Special Collections News & Notes

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 ›