James Robb by C.P.A. Healy, ca. 1845-46. Courtesy]. Hampden Robb ROBB PAPERS DISCOVERED James Robb, a self-made financial giant of na of Art and in private holdings. tional significance, played a dominant role in the The public aspects of his career could be doc booming mid-19th-century economy of New umented in contemporary newspapers, corpo Orleans. His permanent legacy to the city in rate records, and an early thesis, but information cludes its first interstate railroad, the success of about his private life and personal finances has the gaslight company that became New Orleans been sketchy-the subject of speculation and Public Service, the reunification of a politically misinformation. Myths are common about his divided city, and the remnants of an interna grand Garden District mansion, art collection, .tional art collection in the New Orleans Museum and family affairs. (See related story, p. 7.) Walking through snow drifts, hear rived in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), in January 18 2 7 and quickly got a job as a messenger boy. He wrote to his widowed ·mother, Mary Robb, "It may be that I may get seventy two or a hundred dol lars a year, If I be a good poy And I hope it may be so." · Hard work and a sharp intelli gence brought him rapid progress in banking: by 1835 he was suc cessful enough to marry Louisa Werninger, a lady six years his sen ior. Intent on making a fortune, he scouted other cities for commercial opportunities before deciding that New Orleans offered the best pos sibility for realizing his ambition. In 1837 he opened a brokerage office and settled his growing family downtown on St. Charles Street. During the next 20 years James Robb piled up a fortune through successful private banks, including branches in San Francisco, New York, and Liverpool. He rescued the faltering New Orleans Gas Light and Banking-Company (today NO PSI), organized the Spanish Gas Light Company in Havana, and was the moving spirit in building the New Orleans, Jackson, and Great North ern Railroad Company. Corre spondence and records from all these enterprises are contained in Louisa W. Robb and daughters by Thomas Sully, ca. 1845-46. Courtesy]. the Robb Papers. Hampden Robb Aleading Whig, he was the inti mate of John Slidell and Judah P. Benjamin, who wrote gloomily in 1858, "Poor Jeff Davis is very ill: Through a fortuitous combina illustrate this story. Herbert Grey his recovery is quite doubtful." This tion of acquisitions, the Historic of Framingham, Massachusetts, do collection contains correspondence New Orleans Collection has be nated 157 items of particular inter from these and other political lead come the major repository of man est to art historians:· letters and re ers, includ_ing President Zachary uscript material on James Robb in ceipts detail the acquisition and, Taylor.· the nation. Since July 1985, ap later, the sale of the Robb art col ·proximately 2,400 items have been lection. acquired: personal correspon A large black tin box with a paper dence, a family scrapbook, incom label, marked "James Robb," hou ing and outgoing financial corre sed the most recent addition to the spondence, business records, leases, Robb collection. Acquired locally, receipts, and contracts. it contained approximately 600 let The first group of papers was ac ters and documents, including an quired from an unusual source, a invaluable notebook detailing gun collector in the Midwest. Two Robb's financial holdings in 1856. donations quickly followed. James This notebook stated that all im Robb's great-grandson, J. Hampden portant financial papers, leases, Robb of Boston, donated 905 items contracts, and agreements "may be relating to business affairs, an ex found in my Tin Box. " tremely rich collection for a finan For sheer drama, James Robb's cial study; Mr. Robb also clarified life was worthy of the stage. At 13, James Robb 's tin box family details .and provided photo he left home in western Pennsyl graphs of the family portraits which vania to make his way in the world.
2 Robb mansion on Washington Avenue, pastel by Theodore Stark Wilkinson, ca. 1875. Courtesy Mr. and Mrs . Hugh M. Wilkinson, Jr.
The fashionable Garden District, sion occupying an entire square a suburb with imposing mansions block on Washington Avenue-at a built by wealthy American busi time when a mansion with gardens ffil-)~ THE HISTORIC nessmen, was the obvious neigh customarily occupied a quarter I!I NEWORLEANS borhood for James Robb's new square. Although not conclusively home. In 1851 he leased his down documented, the architect of the l~l COLLECTION town house and moved Mrs. Robb house was probably James Gallier, ~ NEWSLETTER and the children to a large frame Jr. Robb bought the property in house on the corner of Prytania and 1852, and on January 22, 1853, it Third, which he had rented for the was surveyed at the request of ar interim. The Robb family included chitects Gallier, Turpin & Co. In Editors: Patricia Brady Schmit, Louise C. Hoffman four daughters-Isabella Aurelia April 1855 interior details, such as Head of Photography: Jan White (Bell), Louisa, Mary (Molly), Char locks and hardware, were being The Historic New Orleans Collection lotte Matilda (Mattie)-and a son, completed, but finishing touches to Newsletter. is published quarterly by the James Hampden (Hammie). The the exterior of the Italianate pal Historic New Orleans Collection, which is operated by the Kemper and Leila Wil children attended Episcopal schools, azzo and to the surrounding gar liams Foundation, a Louisiana non-profit and the Robbs bought a pew in dens of semi-tropical plants contin corporation. Housed in a complex of his toric buildings in the French Quarter, fa Trinity Church on Jackson Avenue, ued until the fall of 1855. The Robb cilities are open to the public, Tuesday family moved into their new home through Saturday, from 10:00 a.m. until where the rector was Bishop Leon 4:45 p.m. Tours of the history galleries idas Polk, a family friend. sometime during that spring or and the