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				Programs
				ACQUISITION PROGRAMS The Acquisitions Program seeks to systematically acquire and disseminate large bodies of resource materials to researchers endeavoring to investigate and interpret Louisiana's rich heritage. THE LOUISIANA COLONIAL RECORDS COLLECTION Drawn from various French, Spanish, British, and Louisiana archival depositories, the Louisiana Colonial Records Collection focuses on the discovery, exploration, settlement, and development of the Mississippi Valley by the colonial powers between 1682 and 1803. This collection is unique in that it brings together in one place the documentary record of the French, English, Spanish, and American contests for control of the vast Louisiana territory. To date, over 1,000,000 pages of archival material have been photoduplicated from French archives; over 1,500,000 pages copied in Spanish archives; over 20,000 pages of documentary evidence from British depositories; and over 165,000 pages of material from various Louisiana sources. THE PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION This acquisitions program began in 1976 and quickly developed into one of the Center's major collections. Here, again, emphasis is on documenting changing lifestyles in Louisiana. The Collection, composed of photographs from all 64 Louisiana parishes, has served as the basis of several major interpretations. These have taken the form of exhibitions in Paris, Washington, and throughout Louisiana. The exhibitions have touched on such varied subjects as "Louisiana, Its People and Its Land," "Becoming Woman: A Sequence of Louisiana Portraits," "Green Fields: Two Hundred Years of Louisiana Sugar," "Children of Depression Louisiana," and "Southwest Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands," a photographic interpretation using the images of Amanda and Dallas Hanks. Interpretation of Louisiana life using the Photographic Collection has also resulted in numerous publications, including The Courthouses of Louisiana; Louisiana Gothic: Recollections of Louisiana in the 1930s; and Louisiana Church Architecture. The Hanks photographs were used to illustrate Amanda Hanks's Louisiana Paradise: The Chênières and Wetlands of Southwest Louisiana. The Good-bye to Main Street project (see long-term research programs), conducted during the late 1980s, resulted in a large addition to the Photographic Collection. Photographs are also available for a wide range of other potential exhibitions and publications. An on-line electronic version of the Photographic Collection is hoped for in the near future. THE FOLKLORE AND FOLKLIFE COLLECTIONS The Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore, established in 1974, is a major acquisitions program seeking to systematically record the cultural heritage of Louisiana on tape and video. Particular emphasis on the state's Francophone legacy has produced a unique collection. Through a carefully planned program of interviews with transmitters of oral tradition from Southeast Texas to New Orleans and from Avoyelles Parish and Natchitoches to the Gulf, the collection provides outstanding resources for linguistic examination of all Louisiana French dialects - Cajun, Creole, black French, and Amerindian French. In addition, the collection incorporates examples of French spoken in the Upper Mississippi Valley, French Canada, the West Indies, and Africa. Moreover, the collection rests solidly on the broad range of Louisiana folklore, including folktales and legends, ballads and dance tunes, and oral history. The Folklore and Folklife Collections have in the last decade sought to expand their focus to include other groups and traditions outside the Francophone world through various new acquisitions, including the Rendez Vouse des Cajuns TV show, Acadiana Open Channel shows, the Projet Louisiane recordings of Dean Louder, and numerous student recordings and fieldwork. Additionally, center staff actively conducts fieldwork on various topics. RESEARCH PROGRAMS The Center staff is primarily concerned with providing assistance to the visiting researcher. Through their personal knowledge of the Collections, staff members can usually assist the researcher in moving swiftly into an area of interest. Moreover, the staff is frequently engaged in compiling research tools, such as guides, indexes, calendars, abstracts, and bibliographies. Such tools are of value to the researcher even before he decides to visit the Center. Research done in Center Collections over the past decade has resulted in dissertations, theses, monographs, exhibitions, films, and recordings. Researchers have come to the Center from all regions of the United States, from Canada, the West Indies, Europe, West Africa, and Australia. CENTER RESEARCH PROJECTS In addition to assisting others with their research needs, Center staff members conduct research of their own. This activity falls into three categories: Long-Term Research. This is usually an investigation requiring several years to arrive at interpretation. The object of this kind of research is to develop seminal interpretations or to test earlier interpretations in the light of a larger body of documentation.    A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography. This project, begun in 1982, resulted in the nomination of approximately 5,000 Louisianans for inclusion. From this pool of names, approximately 3,000 biographical sketches were prepared by nearly 400 contributors by the submissions deadline in late 1986. The two-volume dictionary was published in the fall of 1988. A ten-year supplement volume, containing over four hundred biographical sketches, was published in 1998.    Good-bye to Main Street: The Decline of Small-Town Louisiana. This project, begun in the spring of 1987, sought to photodocument, using black -and-white prints and 35mm color slides, the accelerating decline of the typical late nineteenth-century/early twentieth-century brick -and-mortar, downtown commercial districts across the state. By the project’s conclusion in 1990, 217 downtown, commercial districts had been photodocumented, producing a photographic archive of over 5,000 black-and-white images and over 3,000 color slides.    French Immigration to Louisiana in the Nineteenth Century. Research into this subject began in 1981. Evidence gathered to date indicates that the number of French immigrants to Louisiana between 1815 and 1914 was far greater than heretofore projected. The Center has published three volumes in this series, covering the years 1820-1852. Present research seeks to determine the cultural impact of this immigration on Louisiana's older Creole and Cajun populations.    