THE HISTORIC THE MARY MEEKS MORRISON NEW ORLEANS AND QUARTERLY JACOB MORRISON PAPERS 1883-1998 Volume XX, Number 2 Spring 2002 Mary Morrison and Jacob Morrison (MSS 553); View down Royal Street from 100 block by Charles L. Franck, 1940 (1979.325.5516) We of New Orleans are fortunate in having with us today a link forming a continuity with the past. It is reassuring in “this day of changing concepts, of families dividing, of the tearing up of roots to be able to live beside history. It makes us proud of our heritage, it encourages us to live up to it and it bespeaks an earthly immortality in future generations. Few spots in the United States can boast these steadying influences and no place can show a complete city of them.” All quotes are from the typescript of New Orleans, Then and Now, a speech given by Mary Morrison several times during the 1970s (MSS 553). HE ARY EEKS ORRISON he early 1930s and ’40s witnessed T M M M the emergence of one of the most AND T important movements in recent New Orleans history. A dedicated group of people who recognized the singularity of JACOB MORRISON PAPERS the Vieux Carré, or French Quarter, began efforts to defend its integrity. With street 1883-1998 after street of irreplaceable historic struc- tures, the French Quarter was increasingly under threat from both the elements and Hundreds of items in the Morrison commercial developers whose plans were at Papers attest to the extraordinary tenacity of odds with maintaining the distinctive char- local preservationists to defeat the proposed acter of the neighborhood. Among the riverfront expressway, an issue that surfaced early pioneers promoting historic preserva- in 1946, intensified in the mid-1960s, and tion in the Vieux Carré were Mary and finally came to a close in 1969. Also docu- Jacob Morrison. mented are dozens of smaller skirmishes Shortly after their marriage in 1938, related to Vieux Carré preservation dating Mary and Jacob Morrison (originally from back to the late 1930s and early 1940s, as Canton, Mississippi, and New Roads, well as battles that came later, such as the Louisiana, respectively) moved to the Mary Morrison and Mary Louise Christovich, presi- controversy over the Canal Place develop- dent of the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, at French Quarter. Their interests quickly The Historic New Orleans Collection’s first annual ment and the Aquarium of the Americas. gravitated toward preservation issues and Leila Williams Tea honoring donors in 1997 Another category comprises the legal improving the quality of life in their his- papers of Jacob Morrison, which include toric neighborhood. Their tireless dedica- ers, city planners, highway engineers, and materials relevant to the political career of tion to preservation causes is reflected in the others who had differing visions of the his half brother, deLesseps S. “Chep” Mary Meeks Morrison and Jacob Morrison Vieux Carré. From this base, the preserva- Morrison, mayor of New Orleans from Papers, acquired by The Historic New tion movement in New Orleans emerged 1946 to 1961; the political reform move- Orleans Collection in 1999. Because of and matured as a viable defender of the ment and opposition to the Huey Long their importance, the papers were given top French Quarter, with Mary Morrison machine; lawsuits involving Leander Perez; cataloging priority and are now available to among its leaders. Mrs. Morrison was an and other local and state politicians, espe- researchers at the Williams Research active participant in almost every debate cially Sam Jones and Hale Boggs. Center. concerning the Vieux Carré from the 1940s Materials relating to social organiza- The collection, which fills 205 boxes, through the mid-1990s. Issues included tions in which the Morrisons were active, has been organized into seven categories. the frequency of garbage pickup, the such as Le Petit Salon, the Spring Fiesta, The first and largest category relates to his- encroachment of major hotels and tourist and Patio Planters, make up the third cate- toric preservation and community activism. attractions, and, perhaps most significantly, gory. The last four categories contain items During the late 1930s and early 1940s, the proposed elevated riverfront expressway. of a personal nature: Jacob Morrison’s Mary Morrison (1911-1998) became active Jacob Morrison (1905-1974) was an wartime journals, family photographs, in municipal politics as a ward leader and active member of the National Trust for genealogical research, letters to friends and poll watcher in the fifth ward (which Historic Preservation and author of Historic family, and memorabilia related to the vari- included a large part of the Vieux Carré). Preservation Law (1957), the first book ous trips the couple took. As one of the early pioneers of female dealing with historic preservation legisla- A highlight of the papers is a speech activism in local politics, Mrs. Morrison tion in the United States. He served as given by Mary Morrison several