residence are available for a nominal fee. Mr. Robb briefly entered state summer, and the second daugher, politics, serving as state senator long Louisa, graduated in June from Miss Board of Directors: Benjamin W. Yance)', President enough to guide the reunification of Hull's (Episcopal) School. Ernest C. Villere New Orleans, which had been di Contrary to fantasies about grand Mrs. William K. Christovich G. Henry Pierson, Jr. vided into three separate munici balls and garden parties at the ele John A. Rodgers III palities. As part of that effort, the gant Robb mansion, the Robbs Stanton Frazar, Director City of Lafayette, which included probably did not entertain at all. The Historic New Orleans Collection the Garden District, was also incor Ordinarily they would have left the 533 Royal Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 porated into New Orleans in 1852. city right after Louisa's graduation (504) 523-4662 Meanwhile, James Robb bought a to avoid the " sickly season" : yellow Cable: THNOC ISSN 0886-2117 considerable amount of property in fever and other diseases regularly the area, including two entire attacked New Orleans during the a:> 1986 The Historic New Orleans Collection squares of land. summer, and the Robbs always spent The most conspicuous symbol of the summer in northern resorts. his success was to be a grand man- That year, however, they could not 3 leave because Mrs. Robb was suf States, sans Spaniard, to live with fering from an illness, perhaps can her father. cer, that would eventually prove fa Through 1857 and 1858 Mr. tal. A friend wrote, "I sincerely Robb traveled back and forth be regret to learn of Mrs. Robb's con tween the United States and Eu tinued illness, but hope her health rope, attempting to salvage his in will soon permit leaving your sickly vestments. By 1859 he determined season. which would so greatly re to sell his New Orleans property, as lieve your anxiety you must now suf well as a great part of his art col fer for her and your unacclimated lection. He emerged with some Daughters." remnant of his fortune intact and But Mrs. Robb was too ill to be with acceptable financial arrange moved. During the long, hot, ter ments for his children. He had also rifying summer of 1855 the family become secretly engaged to a widow remained in New Orleans while yel from Georgia, Elizabeth Craig low fever raged, causing over 1,000 Church. During the next few years, deaths. One of the victims was first in Chicago, and then in New At work on the Robb Papers, left to Louisa Robb, who died September right, Howard Estes, Doug Harmon, York, James Robb recovered much 26. Mrs. Robb's death followed on Cathy Kahn, Taronda Spencer, and of his fortune through railroad and October 13. The following after Alix Samuels. banking ventures. He and Mrs. noon the architect Thomas Whar Church subsequently married and ton noted in his diary the long fu Bell, the eldest daughter, was in apparently were quite happy-de neral cortege proceeding "from troduced into French society spite typical problems with step their 'superb mansion' to the through her father's acquaintance children on both sides-until her 'chambers of death.' " with the Queen Mother of Spain, death in 1868. with whom he had been associated In 1866 James Robb attempted to in the Havana gaslight venture. In regain his position in New Orleans, A major exhibition November 1856 Bell received a founding the Louisiana National proposal from a Spanish nobleman, Bank. However, as a Union sup is being planned . . . who was related to Queen Cristina; porter, he met cold shoulders from they were married in September his former friends; he sold his in 1857 at Malmaison, the queen's terest in the bank in 1869 and re Apparently devoted to his wife, residence. turned to the North. described by the New Orleans However, James Robb was called James Robb's marriage in 1869 to Democrat (August 7, 1881) as en back to the United States by calam a Virginia belle, Mrs. Martha Stan tering "with thorough sympathy and ity. A business panic struck the ard, was the mistake that soured the the co-operation of excellent sense, United States in 1857, setting off a last years of his life. This third mar judgment, and thrift into all his depression. In his prolonged ab riage was terribly unhappy, and the views and aspirations," James Robb sence, some of the Robb banks couple separated. Mr. Robb retired decided to make an extended visit failed, creating a financial crisis in to his mother's Gothic villa outside in Europe with his surviving chil his affairs. Although not completely Cincinnati. He consoled himself dren. In the spring of 1856 he ruined, he shouldered a huge with his books and his art collec turned over his business affairs to amount of debt, which he devoted tion, which included a Rubens. He Phoenix N. Wood, a trusted busi the next several years of his life to died in 1881 after a long illness. ness associate, and leased the man paying, as a matter of personal His career is so significant in New sion, where the family had lived honor. Orleans history that the staff of the such a short time, to Supreme Court His financial situation was wors manuscripts division made the pro Justice Thomas Slidell. By August ened because of Louisiana's com cessing and inventory of these doc they were in England, ready to move munity property laws. After his uments their top priority. Accord on to France. wife's death, their children had le ing to cataloger Taronda Spencer, The European trip had disastrous gal claims on her share of the Robb the James Robb Papers have been financial and emotional conse property; in any attempt to reor given a preliminary arrangement; quences for the Robb family. While ganize his affairs he had to satisfy cataloging is under way with a find the older girls traveled and visited, the courts that the interests of his ing aid soon to be produced. The Hammie was placed in a boarding minor children were being pro collection will be available to re school conducted by a Lutheran tected. In addition, Bell and her searchers in spring 1986. clergyman in Vevey, Switzerland, husband demanded her promised A major exhibition on James Robb where he remained until 1858. An share of Mrs. Robb's estate, in ef is already being planned at the Col early letter from the bewildered lit fect, her dowry. These demands lection. Curators hope to assemble tle boy to his sister Molly reflects came at the worst possible time for a portion of the Robb art collection, the dramatic changes in his life, " i James Robb and embittered his re in addition to a display of artifacts, am thinking of [you] all the time i lationship with his daughter for portraits, documents, photographs, am very un happy i cri evry night . . . many years, though at the end of his and house plans. Your only Brother . .. " life Bell returned to the United -Patricia Brady Schmit
