of Bray’s and Clemson University’s Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature and Director of Film Studies, will assume the editorship. —JESSICA DORMAN

8 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly Caillot in the Classroom With THNOC’s A Company Man now available in paperback, the adventures of a clerk for the Company of the Indies are more accessible to students and educators.

This spring The Historic New Orleans Collection’s award-winning volume A Company Man, the lively account of a young man’s 18th-century voyage from Paris to the New World, appeared in paperback for the first time. Designed to be accessible to students and NOW AVAILABLE teachers in particular, the affordable softcover edition of Marc-Antoine Caillot’s vibrant memoir opens as the 21-year-old clerk sets sail from Paris in 1729. Translated from the A Company Man: The Remarkable French- French by Teri F. Chalmers and featuring Caillot’s own illustrations and a comprehensive Atlantic Voyage of a Clerk for the Company of the Indies, paperback edition introduction by THNOC Curator /Historian Erin M. Greenwald, the edition brings 18th-century New Orleans and its French Atlantic context to life in the classroom. a memoir by Marc-Antoine Caillot, translated Caillot’s uncensored tales of pranks, parties, and romantic escapades, as well as his by Teri F. Chalmers and edited by Erin M. Greenwald detailed descriptions of the native peoples and plants and animals he encountered, have proved popular among students. “He’s a young man, writing about his first job: it’s easy The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2016 for students to identify with him and thus a great way for them to get a sense of the $25, available at The Shop at The Collection history of the region,” said Adam McKeown, professor of English at Tulane University, and anywhere books are sold who assigns the entire memoir in his course on New Orleans and the early modern Caribbean. “His description of Mardi Gras and of masquerading in New Orleans is the earliest one we know of,” he noted, referring to Caillot’s colorful account of rounding up friends in search of parties and of winning male admirers while disguised as a shepherdess. “The students also love the book itself, which is beautiful, with all those color illustra- tions. It’s been my experience that students still find the early-modern era more palatable through print resources than digital,” McKeown said. College students today often do more reading online than anywhere else, but physical engagement with the old and durable technology of a print volume helps them immerse themselves in the period. McKeown said students also report that reading a print book frees them from the interruption of messages and potential Internet searches that are constant distractions while reading electronic texts. Caillot’s memoir has found its way not only into college courses on litera- ture and history but also into high Title page, Relation du voyage de la school classrooms. The lower price of the Louisianne ou Nouvelle France fait par le Sr. paperback—which includes all the color Caillot en l’année 1730 illustrations and contextual material of between 1731 and 1758; manuscript with watercolor the original—invites even broader course by Marc-Antoine Caillot adoption. —THNOC STAFF 2005.0011

Summer 2016 9 THNOC AT 50

Building Footprints Architectural preservation is a lesser-known but manifest facet of The Collection’s mission. Looking back on 50 years, the Quarterly explores the history of THNOC’s French Quarter properties.

Merieult House: 533 Royal St. Counting House: 533 Royal St. BUILT: Ca. 1792, with renovations in the 1830s, BUILT: 1794–95; renovated 1830s and 1973 1880s, 1938, and 1960s–70s TYPE/STYLE: Originally a warehouse; renovated as a TYPE/STYLE: Originally a Spanish Colonial Greek Revival bank estate; renovated Greek Revival FUNCTION: Portrait gallery and event/meeting hall, FUNCTION: Entrance to and orientation center with office space above (Development, Security, and for THNOC’s Royal Street campus, Louisiana Buildings Management departments) History Galleries, The Shop at The Collection, and office space (Shop and Docent departments) This formal hall has humble origins: it was originally built as a warehouse for Merieult’s A. Merieult House The lot occupied by the Merieult House trade enterprise. When the Lizardi Brothers 1993; watercolor and gouache with gold has been in continuous operation banking firm purchased the property in pigment by Jim Blanchard since the 1720s, when the entire block the 1830s it made major changes, adding 1993.38.1 bounded by Royal, St. Louis, Bourbon, a second story and gallery to the building and Toulouse Streets belonged to the and creating the grand Greek Revival room French Crown and was the site of work- whose classical details—pilasters and Ionic men’s barracks and the king’s forges. Jean columns, a magnificent sunflower ceiling François Merieult, a prosperous merchant medallion, and thick crown moldings— and trader, purchased the property in remain in place today. The Counting House 1792 and established a full estate includ- takes its name from this financial phase ing a coach house, stable, cellars, two of the building’s history, and anecdotal kitchens, and storehouses for wood and evidence suggests that, after business hours, commercial goods. The Merieult House the Lizardi brothers and their wives held was one of only a few buildings not evening balls and receptions on the elegant destroyed in the fire of 1794. Following ground floor. the fire, Governor Carondelet introduced new fire codes, which limited the use Maisonette: 533 Royal St. of wood and mandated that buildings BUILT: 1795–96; rebuilt 1815; renovated 1973 over one story be built of brick or brick- TYPE/STYLE: Service quarters between-post and plastered. FUNCTION: Staff offices (Education and Technology The property passed through five departments) and kitchen owners, ranging from international bank- ers to a saddle maker to the hotelier Jean Across the courtyard from the Counting Baptiste Trapolin, before Kemper and House, the three-story Maisonette (meaning Leila Williams bought it in 1938. The “little house” in French) features wooden Williamses dedicated the upstairs to their galleries and railings composing a beauti- growing collection of historical materials, ful textured screen on the second and and today visitors can see items from that third floors. This service wing, situated on founding collection in the same space, land that was part of the original Merieult now the Louisiana History Galleries. purchase, originally had a low, barrel-tiled