times dur- helped to found the Independent Women’s president of VCPORA during the late ing the 1970s in which she recalls the Vieux Organization in 1945. She was also a 1940s, as VCPORA’s advising attorney Carré during the 1930s and ’40s—a neigh- founder of the Louisiana Council for the through 1971, and did legal work for the borhood where establishments like Solari’s Vieux Carré and was active in the Vieux Friends of the Cabildo, the Louisiana grocery store, Montalbano’s Italian Carré Commission, Patio Planters, Vieux Landmarks Society, the Louisiana Council Delicatessen, and the Napoleon House Carré Property Owners and Residents for the Vieux Carré, and the Vieux Carré thrived. Such places contributed to the Association (VCPORA), Louisiana Courier. For these focused and dedicated neighborhood vibrancy of the Vieux Carré, Landmarks Society, and Le Petit Salon. activities, Mary and Jacob Morrison along with dozens of similar family busi- VCPORA was the chief organization received the prestigious Crowninshield nesses throughout the French Quarter. behind the many encounters with develop- Award from the National Trust in 1974. (continued on page 4) 2 Built in 1870 [Solari’s] represented the finest in edibles. “Its meats were superb. At a time when refrigeration lagged considerably it imported magnificent cheeses, olives, pickles and these were not separately packaged as they are today. The cheeses were huge cartwheels or blocks—the pickles, olives, preserves, etc., were actually in those large kegs called hogsheads. The amount you wished was dipped out into a waxed carton.” Exterior view of Solari’s, 1961 (Vieux Carré Survey, THNOC); Solari’s imported and domestic cheese counter from the fall 1930-spring 1931 cata- logue, Good Things to Eat from All the World (86-422-RL) Interior view of Montalbano’s Italian Delicatessen, ca. 1933 (1990.131) One entered [Montalbano’s] through a sort of delicatessen that sold Italian delicacies including enormous sandwiches made by using a loaf of Italian bread like“ a giant bun, slicing it through the center and loading it with all kinds of Italian goodies—cheeses, ripe and green olives, antipastos, relishes—a little of everything. Mr. Montalbano would slice it 6 ways and each pie-shaped wedge was a meal for one person…. If there was space in the Roma room (this had been the family dining room and was just behind the delicatessen proper) one could sit at the one table and eat his portion…. The Roma room was decorated in all sorts of religious articles. It was reputed to have been blessed by Pope Pius XI…. At the front of the room was an improvised altar with a miniature facsimile of the Vatican at its top. Votary [sic] candles burned here night and day and patrons were expected to make an offering in a glass bowl kept there for that purpose. ” 3 Exterior view of the Napoleon House, 1900 (Vieux Carré Survey, THNOC) The Napoleon House was in our time the favorite hangout of the young set both married tionists involved an expressway project that “and unmarried…. Times were hard and a coke served to justify our being in the bar for at threatened to put a concrete noose around least two hours…. The Napoleon House seems to have become a tradition. The young people one of the unique urban neighborhoods in the United States. The Morrisons’ papers that frequent it today act toward it exactly as we did which is odd to me as I should have demonstrate their keen awareness of the thought the generation gap would have doomed this. forces that threatened not only the French ” Quarter’s physical integrity, but also the neighborhood’s distinctive character. —David Dressing Also of particular interest are items related form of transportation in the United States. Over the past four years David Dressing has to the proposed Jackson Square sound-and- Older neighborhoods with distinct identi- worked on several projects at THNOC, light show, the proliferation of noise and ties began to lose their residential vitality as including the organization of the Mary Meeks bars, crime, commercial intrusion, and the people migrated to the suburbs, and city Morrison and Jacob Morrison Papers. He is renovation of the French Market. planners and developers encouraged new currently completing his Ph.D. dissertation in The early group of New Orleans suburban developments in the interest of the field of Latin American colonial history at preservationists, of which Mary and Jacob economic progress. It is not coincidental Tulane University and serving as curator of Morrison were an integral part, came of age that the greatest challenge faced by this manuscripts in the Tulane Latin American just as the automobile emerged as the main early generation of New Orleans preserva- Library. 4 DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT FROM THE DIRECTOR PPOINTED Around the state and indeed throughout the region, institutions are A forming partnerships to celebrate the bicentennial of The board of directors announces the Louisiana Purchase in 2003.