4 From the Director
I'm sorry I never got to see James Robb's opulent 19th-century man sion. It was a palatial residence in the prevailing Italian style and the largest property in an area known for its imposing homes, the Garden District. The next best thing to a tour ofRobb's palazzo, which at one time housed Newcomb College, is the outstanding collection of papers 1984 Comus invitation that have come our way and serve (1984.26.6) to recreate the life and business ventures of a great New Orleans en trepreneur. I had always heard about Robb's art collection. Now, thanks to a do nation of letters and sales vouchers, all of us concerned with history and The Mistick Krevve art can discover what he collected. Some of his art remained at home, On view in the Williams Gallery to be appreciated, as well as details such as the New Orleans Museum through March 21 is the exhibition, of the clothing worn by members of of Art's Toilet of Psyche by Natoire. The Mistick Krewe: 130 Years of Co the court. Other items were scattered. And mus, organized by curator John H. One section of the exhibition fo some pieces are probably in New Lawrence. Comus, founded in 1857 cuses on the ball and meeting of the Orleans's homes, with the owners by six New Orleanians, is the oldest courts of Rex and Comus. One of unaware of the provenance. Take a of the carnival organizations in New the oldest traditions and expres look at the list from the Robb art Orleans and is responsible for the sions of pageantry, the visitation by collection sale on page 13-you may celebration of Mardi Gras as it is Rex and his queen to Comus and his discover a painting or sculpture practiced today. The richness of the queen, is the climax of the Mardi originally owned by the legendary Mistick Krewe's history and the Gras season. Mr. Robb. continuity that it has provided for Mardi Gras, which is celebrated The Robb collection is not only the carnival season are the themes on a public level, is also an individ an impressive resource; it also un of the exhibition. ual experience. Mementos of the derscores the importance of donat Working closely with members of ball, including krewe pins and krewe ing papers, family or otherwise, to the organization, the float builders, favors, are found in another section an institution dedicated to preserv and costumer, and drawing from of the gallery. Sometimes these ing them. Most of us have a musty collections around the city and from items, often colorful and decora drawer, a stuffy attic, or a damp its own extensive Mardi Gras hold tive, are inspired by the theme of storeroom filled with papers which ings, the Collection has assembled the ball. deserve better treatment and a an array of items covering many fac The exhibit contains a list of the wider audience. Donations are the ets of Comus. Colorful invitations to themes from each year that Comus lifeblood ofTHNOC, and both size the ball on Mardi Gras night, orig paraded. These themes, challeng able collections and single-item gifts inal artwork for invitations of recent ing to the observer's knowledge, are are greatly appreciated. Such do years, and designs used in the prep often drawn from mythology and nations are invaluable in recon aration of costumes and floats are on exotic literature. structing events of the past. display. Float ornamentation, cos Although the identity of krewe Robb's mansion, once grand on tumes, and the queen's gown and members is secret, the exhibition Washington Avenue, was demo jewels from 1972 are exhibited, as provides both visitor and experi lished in the 1950s. But items in our well as other costume accessories _enced carnival-goer a glimpse at the manuscripts division can still yield from earlier in this century. Visitors many aspects of this distinguished the man and his times. may observe closely the work on the carnival krewe. -S.F. floats, which often pass too rapidly 5 Laughlin Seminar
Panelists Abraham Davidson, Jonathan Williams, and Peter Morrin On October 26, 1985, the His toric New Orleans Collection hosted a seminar on the work of photog rapher and writer Clarence John Laughlin (1905-1985). Many of the 7 5 people in attendance were also registered at the Southeast College Art Conference, which was meeting in New Orleans. Entitled "Clarence John Laugh lin: Critical Commentaries," the seminar included presentations by scholars Abraham Davidson, pro fessor of art history at the Tyler School of Art at Temple University; Peter Morrin, curator of 20th-cen tury art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta; and Jonathan Williams, poet, critic, and director of the Jar gon Society Publishing Company. The panel was organized and mod erated by curator John H. Law rence. The purpose of the seminar was to spur interest in the serious con sideration of Mr. Laughlin's pho tographic legacy, "a far richer model than even he knew," accord ing to Mr. Morrin. " Laughlin," explained Jonathan Williams, " explored the territory of 'The Strange' like some people might go to something called 'The Country' for the weekend." As the repository for the Laughlin archive, the Collection will be a major source for research on this artist.