10 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly roof—typical of the Spanish Colonial 1946 to 1964. The furnishings and decor period. The current, steeply pitched roof remain as they were during the Williamses’ was built over it, so that the older roof is stay, and the Residence is open for tours still intact in the building’s attic. Tuesday–Sunday. The Maisonette functioned as guest rooms for Trapolin’s Royal House hotel, The Townhouse: 714 Toulouse St. which began operation in 1878. One of the BUILT: Late 19th century; renovated 1987 Trapolin daughters, writing to an official TYPE/STYLE: American townhouse of the Works Progress Administration FUNCTION: Staff offices (Administration and in 1938, described the hotel as serving Technology departments) “foreign consuls, senators, lawyers, and wealthy cotton and sugar planters.” The Townhouse is so incorporated into The Collection’s complex of connected structures Williams Residence: 718 Toulouse St. that it does not appear, from the street, to BUILT: 1889; renovated 1973 be a separate building. The two-story brick B TYPE/STYLE: Italianate townhouse building was used as a banking house before FUNCTION: The Collection’s house museum the Williamses purchased it, and following their sale of the French Quarter complex in Surrounded by three courtyards, the 1965, it served as commercial space until The Williams Residence has been described Collection bought it in 1980 to accommodate as a hidden house. Originally built as the its growing staff. B. Williams Residence postcard after 1970; postcard featuring color relief halftone home of hotelier Jean Baptiste Trapolin, it Unlike Creole townhouses, which often gift of Dottie Gaudet, 2015.0088.1 served as an art gallery run by the Works feature a carriageway leading to a courtyard Progress Administration during the 1930s. entrance, this American townhouse has a C. Courtyard and Maisonette 1993; watercolor and gouache with gold pigment Kemper and Leila Williams purchased prominent front door and entry hall with by Jim Blanchard the property in 1938 and lived there from interior stairway. 1993.38.3

C

Summer 2016 11 D

Louis Adam House: 722 Toulouse St. Williams (no relation to Kemper and Leila BUILT: 1788 Williams) lived in a third-story garret apart- D. Townhouse, Williams Residence, TYPE/STYLE: Creole townhouse ment. It was during his stay that Williams, Louis Adam House, and Creole Cottage on Toulouse Street FUNCTION: Staff offices (Publications, Marketing, having recently fled his family home in St. 1993; watercolor and gouache with gold pigment and Preparation departments) Louis, explored French Quarter bohemia by Jim Blanchard and crafted a new identity while subsisting 1993.38.2 The house that Louis Adam built here in on work as a waiter, occasional checks from E. Tennessee Williams inside 722 Toulouse 1788 escaped the great fire of 1794 and home, and the pawning of his possessions. Street changed hands many times over the follow- Williams began work on his play Vieux 1977 by Christopher Harris, photographer ing century. For a short time in 1939, Carré in this apartment, and later that year © Christopher Harris, 1994.143.3 the young, as-yet-unpublished Tennessee he left for California, though New Orleans would remain a personal touchstone for decades to come.

Creole Cottage: 726–728 Toulouse St. BUILT: Ca. 1830; renovated 1990s TYPE/STYLE: Creole cottage with dependency FUNCTION: Staff offices (Preparation and Maintenance departments) and workshop

This double cottage and outbuilding was purchased by The Collection in 1990. A subsequent archaeological dig revealed evidence of the first European-built struc- ture on the site, a French barracks from the 1720s; a building that burned in the fire of 1788; and a residence from the turn of the 19th century. The philanthropist Thomy Lafon, who owned extensive real estate in the city, bought the cottage in 1876 and, upon his death, willed it to the Society of E the Holy Family.

12 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly Perrilliat House: 400 Chartres St. BUILT: 1825; renovated 1939; restored 2010 TYPE/STYLE: Common-wall townhouses renovated as public building with historic facade restoration FUNCTION: Laura Simon Nelson Galleries, meet- ing space, and office space (Executive, Collections, Museum Programs, and Photography departments) Williams Research Center: 410 Chartres St. BUILT: 1915 This three-story structure, built by TYPE/STYLE: Beaux-Arts public building François Marie Perrilliat and adjacent to FUNCTION: Public research center and WRC the Williams Research Center, comprises staff offices a main building, a central courtyard, and back buildings. In addition to providing The two-story brick structure housing the staff space, the structure houses the Laura Williams Research Center is the work of Simon Nelson Galleries and the Destrehan architect Edgar A. Christy and builder Board Room, a gift of the Azby Fund. James A. Petty. It was originally erected to For the recent restoration, completed house the Second City Criminal Court and in 2012, the architectural firm Koch and the Third District Police Station. During Wilson sought to reflect the building’s 1825 the colonial period, the land was owned style as much as possible. They exposed the by the Marigny de Mandeville family and, arched bays on the front facade, some of through the years, by other well-known which had been boarded up. The exterior Louisiana families—de la Chaise, Forstall, stucco was painted a dusty red hue to mimic F Macarty, Destrehan, and Perrilliat. the building’s original imported northern F. Williams Research Center After an extensive restoration, the brick, and the shutters were restored to the 1994; watercolor, ink, and gouache WRC—and its august public research “Paris green” shade that was popular in the by Jim Blanchard space, the Reading Room—opened in 19th century. Other period touches include 1994.41.1 1996. It remains the headquarters of the wide-plank pine floors, exposed-joists G. Former director Jon Kukla stands in The Collection’s research arm, hosting ceiling on the ground floor, and beautifully the under-renovation Williams Research thousands of visitors annually from New restored entresol. Center, 1995. Orleans and around the world.

