LSU Libraries Associate Dean Faye Phillips has written a new book, published by the History Press, titled The LSU Rural Life Museum & Windrush Gardens: A Living History.

The 128 page book includes extensive biographies of Burden Family members, especially Ione Burden and Steele Burden, the leaders of the development of the Rural Life Museum and Windrush Gardens.  There is also a chapter about the Rural Life Museum’s collections, vernacular buildings and artifacts, as well as bibliographical references and index. The photographs in the book come from the LSU Libraries Special Collections and the collections of the Rural Life Museum, with some photographs by LSU Libraries Assistant Dean Nancy Colyar, and Assistant Director of LSU University Relations Jim Zietz.

The back cover describes how, "In 1861, Louisiana settler William S. Pike established an incredible five-hundred-acre plantation seven miles from the heart of present-day Baton Rouge. His progeny continued to cherish the land for generations, all while pursuing unique and active lives. William Stephen Pike Burden Jr. became an amateur magician, and Ollie Brice Steele Burden, inspired by the formal gardens of Europe, designed Windrush Gardens. Today, the land is home to Louisiana State University's Rural Life Museum and houses rare collections of Louisiana folk life and working plantation materials. In this comprehensive history of LSU's beloved landmark, archivist Faye Phillips brings to life the hardships and toils, vision and determination of families in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Louisiana."