Photograph by Charles L. Franck (1979.325.6435)
Some of the most enjoyable pho changed dramatically since the tographs in the curatorial division photograph was taken in October are old aerial views of the city. Like 1922. Can you identify this trans the one pictured here, these views portation corridor, then and now? may be familiar to longtime resi Answer on p. 15. dents of New Orleans. This site has John Szarkowski, curator of photography at the Museum of Modem Art, and John H. Lawrence 6 New Evidence: Robb's Twin Houses means by which the builders were to be paid in his absence and in structed Mr. Wood to " Advertise the Houses for Rent on the 1st No vember," specifying the amounts to be received. In the summer of 1856, while the houses were under construction, the Robb family went to Europe; there the eldest daughter, Isabella, mar ried and remained with her hus band. The younger children did not marry until the 1860s; they contin ued to reside with their father, ex One of twin houses, cept when they were at boarding Notarial Archives Plan school. None of the Robb children Book, 1860 (1979.227.64.44) ever lived in these houses. From 1856 until 1860 the house Myths-glamorous, exciting, ma daughter had died. Mr. Robb began at Camp and Washington was leased cabre-surround the Garden Dis making plans in the months follow to Henry R. Alsobrook, a dry goods trict of New Orleans. James H . ing her death to take his surviving merchant; the house at Chestnut and Robb, the banking and railroad ty children, an 11-year-old son and Washington was leased to Emile coon whose papers the Collection three daughters, aged 18, 14, and Marqueze, a boot and shoe mer has recently acquired, is the object 7, to Europe for an indefinite stay. chant, certainly from 1857, and of many of these romantic tales be Mr. Robb put his financial affairs in probably from 1856, until1860. Fi cause of his great wealth, grand order and entrusted them to his nancial records in the Robb collec mansion, and immense art collec longtime business associate and tion and city directories show that tion. A case in point: it has long been confidant, Phoenix N. Wood. He Mr. Robb's instructions about rent reported that Mr. Robb built two prepared an extensive notebook of ing the houses had been faithfully identical classic Greek Revival man information and instructions on all followed. sions on Washington Avenue as his property for the guidance of Mr. A financial crisis caused James homes for his daughters. Wood during this protracted ab Robb to sell the two houses, along James Robb purchased quantities sence. with the rest of his Garden District of rental and speculative property As part of his financial stock-tak real estate . .Advertised in 1859, they in New Orleans, but the center ing prior to leaving New Orleans, were sold in January 1860. For piece of his extensive real estate James Robb arranged with the ar $15,300 Henry Alsobrook pur holdings was the square block, chitectural firm of Gallier, Turpin chased the house he had been rent bounded by Washington, Chestnut, & Co. to build the two identical ing, and the other was bought by Camp, and Sixth, on which he built houses, apparently intending them Edmund W . Wailes for $12,000. an Italianate palazzo as the family from the beginning for rental prop The myth of the two elegant Robb home. In 1854 he purchased two erty. Elevations are dated May 1, young ladies and their husbands liv lots across from this square on the 1856; specifications of the same date ing near the family mansion in res corner of Washington and Chestnut described the houses in detail and idences provided by their father is and three lots to the side of the included the requirement that they attractive. However, the facts-that square on the corner of Washington be finished by October 15, 1856. these houses were designed and and Camp. There he had built the The Daily Crescent (October 21 , used as revenue-producing prop houses which have been popularly 1856) reported that the houses had erty-are less romantic but more reported to be his daughters'. Cen been completed. In his notebook of representative of the values of a suses, city directories, and inven instructions, Mr. Robb indicated the hardheaded entrepreneur in nine tories, however, cast doubt on the teenth-century New Orleans. likelihood of this story; clearly none of the daughters had ever actually -Patricia Brady Schmit lived there. Now, new evidence in and Lynn D. Adams the Robb Papers makes it possible Sources: James Robb Papers; New Orleans to speak with some certainty about City Directories 1854-60; U.S. Census (1850) the history of these houses. Louisiana; N .A., . Walter H. Peters , January Design and construction of the 30, 1860 (vol. 7:14), February 1, 1860 (vol. houses did not begin until the spring 7:15); THNOC 1951.16.5 i-iii ; New Orlean s Daily Crescent (October 21, 1856); Inve n of 1856 when the Robb family was tory and Appraisement, Estate of Mi stress devastated and in mourning. The Same house today. Photograph by Tina James Robb, N.A. , Walter H. Peters, May 8, previous fall Mrs. Robb and one Freeman, 1985, for THNOC 1856 (vol. 3:136). 7 HISTORIC New Orleans Epidemics, Sanitation, and ·the Crescent City
•t
"Canal-Street, New Orleans, During the Inundation," illustration/rom Hearth and Home, july 1, 1871 (1982.177)
Between 1878 and 1900 public responsible for maintaining drain changes were not evident. Topog awareness of unsatisfactory health age, workers cleaned the gutters and raphy and climate made improve standards in New Orleans brought canals by shoveling muck onto the ments expensive; city government much-needed improvements in the streets only to have it wash back was often mismanaged with little sanitation system. Progress, how during the next rain. money to spare; and the public re ever, was slow: in 1884 the Daily By 1880 most big cities had in mained largely unconcerned. One Picayune quoted a visitor who de stalled some sort of sewerage sys report said that " Insalubrity was scribed the city as filthier than Cairo tem, but New Orleans still de flatly denied, or disbelieved .. . ," or Constantinople. In speaking of pended almost entirely on privies. and many people maintained "the degradation, the visitor added, he Even houses and commercial build nonexistence of the most dreadful 1 needed merely to say that "it stank ings with the luxury of plumbing had evils." t in the nostrils like Clio Street." to connect pipes to a privy or a gut New Orleans was a city of epi Before the 20th century, the pe ter. Drinking water came from cis demics. Yell ow fever was the worst, destrian was often confronted with terns since well water was unsani with annual outbreaks after 1825; offensive sights and smells. The tary and city water from the New mistakenly, it was thought to be city's gutters, drainage canals, and Orleans Waterworks Co. was dis caused by humid air acting on filthy, streets-of which 80% were un pensed straight from the Mississippi undrained soil. The fever, actually paved in 1880-were littered with River. carried by mosquitoes, made the refuse; dirty, stagnant water could Enormous strides were made na city's haphazard drainage system a be found everywhere. Although the tionally in city services after the perfect breeding ground for the in Department of Public Works was Civil War, but in New Orleans these sects. 