WRC Annex: 400 Chartres St. BUILT: 2007 TYPE/STYLE: Commercial structure with historic facade replica FUNCTION: Boyd Cruise Room and Gallery

The WRC annex was the first new construction completed in the French Quarter after Hurricane Katrina. The addition provided THNOC with increased exhibition and programming space—such as the first-floor Boyd Cruise Room—as well as three floors of collections storage. New Orleans architect Davis Jahncke based his design for the addition on a notarial drawing depicting the Veranda Hotel, which stood on the same lot in the 1850s. In addition to following the design, Jahncke also implemented 19th-century building technology, such as hand- hammered hardware. G

Summer 2016 13 COMMUNITY

ON THE JOB Jennifer Schwartzberg POSITION: Education coordinator, on staff since 2015 ASSIGNMENT: Research the history of Jewish life in New Orleans

In creating programs for visiting educational groups, I work closely with docents, museum programs staff, and Williams Research Center staff to coordinate an experience that best meets the needs of each group. Often, these programs center on an exhibition, a particular item or collection of items from our holdings, or a specific theme. Last year I was asked to create a program for a group from the American Jewish Archives in Cincinnati, Ohio. The visitors wanted to view materials from our collection that spoke to the history of Jewish life in New Orleans, so I began to search the catalog for relevant holdings. One set of manuscripts, the Goldsmith-Haber Certificate Collection, caught my eye. According to the catalog description, this manuscript collection contains several docu- ments related to Ferdinand and Louis Goldsmith and Abraham Haber, German Jewish A. Abraham Haber certificate of US citizenship merchants who lived in New Orleans during the mid-19th century. I recognized Haber’s 1845 87-12-L.1 name from some genealogical research that I had done recently—Abraham Haber is my great-great-great-great grandfather! The collection contains two documents relating to B. Abraham Haber membership certificate for Haber: his US citizenship certificate from December 13, 1845, and a membership certifi- Germania No. 46 Masonic Lodge 1846 cate for the Germania Lodge, a Masonic organization founded by German immigrants in 87-12-L.2 the early 1840s. Being able to see and touch these documents that recognized foundational events in my ancestor’s life was an incredible experience—for the first time, I began to see C. Katz and Barnett business receipt 1877 Abraham Haber as an actual person instead of a series of dates, names, and numbers. 1982.162.1 After this find, I was even more excited to keep searching for information about my ancestors in 19th-century New Orleans. Through documentary evidence in our archives and digitized information from America’s Historical Newspapers and the Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index, both accessible at the Williams Research Center, I was able to piece together biographi- cal sketches of Haber and another ancestor, Sigmund Katz. Haber (1808–1888) emigrated from Bavaria to New Orleans around 1835. He was involved in several commercial ventures with other German Jewish immigrants around the city, establishing and dissolv- ing multiple business partnerships, all of them related to retail. In 1860 Haber owned two commer- cial buildings designed by noted architect Henry Howard; they are still standing today, at 820 and 822 Baronne Street. But the most compelling piece of evidence I found was a runaway-slave ad that Haber posted in 1853, in which he A B described his slave Esther and her

14 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly STAFF NEWS

New Staff Barry Cazaubon, Cynthia Finney, Jackie Gamble, Ariane Livaudais, Jude Matthews, Sue Meyer, Sofia Savchenco, volunteers.

Honors Curatorial Cataloger Kristin Hébert Veit completed George Washington University’s Museum Collections Management and Care program.

In the Community In March, Library Cataloger Nina Bozak, Docent Trainer Chris Cook, and Reference Assistant Robert Ticknor presented a conference panel, “THNOC Turns 50,” at the C Louisiana Historical Association’s annual meeting, in Baton Rouge. daughter Maria, who ran away in July of the same year. Finding this ad has had a larger Jason Wiese, curator and associate impact on me than anything else I’ve uncovered about my ancestry, because it demon- director of the Williams Research strates the impossibility of looking at history—even family history—through rose-colored Center, was the keynote speaker at glasses. The 249th birthday celebration at Sigmund Katz (1825–1895), my great-great-great grandfather, was born just south of ’s Hermitage, in Frankfurt, Germany. After immigrating to the United States in 1853, he served with the Nashville, Tennessee, on March 15. Fourth Regimental European Brigade of the Louisiana as part of the Confederate Deputy Director Daniel Hammer Army. In 1863 he co-founded Katz and Barnett, a dry goods store, at 48 Chartres Street was invited to present a lecture at (presently 224–226 Chartres). Around the same time he married Adele Haber, one of the Max Kade Institute for German- Abraham Haber’s daughters. By 1880, according to census records, the couple had seven American Studies at the University children and employed two live-in domestic servants. By 1892 Katz’s original business of Wisconsin–Madison. The April partner had died, so he founded a new dry-goods company, S&J Katz Co., with his 7 talk was titled “An Extraordinary nephew Jacob and sons Adolph and Ferdinand. Record: Three-Plus Centuries When Katz died in 1895, his obituary lauded his professional and personal achieve- of Germans in New Orleans as ments, labeling him a “representative citizen, esteemed by all who knew him.” He had Documented in the Holdings of The served for 30 years as treasurer of the Jewish Widows and Orphans Home, was on the Historic New Orleans Collection.” boards of directors for the Louisiana Historical Association and B’nai B’rith, and even Docent Malinda Blevins was served as a consular agent to Turkey (then still part of the Ottoman Empire) during the named first vice regent for the Spirit 1884 World’s Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. S&J Katz survived until of ’76 Chapter of the Daughters of 1915, when it was liquidated. The Times-Picayune article announcing the business’s the American Revolution. closure described the firm as a “veritable landmark” that had established many interna- tional connections during its 52-year history. Publications When the American Jewish Archives group arrived in August 2015, I was excited to Curator Howard Margot published share the information that I had uncovered during my research. To my surprise, one an article, “‘Survivor(s)!’ Historical member of the group, Michael Cohen, an associate professor of Jewish studies at Tulane Peregrinations of New Orleans’s University, told me that he too had recently been researching Abraham Haber! Cohen French Superior Council and Spanish has been analyzing the financial networks of Jews along the Gulf Coast in the antebellum Judicial Records,” in the summer period, and since meeting, he and I have been in touch to share our findings. Conducting 2015 issue of Collections: A Journal for research at THNOC is still an essential part of my job, and it continues to yield discover- Museum and Archives Professionals. ies that are both personally and professionally rewarding. —JENNIFER SCHWARTZBERG

