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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The Thoroughbred Horse General Morgan, 1872. 1 poster. Location: SF293 .T5 B87 1872 MCAGE. Poster describes the appearance and gives the pedigree of the thoroughbred horse, General Morgan, advertised as a stud horse by Charles F. Burr at a plantation near Opelousas, La. Mss. 3540. Referenced in Guides: Plantations
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Thibaut, James. Account book, 1878-1879. 1 vol. Location: M:20. Commission merchant of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Account book records sugar and molasses sold for various plantations in Louisiana, listing names of plantations and consignees; and contains written reports on the conditions of crops, health, weather, and the Mississippi River. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 421. |
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Thom, Evelyn. Papers, 1768-2005, undated (bulk 1960-2005). 5.5 linear ft. Location: 119:8-10, OS:T. A local historian and historic preservationist of Baton Rouge, La. Papers consist of photographs, newspaper clippings, correspondence, genealogical charts, meeting minutes, and publications. Subjects include Baton Rouge history, prominent Baton Rouge individuals and families, and historic preservation and restoration of historic properties in Baton Rouge. Mss. 5079. Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Baton Rouge
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Thomas Butler Family Photographs and Plantation Journal, 1844-1907, 1952, 1961, undated (bulk:1844-1907). 0.3 linear feet. Location: S:16. The Thomas Butler family were cotton and sugar planters of West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and resided at The Cottage. Collection consists of a plantation journal for Grand Caillou and Le Carpe Plantations, Terrebonne Parish, ca. 1844-1866, and photographs of family members and home interiors. The journal, kept during Thomas Butler and later Richard E. Butler's ownership of the plantations, contains financial accounts and a list of overseers' names (1842-1859), as well as slave registers that record births, deaths, and parents of children. For further information see online catalog. Mss. 4347. |
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Thurston, George N. Family Papers, 1843-1907. 64 items, 3 vols. Location: C:45. Mississippi River steamboat captain for the New Orleans Ice Company, and a sugar planter at Baskerville Plantation, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. Papers include personal and business letters related to Thurston's work, and diaries and account books kept by his wife, Mary Thurston, concerning the household and plantation. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1124. Referenced in Guides: Sugar, Plantations, New Orleans to 1861, Transportation, Women, New Orleans 1866-
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