8 In 1878 the community was their own sewer lines to the river, shocked out of its lethargy when a while prominent New Orleanians P. A. MURRAY, devastating yellow fever epidemic formed organizations to decide how started in New Orleans and spread to solve the problems. Their an as far as Memphis, decimating that swers ranged from cleaning up the CISlER city. Upriver towns imposed a quar gutters to cleaning up the govern DXAK.ER.,. antine on New Orleans, closing its ment. With the general public still trade at the first hint of disease, and apathetic, most of the groups soon 183 Magazine in 1884 the federal government ex disbanded. lEAR JULIA , lEW Gll£111. panded this quarantine to include One group that survived was the any fever-stricken vessel in a U. S. Auxiliary Sanitary Association Advertisement (19 74 .25 .1. 71 ) port. While helping to reduce drast formed in 1879, financed entirely ically the number of yellow fever by private contributions. Few do t deaths in New Orleans until 1897, nations, however, came from the ver struck in 1897, officials and the these actions had the potential of more modest neighborhoods below population alike were frightened I proving costly to business. Canal Street; furthermore, so many into action, and voters at last ap New Orleans had suffered more wealthy people failed to contribute proved a drainage and sewerage severe epidemics in the past, but that the Times threatened to print system that would permanently once the danger was over, the pub their names. Despite these difficul clean up the city. lic seemed unconcerned. By 1878, ties, the association improved In 1901 the cause of yellow fever the world was beginning to under drainage canals, donated garbage was discovered; when the disease stand the importance of sanitation, barges to the city, and repaired city broke out in 1905, citizens were or if not the cause of yellow fever, and owned equipment. Its most suc dered to eliminate any stagnant quarantine meant that New Orleans cessful endeavor was a system of water and to cover their cisterns, had to improve conditions. gutter flushing that cleaned up many thus preventing breeding areas for The Board of Health and the streets. mosquitoes. The time to call New Howard Association, both of which The Association and the Board of Orleans " America's most plague were formed to deal with earlier Health, even with their common ridden city" was over. bouts of yellow fever, had for years goals, were at constant odds. A court -John Magill been trying to educate the public confrontation resulted in favor of about the city's shameful condition. the Board of Health, and the Aux Now they were joined by business iliary Sanitary Association had to Sources: John Magill, "Municipal Im and social leaders demanding disband. provements in New Orleans in the 1880s" (M .A. thesis, University of New Orleans, changes. Some large businesses, By the 1890s education was fi 1972); Joy J. Jackson, New Orleans in the such as D. H. Holmes and the St. nally beginning to increase overall Gilded Age: Politics and Urban Progress, Charles Hotel, even constructed public awareness. When yellow fe- 1880-1896 (Baton Rouge, 1969).
"The Desolation of Canal Street, The Broadway of New Orleans Victims of the Fever Being Conveyed to the Cemeteries," illustration from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, September 28, 1878 (1981.216i)
9 Acquisitions CURATORIAL
A recently acquired oil portrait of Betsy. Her elaborate gold tignon, a woman of color by Fran~ois pleated lace collar, and delicate Fleischbein, signed and dated 1837, jewelry provide important histori is one of the few known portraits of cal documentation of the period's black women predating the Civil clothing types and social classes. The War. The sitter's identity poses an artist, German-born Franz Joseph interesting question. She has been Fleischbein, came to New Orleans The Historic New Or identified as the infamous Marie in 1833, at which time he appar leans Collection ac- Laveau for some years; however, art ently gallicized his name. He is said .. quires thousands of historian George Jordan has pre to have studied in Munich and then I items through purchase and donation sented strong evidence, · based on in Paris, before establishing a career during the course of each year. Only Fleischbein's sketchbook and inter in New Orleans as a portrait painter a few recent acquisitions can be noted views with his descendants, that she and later as a daguerreotypist and here. was the Fleischbein family servant, ambrotypist as well.
Woman of Color by Frant;;ois Fleischbein, 1837 (1985.212)
10 LIBRARY
"0 that some power the gift would give I The plunderers in our midst who live, I To see themselves as we all see them, I Corrupting men, de bauching women." This "new ver sion" of Burns comes from Upside Down, An Original Philosophical and Mythological Comedy ... (18 71) by "Peter Sparks, Gentleman" (ac cording to the Library of Congress, a pseudonym of S. Howell). A copy of this satirical view of Reconstruc tion recently was added to the re search library. Two other new ac quisitions depict both sides of the Scapular (1985.180) Reconstruction debate less crea tively but no less vigorously: The Ballot Box, the Palladium of Our • Lloyd Sensat and Eugene Cizek and leather and presented to Mrs. Liberties (1863), a collection of have donated a large group of ma Maginnis "In Remembrance Of Her newspaper editorials by Jacob Bar terial related to their "education Solemn Communion and Confir ker which appeared in the anti through historic preservation" mation." slavery National Advocate, and The projects. The material includes in • Photographer Michael P. Smith Black Ghost; or, Radicalism in the vitations and posters, as well as an has donated several of his portraits United States (1868) by Charles De original poster of THNOC's Mer of the late Clarence John Laughlin. lery, a work critical of Republican ieult House done by the school chil These photographs, taken around political leaders. dren of St. Charles Parish. 1973, reflect the many aspects of • Other 19th-century public&tions • A handmade scapular has been Laughlin's personality. THNOC's include several volumes of Acts of given by Mrs. Gladys C. Maginnis. extensive collection of Laughlin's the Louisiana legislature, cata The scapular was made by Mother work is enhanced by these thought logues of the medical department of St. Helene Forstall, an Ursuline nun. ful portraits. the University of Louisiana (later to It was handpainted on paper, fabric, -Priscilla O'Reilly become Tulane University), and Henry T. Johns's beautifully writ ten firsthand account of Life with the Forty-Ninth Massachusetts Vol unteers (1864), a regiment which was garrisoned in Louisiana for nearly all of its Civil War duty. • Recent gifts include two enter taining speeches of Judge W. W. Westerfield, "The Einstein Theory of Relativity" (1932) and "To the Ladies" (1942), presented by Mrs. Clayton N. Frazar; exhibition cat alogues from the Arthur Roger Gal lery and the Peabody Museum of Salem; and a variety of recent pub lications, including Audubon Park: An Urban Eden (1985) by L. Ronald Forman, Joseph Logsdon, and John Wilds; Random Readings-The Jef ferson Parish Yearly Review (1985), compiled and edited by Msgr. Henry C. Bezou; and Women and New Orleans (1985) by Mary Geh- man. - Florence M. Jumonville
Clarence John Laughlin in his library at the Upper Pontalba Building. © Michael P. Smith (1985.181 .2)
11 • Family papers are the foundation of the Collection's manuscripts holdings. Recent donors of valuable groups of such papers are Mrs. Leon Irwin, Jr. (Bartlett family) ; Mrs. James P. Ewin, Jr. (Colcock family); J. Phares O'Kelly (Marie Celeste de Mandeville de Marigny de Livau dais); H. C. Chamberline (William C. Harrison); and Mrs. William J. Berridge (Richardson family). • A small collection of the work of Mollie Moore Davis, a popular 19th century poet, is the gift of Mrs. Roger Darby.