Summer 2016 15 COMMUNITY

ON THE SCENE Soirée d’Or The Historic New Orleans Collection celebrated 50 years of operation with an anniversary gala held Wednesday, May 4, at the historic Orpheum Theater. More than 250 guests—including Mayor Mitch Landrieu—attended the black- tie affair, which featured performances by the Preservation Hall All-Stars, the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra, and Joe Lastie Jr. and the Lastie Family Gospel, as well as a menu by sponsor Ralph Brennan Catering and Events. Other spon- sors included BBC Destination Management, A Preservation Hall Foundation, Gambel Communications, and the Hotel Monteleone. A. Avery King, Catie O’Reilly, Brian O’Reilly, Priscilla Lawrence, and Rebecca O’Reilly B. French Consul General Grégor Trumel and Ingrid Trumel C. Pam and Michael Cohn, Pat and Fred Smith, and Vic Ziminsky III D. Kirk and Mamie Gasperecz with Doug and Elaine Grundmeyer B C E. Mayor Mitch Landrieu and Jackie Clarkson F. Elizabeth and Ben Janke with Lydia Blackmore G. Amina Dearmon, Coeli Hilferty, Mignon Faget, Sharon Litwin, and Babs Moliere H. Priscilla Lawrence, Tim Trapolin, Bonnie Boyd, and Jack Pruitt I. Paul and Teri Maassen with Peggy Scott Laborde J. Rachel Lyons, Warren J. Woods, and Melissa Carrier D E

F F G

H I J

16 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly Guests raise their glasses in honor of The Collection’s 50th anniversary at the Soirée d’Or, held May 4 at the Orpheum Theater.

MEMBERSHIP LEVELS Founder Individual $35 Become a Member Founder Family $65 BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP Full membership benefits All members of The Collection enjoy the following benefits for one full year: Family memberships are for one or two • complimentary admission to all permanent tours and rotating exhibitions adults and any children under 18 all • special invitations to events, trips, receptions, and exhibition previews residing in a single household, or for • complimentary admission to the Concerts in the Courtyard series one member and a guest. • a 10 percent discount at The Shop at The Collection Merieult Society $100 • a subscription to The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly Full membership benefits plus: HOW TO JOIN • a special gift Visit www.hnoc.org and click the Support Us link or complete the enclosed envelope and return Mahalia Society $250 it with your gift. Full membership benefits plus: • a special gift • private, guided tours (by appointment)

Jackson Society $500 Full membership benefits plus: • a special gift • private, guided tours (by appointment) • free admission to all evening lectures

Laussat Society $1,000 Full membership benefits plus: Jared Osterhold of • a special gift Heirloom Live Event Painting creates a • private, guided tours (by appointment) work of art in real time • free admission to all evening lectures —a gift of Gambel • invitation to annual gala Communications—at The Collection’s 50th- Bienville Circle $5,000 anniversary gala. Full membership benefits plus: • a special gift NORTH AMERICAN RECIPROCAL MUSEUM PROGRAM • private, guided tours (by appointment) Members of the Merieult, Mahalia, Jackson, and Laussat Societies and the Bienville Circle receive • free admission to all evening lectures reciprocal benefits at other leading museums through the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) • invitation to annual gala program. These benefits include free member admission, discounts on concert and lecture tickets, and • lunch with the executive director discounts at the shops of participating museums. Visit www.narmassociation.org for more information.

Summer 2016 17 COMMUNITY

FOCUS ON PHILANTHROPY Estate of Rubie Monroe Harris

In October 2015 The Collection lost Kansas, Harris served in the United States her research, she learned that she was a friend and longtime member with Air Force. A voracious genealogist, Harris descended from the Munro clan of the passing of Rubie Monroe Harris. held memberships in the Daughters of the Scotland; her ancestor Daniel Munro The 83-year-old native of Clarksdale, American Revolution, the National Society fought in the Revolutionary War, and both Mississippi, had been living in the Gulf of the Colonial Dames of America, the he and his son, Daniel Munro Jr., fought Coast region for decades—most recently in Order of the First Families of Mississippi, in the War of 1812. And, above all, she Metairie—and she was fiercely proud of her Friends of the Cabildo, and The Collection’s loved learning about her ancestor John T. family tree’s connection to New Orleans. Williams Society. Monroe, whom she credited with preventing Harris was the great-granddaughter of “I love the family I was born into,” she scores of civilian deaths at the moment of John T. Monroe, mayor of New Orleans said in a 2013 interview. “We are salt of the city’s occupation during the Civil War. at the time of the Civil War, and she was a the earth people, and I think they’d all be “He is the reason the French Quarter is still passionate champion of his. proud of me, because I’m proud of them.” standing today,” she said. —MOLLY REID As a final gesture toward her family’s Harris was retired and living in Bay St. legacy, Harris made a bequest to The Louis, Mississippi, when Hurricane Katrina Historic New Orleans Collection that will made its approach across the Gulf of Mexico. serve to continue THNOC’s work in the She planned on riding out the storm, but realm of Civil War history. Harris’s gener- was convinced to leave the day before the ous tribute gift will go toward the purchase hurricane struck on August 29, 2005. of artifacts and other memorabilia related “I lost everything,” she said. “My house to the history of New Orleans and the Civil was a half-block from the beach. All I had War, as well as related programs, displays, left was a suitcase and a change of under- exhibitions, publications, and educational wear and a radio.” materials. “The Collection is deeply grateful After staying in several places around to Rubie Harris for her dedication to New Lafayette, Louisiana, she settled back in Orleans history, and we offer our heartfelt New Orleans and undertook a renewed condolences to her friends and family for interest in genealogy. Over the course of their loss,” said Jack Pruitt, director of devel- opment and community relations. THE WILLIAMS SOCIETY Versatility was a defining trait of Harris’s Because Rubie Harris included The Collection in her estate plan, she is recognized as a member of the long life. Following an idyllic child- Williams Society. Named for the founders of The Historic New Orleans Collection, Leila and Kemper Williams, the Williams Society honors those individuals who have thoughtfully included The Collection in hood Harris went from the delta region their estate plans. Like the Williamses, members of the Society create a lasting legacy of helping document of Mississippi to New Orleans, where she and promote the unique history and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana for a local, national, and inter- studied to be a nurse anesthetist at Charity national audience. Members may elect to remain anonymous, though The Collection would be honored to recognize benefactors. For additional information regarding the Williams Society and other planned-giving Hospital. After earning a bachelor of arts opportunities, please contact Jack Pruitt at (504) 598-7173 or [email protected] or visit www.hnoc.org degree from Ottowa University, in Ottowa, /support/planned-giving.html. All inquiries are confidential and without obligation.

