Special Collections News & Notes

By Christine Wendling and Brooke Bell Mardi Gras Traditions During the past 300 years of Mardi Gras’ existence, certain customs have crystallized within the communities in and surrounding New Orleans. For example, krewes (pronounced “crews”) are social organizations that orchestrate…Read more ›

Video: a Mardi Gras scrapbook originally put together in the 1800s is being restored by LSU Libraries to preserve part of Louisiana’s cultural heritage. You can also view the digitized images of the scrapbook on the Louisiana Digital Library.

Since 1948, LSU Libraries has committed significant resources to the preservation of historic and current newspapers published in Louisiana. As part of that ongoing effort, the Libraries has collaborated with Reveal Digital on their initiative, American Prison Newspapers 1800–2020: Voices…Read more ›

LSU Libraries’ Exhibition Manager, Leah Wood Jewett, and Associate Professor at LSU’s College of the Coast & Environment, Tracy Quirk spoke on NPR’s “Louisiana Considered” about LSU Libraries’ new exhibition focused on the state’s wetlands. Dubbed, “Water, Water Everywhere: Control…Read more ›

LSU Libraries selected four scholars to receive research grants during the 2022-2023 academic year for their projects using materials in Special Collections’ holdings. Three travel grants cover funds for travel, lodging, and other types of support associated with a research…Read more ›

The Wyatt Houston Day Collection of Poetry by African Americans, the most important private collection of Black poetry, now belongs to LSU. The LSU Libraries Special Collections will house the over 800 items previously owned by book collector and dealer…Read more ›

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, through the Coastal Impacts initiative, has chosen LSU Libraries – Special Collections as a host site for a new adult reading and discussion series. "Witness to Change: Community Conversations on Coastal Impacts".Read more ›

Friends and family of Julia Hawkins and members of the LSU Hilltop Arboretum joined us this weekend to celebrate her 106th birthday. Guests viewed original watercolors by botanical artist Margaret Stones. Hawkins and her late husband, Murray (former chair of…Read more ›

In 1971, John Stauffer “Jack” McIlhenny (1909-1997) transformed LSU Libraries with the gift of the personal library of his uncle, E. A. “Ned” McIlhenny of Avery Island, LA. The exhibition “Flora & Fauna at 50: The E. A. McIlhenny Natural…Read more ›

“The record, sometimes, is not very welcoming to me.” – Dre Tarleton, graduate assistant in LSU Libraries Special Collections  In the summer of 2020, LSU Libraries was presented with an unrestricted donor gift of $50,000 that allowed the Libraries to…Read more ›

LSU Libraries selected three scholars to receive travel grants supporting use of the LSU Libraries Special Collections in their dissertation projects. The grant covers travel and lodging costs associated with a research trip to Hill Memorial Library. We are excited…Read more ›

LSU Libraries Special Collections presents, “A Special Collections Sampling,” an exhibition now on display in Hill Memorial Library at LSU. Featured items include photographs, letters, documents, and books from all major collections, spanning over 500 years. The selections provide visitors…Read more ›

Meet Danielle Stoulig, she is the new head of archival processing for LSU Libraries’ Special Collections. As the head of archival processing, Stoulig will oversee the arrangement and descriptions of archival materials for Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collection and…Read more ›

Prior to the celebrated Baton Rouge Bus Boycott, the shared wounds of inequity and discrimination had marshaled other preludes to the Civil Rights Movement in the capital region. As early as the 1940s, Black community leaders, veterans, and students in…Read more ›

Up until late last year Special Collections has been home to a single, medieval manuscript: a particularly fine book of hours generously donated to the Libraries by John S. McIlhenny in 1991 as the Library’s ceremonial two millionth book. Resting…Read more ›

LSU Libraries Special Collections’ manuscript collections are justly celebrated for their stories of African Americans in Louisiana and the south more broadly, be those stories told in the digital collection about the Free People of Color, or as recently cited…Read more ›

Over roughly a decade, plant collectors of all stripes braved the Louisiana wilds to procure plants for one of the 20th century’s most talented and accomplished botanical artists, at times side by side with her (and her uncompromising eye for…Read more ›

War. Natural disaster. Epidemic. Social upheaval. Political turmoil. Spend enough time digging through archival collections and you’ll soon realize that these things happen over and over again throughout history, often simultaneously. Archives record the joys, sorrows, and monotony of being…Read more ›