Land Records of the Attakapas District, 1765-1860. This long-range project, envisioned to be several years in the making, seeks to document settlement patterns, land uses, and proprietorship. Vast amounts of genealogical, local, and federal documentation are being employed for the compilation. This project began in the summer of 1983 and to date has resulted in the publication of three volumes. Short-Term Research. This type of investigation is usually initiated in the face of a specific deadline, such as a scholarly conference, background information for a short-term project, or consultation. Center staff members frequently engage in this type of research for academic reasons and as a service to governmental agencies, corporations, civic organizations, and individuals. Occasional Research. This type of investigation is usually conducted to answer specific questions about Louisiana's history and culture. Requests for information of this type come into the Center on a daily basis from individuals and the communications media. The Center has responded to requests from the nation's major television and radio networks, foreign electronic media, foreign, state, and local print media, and from the motion picture industry. INTERPRETIVE PROGRAMS Since its inception, the Center has endeavored to broaden the scope of its interpretive programs arising from research generated in-house or elsewhere. These programs are primarily of an out-reach nature, designed to acquaint scholars, students, and the public with Louisiana’s rich cultural heritage. The interpretive programs are reflected in the following activities: Publications: Books. The Center for Louisiana Studies has published more than 200 titles since the Center’s inception in 1973. These books have been a happy mix of scholarly and popular topics ranging from colonial to contemporary events, from genealogy to biography, from the Louisiana raised cottage to cemetery architecture. Blending scholarly and popular topics has allowed the Center to operate its publications arm at a profit with self--generated funds. These publications are distributed to some of the nearly 3,000 individuals on the Center's mailing list, to several hundred libraries in the United States and abroad, and to major book dealers in the U.S. and overseas. The most ambitious publications project in the Center’s history, “The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series in Louisiana History,” was begun in 1995 and when completed later this year will include nineteen volumes, many broken into separately published parts. A current catalog of all of the Center’s publications, including the titles from “The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Series” is available upon request. Publications: Serials. The Center serves as the editorial office for this type of publication. The editorial office of the Louisiana Historical Association has been located at the Center since 1973. In cooperation with the LHA, the Center publishes the scholarly, refereed quarterly Louisiana History. This magazine has been consistently rated among the top ten state historical journals in the United States.   In addition, the Center publishes the quarterly Louisiana History Newsletter. This publication informs the public of historical and cultural events being planned or in progress which are sponsored by state agencies, universities and colleges, libraries, and over sixty parochial and regional historical and cultural organizations.   In cooperation with the Attakapas Historical Association, a regional history organization that at one time numbered approximately 600 members and was the largest organization of its type in the state, the Center published the Attakapas Gazette, a quarterly magazine devoted to popular historical and cultural topics. Interest in the association peaked during the mid-1980s and the magazine even received special recognition from the American Association for State and Local History in 1986. Unfortunately the magazine and the association have been dormant for a number of years now, but it is hoped that each will be revived in the very near future. Publications: Other. In addition, the Center develops and publishes brochures and pamphlets to complement Center interpretative programs, such as exhibitions, conferences, music festivals, school and public lectures. In cooperation with the Attakapas Historical Association, the Center published and has available for purchase a series of maps dealing with land-settlement patterns in the Southwest Land District of Louisiana. Exhibitions. Beginning in 1976, the Center has sponsored a series of exhibitions which have won international and national acclaim. "Louisiana Bien-Aimé," a portrayal of life in Louisiana was exhibited in Paris in 1976 and was awarded a gold medal as the outstanding American exhibit in the French capital in the bicentennial year. Subsequent exhibitions have focused on life then and now in the Pelican State. "Green Fields: Two Hundred Years of Louisiana Sugar, a Pictorial History," was first exhibited in Louisiana and then received an invitation to show for a month at the U. S. Agricultural Library. Other well-received exhibitions have been "Becoming Woman: A Series of Louisiana Portraits," "Burnt in Their Youth: Children of Depression Louisiana," and "Southwest Louisiana's Coastal Wetlands: A Photographic Interpretation." Competitions. From 1974 to 1987, the Center, in cooperation with the Louisiana Historical Association, sponsored the annual Louisiana History Essay Contest for the state's middle-school students. Writing on historical, cultural, or genealogical subjects, approximately 1,000 students participated in this annual event. Dramatic Readings and Classroom Programs. The Center's staff offers a varied program of dramatic readings and classroom lectures and demonstrations to acquaint middle- and high-school students with the extraordinary ethnic and racial blend that has produced contemporary Louisiana society and culture. Lectures. Professionals on the Center staff, as well as Center Associates, engage in this activity throughout the year. Center staff and Center Associates are currently in the planning stage of developing a statewide lecture program geared toward representatives from the tourism industry. Consultation. All members of the professionally trained staff are available to assist scholars, students, and the public with individual programs of research and interpretation. The staff is also available to confer with primary and secondary school teachers on historical and cultural enrichment programs.
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Document last revised Monday, November 10, 2008 10:00 AM

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