Zachary Taylor to James Robb, 1850 (85- 68-.L)
The major acquisitions of the man • The lOth Colored Artillery, as it uscripts division in the fall have been became known, was organized in the three additions to the James New Orleans as the lst Regiment Robb Collection described in a fea Corps d'Afrique in November 1862; ture story in this issue. So swiftly it represented an experiment by Mollie Moore Davis (85-65-L) has THNOC become the lodestone federal commanders in enlisting • Additions to the microfilm/fiche attracting large quantities of the former slaves in the Union army. holdings include The Historic Amer scattered papers relating to James One unit of the regiment, which ican Buildings Survey for Louisiana, Robb's B.nancial empire and family participated in the battle of Pass Music and Some Highly Musical Peo life that the manuscripts staff has Manchac, was posted at Fort Ma ple, the New Orleans Times (1863- undertaken an intensive research ef comb late in 1865. The quarter 1881), and the New Orleans Dem fort to become the "Robb Center" master's records of this unit, just ac ocrat (1875-1881). for the United States. It is hoped quired, provide interesting details -Catherine C. Kahn that much more material will find of black soldiers' daily life. its way here. • Mr. and Mrs. John Drury Tallant have donated 66 copies, dating from James A. Stouse 1838 to 1892, of L 'Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orleans, the distinguished James Amedee Stouse, friend bilingual newspaper published here and donor to the Collection, died from 1827 to 1923. Although Mr. October 21 , 1985, at the age of Tallant is a grandson of James Mar 89 years. He was a bank execu ius Augustin, an editor of the paper tive for over 40 years and was in the early 20th century, these is active in many charitable orga sues were actually found by a family nizations in the city. His dona member at a garage sale. tion of personal and military pa ~ · o-·~·~]~~~\1( · • James Milne Muggah and his pers from 1854 to 1976 consists ..,.. .. ~-._. young son were among the many of 817 items. The collection in who lost their lives on Last Island, cludes early family records, cor off the Louisiana coast, in the great respondence of the Ducros and storm of 1856. Letters between Stouse families, World War I mil Sheet music dedicated to James Robb family members, which tell the sad itary papers, and a manuscript, (51 -14-L) tale of tragedy and courage, are the "Recollections of a Creole in 20th gifts of Mrs. Ellis Johann Bultman Century New Orleans." • Dr. Merrill 0 . Hines, former med and Mr. and Mrs. Karl R. Eward, Jr. ical director of the Ochsner Medical • The Cottonbaler was the official Foundation, has donated his papers, publication in Korea of the 7th PHOTO CREDITS those of the foundation, and re United States Infantry, a unit which search notes of Dr. Alton Ochsner. originated during the Battle of New Claire de Ia Vergne This is an important addition to the Orleans. Five issues of the publi Judy Tarantino very large holdings of the Ochsner cation (1954-55) were a gift of its Jan White Papers at the Collection. co-editor, Roger C. Nelson.
12 Two articles from the Summer 1985 Newsletter elicited some fas cinating facts and an amusing an Robb ecdote from readers. John Magill's " Early Skyscrap ers" mentioned a fire that gutted Art the Morris, now Cigali, Building, prompting A. J. Cigali to provide some details of the blaze. Sale Mr. Cigali reports that fire en tered the fifth floor of the seven story structure and damaged mainly The Toilet of Psyche by Charles the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. The Joseph Natoire, 1745. Courtesy New archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans Museum of Art Orleans, housed on the fourth floor, Charles Galvani, a local art dealer, boldface. Each name is followed by were saved. The fire chief credited sold much of James Robb's art col a list of items bought at the sale. mule-draw~ pumps with saving the lection in March 1859. Copies of 23 Each item is described as it was in building. New, horseless pumps numbered " tickets," or sales the sale catalogue. were tried, but could not match the vouchers, are included in the Robb Do you recognize a name or one 1 00-foot height attainable by the old Papers. Many of these items were of the objects? Please get in touch pumps. bought by New Orleanians and may with the curatorial division if you Though the elevator shaft re still be owned by their descendants. own a piece you think was formerly mained intact, a new lift was in Names of purchasers appear in owned by James Robb. stalled at the back of the building after the fire. The original, central shaft was abandoned. A. Smedes: Panthers, Wild Boars (bronzes). Church in Time of Cromwell (Leutze); Ja A letter from Pat Rittiner added W. H. Johnson: bronze clock. cob's Dream (Edward Terry); porcelain vase an interesting bit of lore to Richard J. Greenleaf: painting of Boy and Girl; vol (Rubens & Snyders, blue ground). Marvin's account of the Sullivan umes of engravings from the Gallery of Mun [J. T. R. Stone ?]: The Concert (after Ryan prizefight of 1882. ich, Gallery of Dresden, Musee Royale; 2 Netscher); Holy Family (after Raphael). Sevres porcelain vases on pivots; Venus and [J. J.?] MeHall: Halt of Cavalry (Van Gae Mrs. Rittiner's grandfather, Car Cupid (bronze). l en). leton Fillmore Pool, was sent by the Edward Hobart: Beatrice Cenci (after R. J. Cochran: Dresden vases (painted with New Orleans Times-Democrat to Guido). figures & flowers) , artists bronze vases med cover the fight in Mississippi City. Mes. O'Brien: Madonna del Sisto (after allion (Luca Giordano); Louis