18 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly

Gerard Gabert-Wesley Charles F. Gay Jr. Sonny Gee John Geiser III Madeline R. and Clave E. Gill Gay Rhodes Gladhart DONORS Lori and Philip E. Gordillo David Graham January–March 2016 William A. Greene Yvonne and Oscar M. Gwin III The Historic New Orleans Collection is honored to recognize and thank the following Kim and George Haddow individuals and organizations for their financial and material donations. Charles D. Hadley Thomas G. Halko Mary E. Hall Marianne Abbott Garda and John Boswell Madge B. Dicks Margot Hammond Jude Acres Stuart Braud Midge Donald Dr. Gerald V. Hannan Joyce Acuna Jennie and James O. Bryant Dr. W. Lake Douglas and Debbie de Dr. Florent Hardy Jr. Dr. Douglas L. Adams Stanley S. Buhite and Charles J. la Houssaye Kathryn Harrington Torrey Gail W. Adams Mrs. Carl S. Downing Merle Harris Stratton Bull Marthell Adams Dr. Ralph B. Draughon Jr. Capt. Clarke C. Hawley Harold Hugh Burns Marianne S. Aiken Caroline and Charles Driebe Roxanne Hayes Mr. and Mrs. Frank R. Burnside Jr. Mary and Doug Albert John Dufilho Randy K. Haynie Judith Burrus Dr. G. Jerome and Linda F. Alesi Albert Devall Dumas Maureen and Douglas Hays Bywater Woodworks Inc. Lee Ali Carol Ann Roberts Dumond Edward R. Hebert Eugenia and Peter Caldwell Connie H. and Landon B. Anderson Dr. Charles L. and Diane S. Dupin Gretchen A. Hecht Robert R. Caradona Anonymous Wilson G. Duprey Petra and John Hendry Leslie and Frank H. Carbon Jr. Jimmy Anselmo Marlene R. Duronslet Delia Hernandez Marian Cardinale Donna Apgar Bernard E. Eble III George A. Hero III Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Carlson Col. Frank B. Arnemann Jr. and Eileen Judy and Elroy Eckhardt Maclyn Le Bourgeois Hickey M. Hofrichter Jane Caruso Mark H. Ellis Sharon L. Hidden Kramer Austin Doris Cavey Scott S. Ellis Janis Pardue Hill The Azby Fund Georgia D. Chadwick Barbara Epstein and Kevin McEvoy Malcolm E. Hingle Julie A. Azzaro Stephen Burges Chambers Estate of Rubie Monroe Harris Louise C. Hoffman James A. Babst Candace Chase and Richard Levich Gilbert J. Estrada Judy Darby Hoffmeister Suzanne M. Bagwill Sherry L. Chavers and Karl F. Robert B. Evans Holzmuller Marjorie Hollensworth Brenda B. Bahrt Robert C. Evans Mrs. William K. Christovich Stanhope F. Hopkins Ellen T. Baird Aimee J. Everrett Stephen W. Clayton Lanier L. Hosford James Baird and Robert Booms Exterior Design Inc. / Beverly S. ClearBridge Advisors LLC Susan K. Hoskins Penny Bajeux Katz Ellen Barnett Cleary Diana and Don Jackson Larry E. Baker Lee Facincani Dorothy M. Clyne Beth Jacob Dorothy Ball William A. Fagaly Jerry Cohen Amy A. Jacobs Sandra M. Baptie James Farrow Stephen Cohen Dr. Eric Jarvis Baptist Community Ministries Gervais Favrot Pam and Michael Cohn John Carter Brown Library Corinne Barnwell T. Semmes Favrot Mrs. Travis A. Coleman Mrs. Erik F. Johnsen William Barry Jr. Sheila B. Fernandez College of DuPage Ann Reiley Jones-Blairstown Grace Bauer Jerry G. Fischer and John G. Turner Blanche M. Comiskey Dr. and Mrs. Robert N. Jones Mary Jane Bauer Vaughan Fitzpatrick Lana A. Corll Esther H. Jordan Rosary Beck Fran Flurry Courtney A. Sarpy Fund John Jordan Hilton S. Bell Joan E. Foley Elliott K. Cowand Candance Kagan Philip Bell Larry Ford Dr. Jean R. Cranmer Beverly S. Katz Ginny and Ray Berg R. Ann Ford Tom Cronin Mr. and Mrs. George Denègre Karen Bertel Mr. and Mrs. William H. Forman Jr. Keenan Christopher Daigle Dr. Martha J. Beveridge Ben Foster John Kelly Carole C. and Joseph R. Daley Mr. and Mrs. David Sinnott Bland Robert Gray Freeland William G. Kenney Daniel and Janice Longone Fund Courtney Blitch and George Long Lee Friar Richard Holcombe Kilbourne, Jr. Linda Dawson Frederick Blount Dr. Michael Frierson Robin Klimach and Andreas Tiffany Delcour Cynthia and Dominique Frizzell Dr. Elizabeth M. Boggess Hablutzel Barbara Dennis Suzanne and Fabian K. Fromherz Joel L. Borrello Timothy P. Killeen Joey Di Fatta Jr. Jamie Frye

Summer 2016 19

COMMUNITY

Judith Kinnard and Kenneth Sharon Moore Bill Ross Dr. and Mrs. F. Wayne Stromeyer Schwartz Dr. and Mrs. Lee Roy Morgan Jr. Mark Charles Roudané Jean and James Taylor Sandy and Kenneth G. Kneipp Margo Moscou Maurice L. Rouen Mr. and Mrs. William M. Tebow Dr. and Mrs. Thomas F. Kramer Moss Family Fund Tzarine Roupinian Olga and Gary Teplitsky Carolyn Kuehling and Darlene Edith H. Mossy Ylva Rouse Terminix Walk Kathy Muse Mr. and Mrs. Richard D. Roussel Mr. and Mrs. Robert E. Thomas Kathleen A. Kurtz Dr. M. Bert Myers and Mrs. Joel Thomas H. Roy Mr. and Mrs. Jack W. Thomson Josh Lampa and Chris Lauer G. Myers Tim Ruppert J. Thomas Touchton Keith M. Landry Katherine B. Nachod St. Denis J. Villere and Co. LLC Donna M. and Richard Traina Anna Large Anthony George Navarre Barbara and Thomas Sands Charles Tremoulet Farrell C. Latour Neal Auction Company Inc. Courtney-Anne Sarpy Barbara Trevigne John H. Lawrence Dorothy D. and Charles W. Frederic S. Sater Lucile Bernard Trueblood Mrs. Thomas B. Layton Nelson M. and Mrs. Frank S. Scelsa Joan Morrison Tupper Charles E. Lebeuf Laura Simon Nelson Mr. and Mrs. Claude A. Pamela S. and Arthur L. Turner Christine R. and V. Price Steven C. Nelson Schlesinger Dr. Robert G. and Polly Turner LeBlanc Jr. Kenneth E. Newburger Melanie Schmitt and Matthew Mr. and Mrs. John J. Uhl Cynthia LeCount Jeanmarie L. Nicholson King W. W. van Benthuysen Jr. Sheila Bosworth Lemann Cynthia L. Nobles School of Design Beverly and Richard Vidacovich Joan L. Lennox Ernest B. Norman III Mary Schreiber Mr. and Mrs. John P. Vignes Karin Levesque Northup Foundation Kathleen and Edmund Schrenk Eleonora B. Vogt Dr. Edward D. Levy Jr. Mr. and Mrs. Ernest L. O’Bannon Laura Scott J. David Waggonner Richard B. Levy Dr. and Mrs. John L. Ochsner Jayc Sedlmayr Toni and Joel Waltzer Eddie Lirette Dr. John and Melida Olivier Dr. Milton W. Seiler Jr. Pamela and Jeffrey Welsh Sharri I. and Robert W. Lloyd Rita Olmo Raymond Serpas Brooke Jamieson White Emmitt S. Lockard Katherine O’Neil Richard Sexton Catherine A. Whitney Carolyn Long Joseph R. Ornig Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Shuler Linda Wilder Kim Loubat and Christopher Mr. and Mrs. James E. Orth Yvonne I. and R. Hugh Simmons Shepperson Susan K. Wilkinson ORX Exploration Inc. Gregory G. Skinner Jean and Bill Lowrey Jeanne L. Williams Dr. Sanford L. Pailet Cathryn and Edgar L. Smith Marjory M. Lyman Mr. and Mrs. Sterling Scott Willis Lynne Parmenter Dr. and Mrs. Charles Rodney Dr. Charles and Susan Lyon Elizabeth Y. and J. Courtney David Parnel Smith Anne W. S. MacNeil Wilson Sylvia Tureaud Patterson Emily M. Smith Eugenia K. Maginnis Ann and Richard P. Wolfe Chadwick Pellerin Judith M. Smith Elizabeth Manley Jean Woods Judy Drysdale Pellissier Marcia B. and Raymond I. Smith Alice D. Manson Elizabeth D. and Hayden Wren Robert S. Perkin Kean Songy Dr. and Mrs. David V. Maraist YourCause LLC Trustee for Claiborne W. Perrilliat Paula Claverie Soniat and Chevron Matching Employee Robb Marks Thomas S. Soniat Patricia L. Pertalion Funds Carol and Bill May Betty T. Spurlock Dr. and Mrs. Meade H. Phelps Anton N. Zanki Valerie and Robert J. May E. Alexandra Stafford and Diane and Charles C. Zatarain III Jane S. Phillips Raymond M. Rathlé Jr. Sharon McClelland and David Stephanie LaBorde Pierotti Diane K. Zink and Robert M. Robichaud Mrs. S. Sharpe Stanfield Becnel Judy H. and Karoly G. Pinter Mr. and Mrs. Louis W. McFaul Joanna Sternberg Floyd M. Zula Rebecca McGilvray Sheela and David D. Plater Diane Stevens Mr. and Mrs. Don McGinty Helen A. Pope Laura C. Stewart Dr. Stephen McNair Sandra and Arthur Pulitzer Irma Marie Stiegler Carl R. McQueary Pattie and Tim Pupo Lynette A. Stilwell Margit E. Merey-Kadar Anthony Radosti Sue Meyer Alan Dierdre Miano and Michael Colvin Rick Reiners and Ralph Ruder Tribute Gifts Milling Benson Woodward LLP David Reso Marilyn B. and Michael W. Cathy and Bill Rice Tribute gifts are given in memory or in honor of a loved one. Mislove Claes Ringqvist Ginger and David Amoni in honor of Eli Haddow Jerry J. Mitchell Rittenberg Family Foundation David Clemmer, Dorothy Clemmer, Jonathan Clemmer, and 3618 Studio LLC in memory Rana Mitra Dr. and Mrs. Robert Rives of John Clemmer Morgan Molthrop J. Richard Rivoire Marietta S. and Richard D. Herr in honor of Daniel Hammer Monteleone Family Foundation Carol Ann and John K. Roberts Jr. Dr. and Mrs. Edward S. Lindsey in memory of Nadia de la Houssaye St. Paul Moïse James A. Moody Terri Romano National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in Louisiana in honor of Jason Wiese Dr. F. A. and Karen Moore Jamie M. Roques Harley Strickland in memory of Thomas Tallman Marilyn and Overton Moore Edith L. Rosenblum Ruth Moore Winston in memory of Paul E. Archinard

20 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly

ACQUISITIONS

RELATED HOLDINGS

ACQUISITION SPOTLIGHT Courting Creek Favor

Commission of the Osage Indian Petit Oiseau as a Spanish captain 1794; printed certificate with manuscript by Luis Héctor, barón de Carondelet 67-12-L, MSS 309

“The Medal Chief ’s Grosse Lettre: A Chapter in French Indian Management Policy” in Practicing Ethnohistory: Mining Archives, Hearing Testimony, Constructing Narrative by Patricia Galloway Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2006 2006.0369

Commission of the Indian Espahi of the Talapuche Nation by Carondolet 2016.0053 Indian Traders of the Southeastern Spanish Borderlands: Panton, Leslie and Company and John Forbes and Company, 1783–1847 The Collection recently acquired a rare 1792 peace commission between the Spanish by William S. Coker and Thomas D. Watson and an Upper Creek Indian of the Talapuche nation, located in what is now east-central Gainesville and Pensacola: University Presses Alabama. Signed by the Spanish governor-general, Luis Héctor, barón de Carondelet, of Florida and University of West Florida Press, 1986 and Upper Creek leader named Espahi, the document will be of particular interest to 87-093-RL historians of the southeastern borderlands. It provides valu- able insights into Spanish efforts to court Creek Indian affections away from a burgeoning young American Republic eager to reach the . The document names Espahi “Chief of the Great Medal” and commands “all those in charge of the posts of this province, officers, soldiers and neighbors . . . as well as to the Indians of his nation and others with whom he comes across to show respect and obey him.” This proclamation is consistent with British, French, Spanish, and American policy A New Map of Georgia with Part of Carolina, toward Indian leaders they considered loyal Florida and Louisiana or manageable. “Medal chiefs” (named for the 1748 by Emanuel Bowen silver medals they were given) received preferential 1982.101 treatment through the dispersal of sumptuary trade

Summer 2016 21 ACQUISITIONS items from colonial administrators to RECENT ADDITIONS ensure continued cooperation. Native leaders then distributed gifts among Horse Whispering, Portrait Painting, favorites, ideally broadening influence and Enforcing British Loyalty among their own people in the process. But this was not always the case: the Upper Creeks, located on the Coosa- Tallapoosa-Alabama river system, comprised many semiautonomous towns and did not follow a centralized leader. Figures such as Espahi were factional and community leaders, but they rarely exercised authority over patience. Spectators reported that Sullivan more than one town. Native leadership often stood so close to the animal he was never dependent on “medal chief” was working with that it appeared he alliances with colonial powers: leaders was whispering to it, giving rise to the could cast off these titles when it suited term “horse whisperer.” Powell employed them to do so. similar techniques as a trainer. He traveled The 1792 commission states that extensively and spoke several languages, Espahi resided in the “village of including English, French, Greek, Latin, Decolome,” but this was almost certainly and Spanish. Powell’s career working with the Creek town of Colome (alternately horses owned by wealthy clients took him spelled Kolomi or Colomino), located to Louisiana, Mexico—where he lived on the west bank of the Tallapoosa for many years—Cuba, Guatemala, and River. While little is known of Espahi, California. his town surfaces in Spanish records The text of this New Orleans imprint dating back to the 17th century. In the is mainly in English, with shorter entries 1680s Colome was among a collection composed of letters written in Spanish and of proto-Creek communities situated on in French from clients endorsing Powell the Chattahoochee River that willfully and praising his expertise. Powell’s book resisted Spanish authority by openly was reprinted in Philadelphia in 1872 trading with the English in Charlestown and 1874; in Cincinnati in 1877; and (now Charleston, South Carolina). in Dayton, Ohio, in 1890. —PAMELA D. A 1685–86 Spanish expedition Tachyhippodamia; or, Art of Quieting ARCENEAUX designed to chasten these proto-Creek Wild Horses in a Few Hours . . . . communities and dissuade future 2016.0049.2 Oath of allegiance signed by officers of Carolinian advances in the region the Massachusetts Regiment resulted in driving most of the Little is known about Willis J. Powell 2015.0489.3 indigenous inhabitants out of the (d. 1848), a horse trainer of the 19th Chattahoochee River valley entirely. century who issued a book on his tech- In 1755, during the French and Indian Colome migrants resettled at the niques for domesticating and training War, Britain began deporting from the headwaters of the Ocmulgee River (near “difficult” horses. First published in New Canadian Maritime Provinces Acadian Macon, Georgia) in 1691, where they Orleans in 1838 at the Observer office, settlers who refused to renounce Roman enjoyed more convenient access to the Tachyhippodamia; or, Art of Quieting Catholicism and swear allegiance lucrative Charlestown trade. Maps show Wild Horses in a Few Hours . . . . features to the British crown. During what that Colome was relocated west of the a Persian proverb on the title page: “A would become known as Le Grand Chattahoochee River sometime during gentle hand may lead the elephant by Dérangement, thousands of Acadians the Yamasee War (1715–17), and still a hair.” Drawing from stories told to were forcibly removed and sent to the farther west to the Tallapoosa River by him about the work of an earlier horse American colonies. Many of the expelled midcentury. There is some indication the trainer—Daniel Sullivan from County Acadians and their descendants eventu- town’s inhabitants fled to Spanish Florida Cork, Ireland—Powell advises readers to ally settled in south-central Louisiana, after the Creek War (1813–14). —KEVIN alleviate the animal’s fears by using a calm- the majority arriving during the Spanish T. HARRELL ing voice, a gentle touch, and boundless colonial era.

