Plantations
This guide describes manuscript collections documenting plantation society and economy in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (LLMVC) at LSU. The plantation records and personal papers of planters, factors, merchants, and others whose livelihood came from plantations provide a wealth of documentation supporting research in plantation economy, slavery, and the social history of Southern landholding elites.
The collections described below touch upon all facets of plantation life. They include the papers of tutors, preachers, lawyers, and doctors who provided services to planters. They include the letters of Northerners who visited plantations in the antebellum period and wrote home about them, and those of Union soldiers who marched past plantations and sometimes plundered them. While the majority of collections are from the prewar years, there are substantial holdings on postbellum plantations as well. The sugar and cotton plantation records in LLMVC are among its most noteworthy and famed collections, and among the earliest collections that LSU acquired.
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Alexander, James M. Letter, 1836 May 7. 1 letter. Location: Misc.:A. James M. Alexander, an overseer in Clinton, Ala., writes Edward B.D. Sloan in Sloansville, Mecklenburg County, N.C., about their friendship, farming, and land prices. Mss. 3964. Referenced in Guides: Plantations
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Allen, Henry Watkins, 1820-1866. Letter and related photograph, 1864 July 6. 2 items. Location: Misc:A. Lawyer of Mississippi who served in both the Mississippi and Louisiana legislatures. Allen served in the 4th Louisiana Regiment during the Civil War and was Confederate governor of Louisiana in 1864. Letter from Allen to William F. Lockwood, keeper of machinery of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, authorizes Lockwood to loan penitentiary looms to cotton planters in eastern Louisiana and includes instructions for loaning the looms. Included is a photograph of Lockwood. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2867. |
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Allendale Plantation Records, 1900-1996. 12 v. Location: 6:64-65, U:1. Henry Watkins Allen, the 17th governor of Louisiana established Allendale sugar plantation in West Baton Rouge Parish. In 1882, John and Martin James Kahao purchased the plantation, and their family successfully operated the plantation for most of the 20th century. The collection contains correspondence, minutes, labor records, and financial and legal documents. Papers also include brief histories of Allendale Plantation and the Kahao family. Photographs are comprised of family members, plantation buildings, plantation workers, and the cane fields. Mss. 3824. Referenced in Guides: Sugar, Plantations
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Allyn, William B. Letter, 1862 Nov. 25. 1 item. Location: Misc:A. William B. Allyn was a Federal officer serving in Louisiana during the Civil War. Written from Camp Stevens, near Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, Allyn's letter describes the surrounding countryside, the Federal policy toward captured Confederate sugar, and social relations with local planters. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2941. |
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Alston, Solomon. Etate Document, 1809 April 27. 1 item. Location: C:61. Planter of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Deed of manumission giving a female slave to Maria Ana Gray, niece of Solomon Alston. Conditions were outlined in Alston's will. In Spanish. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1209. |
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Anderson McNutt. Estate Papers, 1868-1895. 42 items. Location: 32:81. Planter of Rapides Parish, Louisiana, and brother of Mississippi governor A. G. McNutt. Records of the disposition of McNutt's estate describe the founding of Vicksburg, Mississippi, and early Mississippi politicians; family history; and economic and political difficulties of Reconstruction. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4187. Referenced in Guides: Politics, Plantations
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Anderson, Harrod C. (Harrod Clopton). Papers. 1849-1888 (bulk 1885-1887). 6 items, 3 volumes. Location: F:1, Misc:A. Planter of Magnolia, Haywood County, Tennessee. Papers include a cashbook, photoprints, and diaries which discuss opinions on philosophical, religious, political, and Civil War issues. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm 5322: University Publications of America Records of Ante-bellum Southern Plantations Series I, Part 2, Reel 20. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 8, 490, 539. |
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Anderson, John Q., Papers, 1848-1993 (bulk 1953-1973). 7.5 linear ft., 5 v. Location: X:119-125, OS:A, P:17. John Q. Anderson was a professor of English and a writer of Southern history and folklore. This collections of files, correspondence, printed material, and photographs reflect Anderson's career, current events; and they provide research material for his publications, particularly "Brokenburn: The Journal of Kate Stone, 1861-1868" and "Louisiana Swamp Doctor: The Life of Henry Clay Lewis". For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2156, 2162. Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Women, Education, African Americans, Natchez, Mississippi, Long Family, Literature, 20th Century Wars
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Andrew Jackson account, ca. 1840, undated 1 item. Location: Misc.:J President of the United States, 1828-1836. Anonymous manuscript apparently submitted to a periodical for publication describes a visit to Jackson's Tennessee home, the Hermitage. The writer discusses the location and appearance of the plantation and Jackson's health, interests, and family. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 3212. Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Literature
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Andry, M. T. (Michel Thomassin), 1811-ca. 1871. Family Papers, 1840-1882 (bulk 1858-1879). 0.3 linear ft. (199 items). Location: UU:66. Sugar planter of St. John the Baptist and St. Charles parishes, Louisiana, and resident of New Orleans. Collection includes correspondence and legal and financial papers. Letters received by Andry's daughter Rosa from his sons describe their participation in the Battle of Shiloh, campaigns in Kentucky, and skirmishes at Camp Beauregard in the Civil War. Partly in French. Available on microfilm 5735: University Publications of America Confederate Military Manuscripts Series B, Reel 1. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1318. Referenced in Guides: Sugar, Plantations, New Orleans to 1861, New Orleans in the Civil War, New Orleans 1866-, Civil War, French
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