XVI clock (5 Arriving at the train depot, Mr. Pool Raphael). cupids, dead gold and bronze). G. Foster: Boy Extracting a Thorn from Dr. W. N. Mercer: Spanish Flower Girls, found the passenger cars full, but his Foot, Rinald and Armida, Mercury Spanish Beggar Boys, Spanish Peasant Boys, took his seat on a flatcar along with (bronzes); Playing Children (after Vander Spanish Virgin and Child, (watercolors after "prominent and well-dressed busi werp); Chinese porcelain seats (Clevinger); Murillo); Mercury, Venus and Cupid (water ness and professional men, includ 2 antique vases (snake handles, Pompeian colors after Correggio); Still Life (after We figures); 2 serpentine vases. nix) . ing bankers wearing silk hats." S. H. Kennedy: 2 globes; 2 porcelain vases G. Smedes: Dutch Market by Candlelight Only one telegraph line, owned (after Cuyp). (Van Schendel); Herodias (Ailori); Fisher by a lumbermill, was available at the W. H. Letchford: Horse, Galino and Horse, man's Fireside (Englehardt). site of the bout for the reporters' Amazon, Lion Fighter (bronzes); Diana, Fi J. Burnside: Cleopatra (Albini); 2 land blow-by-blow accounts. It had been delity (marbles). scapes of morning and evening (Durand); _____ Wallis: Voltaire, Rousseau Bacchus and Ariadne (Luca Giordano); Por decided that, since all reporters (bronzes). trait of a Circassian Beauty (Kellogg); View could not be accommodated, none Bishop Polk: Bohemian vases. of the Bay of Naples, View of the Falls of would be allowed to use the line. Arch[ibald) Montgomery: alabaster vase; Terne (Denis); Visitation of St. Mary Eliza But Mr. Pool, apparently made of 2 china vases. beth (Sebastian del Piombo); Toilet of Psy Mrs. Larue: rosewood & marqueterie ta che (Natoire); Communion of the Sick, Im sterner stuff, proved enterprising. ble (Rubens & Snyders). prisonment of the Early Christians at Rome Mrs. Rittiner writes, " He took off L. C. Jurey: Esperanza (after Guido); Large (Huntingdon); View of the Cathedral of Bur his coat, fortunately black, put on Stag (bronze). gos (Roberts); Narcissus at the Bath (Biliv his shirt backward ... he persuaded R. S. Morse: serpentine pedestals with Es erti); 2 Sevres porcelain vases on pivots; the lumbermill operator that he was meralda & Bacchante, serpentine marble Donkey and Sheep (Robbe); Storm at Sea pedestal with thermometer and compass (Bonfield); Landscape (Doughty); Forgive us a clergyman and wished to send (bronzes by Luca Giordano); 2 porcelain vases our Trespasses (Leutze); Louis XVI corbeille some Bible quotations" via tele (Rubens & Snyders; view of Palace of Sans (2 cupids, bronze and gold); 2 vases to match graph and scooped the other re Souci); 2 Bohemian glass vases (white ground, corbeille (bronze, gold, malachite). porters. painted flowers); 2 Bohemian glass vases (red C. Galvani: 2 volumes with drawings by & gold ground); Boy with a Dish, Girl with Hogarth; Horses and wolves (bronze); rose The editors look forward to more a Dish, 2 figures, Arabian Horses (bronzes); wood stand and portfolio for prints. commentary from newsletter read Iconoclasts, or the Plunder of a Catholic ers in the future. 13 host the Network's 1986 meeting MEETINGS Staff . . . Miss McCaffrey also was ap Director Stanton Frazar at pointed liaison to the Committee on tended the annual meeting of the Cataloging for the picture division Society of American Archivists in PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES of the Special Libraries Association. Austin, Texas, in October . . . Elsa Schneider, curator of edu THNOC staff members who at Time-Life Books recently wrote cation, presented a paper, "Using tended the 1985 Southeast College to THNOC expressing appreciation Primary Source Material in the So Art Conference in October were to Patricia McWhorter, associate cial Studies Classroom," at the an Pamela Arceneaux, Carolyn Dong, curator, and to photographers Jan nual meeting of the National Coun John H. Lawrence, Kellye Magee, White, Judy Tarantino, and Claire cil for the Social Studies in Chicago John Magill, Patricia McWhorter, de Ia Vergne for assisting the staff . . . an article by Charles S. Buch Kathy Wall, and Jan White. of their Civil War series ... this is anan, "Academicism and Radical the second year of recognition ... ism in 19th-Century French Art," INTERN PROGRAM appeared in the fall issue of The New THNOC's museum intern pro fan Wh · Orleans Art Review. gram, in cooperation with Tulane zte and P. . Dr. Alfred E. Lemmon, coordi atrzcia ~ ... University, Loyola University, and LVLCif'f nator of special projects, serves as rlOr(er the University of New Orleans, is secretary of the Friends of the Ar coordinated by Dr. Patricia B. chives of Louisiana ... he recently Schmit, director of publications . . . spoke on Guatemalan colonial mu student research helps with various sic at a conference sponsored by the on-going projects. European Economic Community in Brussels. John Magill, chief cura torial cataloger, was interviewed by WLAE-TV for their documentary "Thy Will Be Done: Histories of Five New Orleans Priests." CHANGES The new curatorial assistant is f{arrnon, Kitty Farley ... Miss Farley (B. A. , Blair, vougFraz.ar s Foster . h Stanton Michigan State University) is pur Intern L al , wtt suing an M. A. degree in art history susan e at Tulane University ... Alix Sam SPEAKERS BUREAU uels, manuscripts assistant, entered graduate school at the University of Staff members have recently made Texas in January. presentations to the following or ganizations: John H. Lawrence, West Bank Camera Club ... Alfred E. Lemmon, Northwestern State University and Hispanidad '85 lec ture series ... John Magill, Orleans Club ... Patricia