22 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly On July 12, 1755, Ephraim Jones, John Winslow, Miles Whitworth, and John Johnson—four loyalists charged with administering and enforcing the decree—signed a copy of the oath, which now rests on display in The Collection’s Louisiana History Galleries. The form contains blanks where Acadians’ names were to be inserted. Winslow, a native of , was the great-grandson of Edward Winslow, a Mayflower passenger who later served as governor of Plymouth Colony. A major-general in the British army, he led one of two divisions charged with the task of expelling the Acadians from Nova Scotia. Most likely printed in Boston, then Church of England, most Acadians refused. Miniature portrait of Louise d’Avezac taken to Canada, the document illustrates The oath targeted key tenets of the Roman Moreau de Lassy Castera Livingston the significant role religious persecution Catholic faith, labeling them “superstitious 2015.0466 played in Acadian resistance to British rule. and idolatrous,” including the doctrine Asked to swear allegiance to King George of transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the Rendered in only two and a half by II, thereby renouncing all other rulers and Mass, devotion to the Virgin Mary, and four and a half inches, Louise d’Avezac submitting to his authority as the British recognition of papal authority. —M. L. Moreau de Lassy (1786–1860), daughter head of state and head of the protestant EICHHORN of a wealthy sugar planter, wears a fragile, almost transparent white Empire dress and red coral beads that reflect the color of her lips. Greyish-white pearls encircle her neck against softly curled hair, while dark brown eyes gaze slightly away. Married at 13 to Moreau de Lassy, a retired French military officer, Louise moved with him to Jamaica and bore three children, who died in infancy. This miniature portrait in watercolor on ivory was painted in Saint Domingue about 1803, when Louise was 17 and already a widow. The artist, Philippe Abraham Peticolas (1760–1841) was born in Mézières, France, and learned miniature painting while enlisted in the Bavarian army. After his service, he emigrated to Saint Domingue

Summer 2016 23 ACQUISITIONS August 4–7, 2016 • t he French QuA rter This event is presented with support from the following sponsors. during the Haitian Revolution to assume Dacqueny, who were also publishers of The Historic New Orleans possession of an estate. As danger mounted the Courrier de la Louisiane, a bilingual Collection uarterly he fled to the United States, settling in English-French newspaper—the first one Q Virginia with his wife and children, who of the time in New Orleans. The volume EDITOR also became well-known miniature paint- includes the Declaration of Independence, Molly Reid Dinner Is Served ers. Peticolas’s best-known miniature is a US Constitution, amendments to the DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS portrait of George Washington. Although Constitution, Louisiana Purchase, and Jessica Dorman rare, his artwork is in the Smithsonian several congressional acts related to the Decorative Arts and Dining in the South HEAD OF PHOTOGRAPHY Institution and the Metropolitan Museum administration of Louisiana, which the Keely Merritt of Art. US divided into two territories. This is ART DIRECTION In 1803 Louise fled Saint Domingue with the first known Louisiana printing of the Alison Cody Design her younger sister, grandmother, and a few Louisiana Purchase and the congressional enslaved workers, one of whom was killed act enabling it. The Historic New Orleans Collection is a during the crisis; Louise’s grandmother, This publication provides an interesting nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving who was shielding the younger sister with glimpse into American democracy in 1810. the distinctive history and culture of New her body, also lost her life. The remaining For example, its version of the amendments Orleans and the Gulf South. Founded in party immigrated to New Orleans, where to the Constitution includes—in addition 1966 through the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, The Collection operates as a Louise sold her jewelry to secure housing. to the 10 known as the Bill of Rights—two museum, research center, and publisher in In 1805 she married Edward Livingston, a articles that were proposed as amendments the heart of the French Quarter. Now in its ninth year, this four-day program—complete with presentations legal reformer who became secretary of state but, ultimately, never ratified. The first by noted experts, two optional guided tours, and plenty of fun in historic New under President Andrew Jackson. —MACLYN article, proposing a system for congressional LE BOURGEOIS HICKEY representation, never received the required Orleans—is nationally known as one of the premier events of its kind for antiques number of votes to succeed. The second Collection containing Louisiana Purchase article, dealing with congressional pay, collectors and enthusiasts. The 2016 New Orleans Antiques Forum will look and US founding documents would not be ratified until 1992, making behind the doors of the Southern dining room—a space that reflects tradition, 2016.0049.1 it the newest Constitutional amendment. There are only nine known copies of the culture, style, and the ritual of dining; a place where “What’s your pattern?” This double volume represents one of the English volume and four of the French. is often asked. most important and rare collections of This acquisition represents a unique print- legal acts related to the acquisition and ing of the two volumes, because they are administration of Louisiana. It was printed bound together; most other copies were register today! in New Orleans in 1810 by Thierry and made available separately. —MATT FARAH www.hnoc.org/antiques.htm or (504) 523-4662

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Mrs. William K. Christovich, Chair Drew Jardine, President John Kallenborn, Vice President John E. Walker E. Alexandra Stafford Hilton S. Bell Bonnie Boyd Fred M. Smith, Emeritus and Immediate Past President

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Priscilla Lawrence

533 Royal Street & 410 Chartres Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 (504) 523-4662 www.hnoc.org | [email protected] ISSN 0886-2109 Lobster salad serving spoon; ca. 1870; sterling ©2016 The Historic New Orleans Collection silver by Ball, Black, and Company; The L. The Historic New Orleans Collection Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders museum • research center • publisher Collection at THNOC, 72.678.1WR 24 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly August 4–7, 2016 • t he French QuA rter This event is presented with support from the following sponsors. The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly Dinner Is Served Decorative Arts and Dining in the South

Now in its ninth year, this four-day program—complete with presentations by noted experts, two optional guided tours, and plenty of fun in historic New Orleans—is nationally known as one of the premier events of its kind for antiques collectors and enthusiasts. The 2016 New Orleans Antiques Forum will look behind the doors of the Southern dining room—a space that reflects tradition, culture, style, and the ritual of dining; a place where “What’s your pattern?” is often asked.

register today! www.hnoc.org/antiques.htm or (504) 523-4662

Lobster salad serving spoon; ca. 1870; sterling silver by Ball, Black, and Company; The L. The Historic New Orleans Collection Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders museum • research center • publisher Collection at THNOC, 72.678.1WR ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

FROM THE SHOP

Large scalloped bowl, 13.5" across, $145

Medium scalloped bowl, 9" across, $54

Party bowl, 6" across, $36

Pottery that makes an impression Spring wildflowers and summer-sunset colors give the pottery of Nina J Design Studios a distinctive style and breezy charm. Born in India and currently based in Virginia, Nina J is inspired by her immense love of nature. The artist presses flora into clay, giving her finished pieces the look of pressed flowers and fossils.

533 Royal Street, in the French Quarter The Shop Tuesday–Saturday: 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. at The Collection Sunday: 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION (504) 598-7147 Shop online at www.hnoc.org/shop