McWhorter, Am ateur Radio and Computer Fest ... Patricia B. Schmit, Spring Fiesta docent series ... Elsa Schneider, Miss White and Mrs. Tarantino Sherwood Forest School . . . and served as judges for the annual ex Judy Tarantino, Hugh O'Brien hibition of the St. Bernard Photo Youth Foundation Seminar. graphic Society ... some of Mrs. Tarantino's photographs were in EDUCATION CORPORATE CUP cluded in the 1986 Right to Life cal John A. Mahe II attended a sym The following people repre endar. posium for museum directors and sented THNOC in the Corporate Dr. Patricia B. Schmit, director curators presented by the Inter Cup race: Lynn Adams, Pamela Ar of publications, contributed an ar museum Conservation Association ceneaux, Roberta Berry, Mimi Cal ticle, "Spanish Land Documents at at Oberlin College . . . Jan White, houn, Jeanie Clinton, Howard the Historic New Orleans Collec head of photography, traveled to Estes, Stanton Frazar, Don Gay tion," to the fall issue of Manu Washington for a workshop at the lord, Louise Hoffman, Cathy Kahn, scripts . .. curator Rosanne Mc Smithsonian Institution .. . and Joan Lennox, Barbara McMahon, Caffrey spoke on THNOC's photographer Judy Tarantino re Melvin Noah, Alix Samuels, Elsa computer system at the Museum cently completed an editing course Schneider, Fred Smith, Joan Sow Computer Network meeting in in video programming with the New ell, Taronda Spencer, and Jessica Mexico City ... the Collection will Orleans Video Access Corporation. Travis. 14 Puzzler Answer
The photograph shows the New Basin Canal, now the area of the Carrollton interchange along Inter state 10. Across the top is Carrollton Av enue, with its wide neutral ground narrowing into a small bridge over the canal. Below Carrollton is Pel ican Stadium, the home of New Or leans's minor league baseball team, here converted for the fall football season. The 60-foot-wide canal was dug in the 1830s and brought sand, gravel, and shells from Lake "Ophelia's World of Bears," the Shop's fourth annual Christmas f estival, celebrated Pontchartrain to a basin near the the 82nd birthday of the American teddy bear. Union Passenger Terminal on Loy ola Avenue. The west side of the Historians will be interested in a French quarterly, Revue fran{:aise canal all the way to West End was book, available in the Shop, which d'histoire d'outre-mer. James Pitot's built up with the mud from the ex chronicles in great detail events in observations, translated with an in cavation as a foundation for a shell French Louisiana from 1721- 1723. troduction by descendant Henry C. road for riders, carriages, and, later, Marcel Giraud, professor emeritus Pitot, were written by a man who automobiles. of the College de France and a lead came to New Orleans in 1796 and Parts of the canal near the basin ing specialist in the history of the became mayor of the city in 1804. end were filled in the 1940s, and its development of North America, is The review, which finds the entire course was covered by the the author of La Louisiane apres le memoir "revealing," states that "all · early 1950s. Its wide, barren route systeme de Law, volume 4 in his through his observations Pitot through the city was the natural work, Histoire de la Louisiane Fran shows, more or less spontaneously, choice for part of the Pontchartrain {:aise. Research for the 455-page that Louisiana's prosperity de Expressway because it would not volume comes from archives in pended upon its becoming a part of require leveling buildings or dis France, Italy, England, and the the North American ensemble turbing neighborhoods. Now, cars United States. In French. [United States] . . .. And with these and trucks follow the former water observations one can better under way for barges and boats along that stand why Napoleon sold a colony part ofi-10 that was once the New in which France's interest was fast Basin Canal. A THNOC publication, Obser receding, and where a certain num -John A. Mahe II vations on the Colony of Louisiana ber of inhabitants, James Pitot in From 1796 to 1802, was recently re cluded, were adjusting quite well to viewed by Jacques Portes in the the American presence . .. "
Please send Histoire de la Louisiane Franyaise: La Louisiane apres le systeme de Law at $38.00, softcover, (30% discount) $26.60 ------ VOLUNTEERS NEEDED Observations on the Colony of Louisiana at $14.95 ------Name ______THNOC is looking for committed volunteers to help with several large Address ______research and cataloging projects. City State Zip, ____ Anyone interested in helping should call Jeanie Clinton in the adminis 0 Check or Money Order 0 Visa 0 Mastercard trative office, 523-4662. Acct. No. Postage and Handling, $1.50 ______Exp. Date 4% tax, La. residents ______Signature 9% tax, New Orleans residents ___ TOTAL AMOUNT DUE-----
15 130 Years of Comus
Far left, invitation to the ball at the French Opera House, 1914 (1960.14.23a) and dance card, 1898 (1961.48.3)
Since the mid-19th century, Co mus has issued highly decorative in vitations to the organization's ball on Mardi Gras night. Invitations and other memorabilia are included in the current exhibition in the Wil liams Gallery, The Mistick Krewe: 130 Years of Comus, a look at car nival's oldest organization. The ex hibition will run through March. (Seep. 5.)
Non Profit :.~r~~: THE HISTORIC Organization 1[ NEW ORLEANS U.S. Postage .A.'--.~.-f--'A PAID -r~~~. COLLECTION New Orleans, LA Permit No. 863 ~~-~J_. . NEWSLETTER THE HISTORIC NEW ORLEANS COLLECTION Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation 533 Royal Street New Orleans, Louisiana 70130 (504) 523-4662 Cable: THNOC ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED