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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Swift, John. Account books, 1830-1833. 3 vols. Location: G:7. Merchant of Bayou Sara, West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. Daybooks and ledger include accounts for steamers, plantations, and individuals. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1100. |
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Taliaferro, James G., Letters, 1852-1876. 2 microfilm reels. Location: MSS.MF:T. Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, planter, judge, Secession Convention delegate, associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and newspaper publisher. Letters discuss Taliaferro's involvement with the Secession Convention; politics during the Civil War (1865); Louisiana Supreme Court (1866-1874); Louisiana politics (1861-1874); Mississippi River flood of 1874; fires, cholera, and economic conditions in New Orleans; the visit of the Emperor of Brazil to New Orleans (1876), and plantation operations. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1562. |
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Taliaferro, James G. Papers, 1845-1877. 0.2 linear ft. Location: 18:4, OS:T. Planter of Catahoula Parish, Louisiana, Judge, delegate to the Louisiana Secession Convention, Associate Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and newspaper publisher. Papers consist of personal correspondence to and from James G. Taliaferro, business correspondence, and accounts during the Civil War and Reconstruction period in Louisiana. Mss. 5094. |
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Tauzin, Marcelin and family. Papers, 1834-1944 (bulk 1860-1903). 982 items, 10 volumes. Location: A:60-61, J:12, OS:T. Planter of Natchitoches, Louisiana. Collection contains correspondence and business papers of the Tauzin family, including plantation records, correspondence concerning family members and their education, cashbooks, and notebooks. Some letters in French. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm 6061: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 2, Reel 15. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 912. |
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Taylor, Sereno. Papers, 1833-1869 (bulk 1849-1863). 11 items, 12 volumes, 1 microfilm reel, 1 compact disc. Location: A:60, H:20, MSS.MF:T. Baptist minister and educator of Mississippi and Louisiana. Served as head principal of the Silliman Female Collegiate Institute at Clinton, Louisiana, in the early 1850s. The collection consists of papers and personal diaries. Among the papers is a prospectus and lithograph of the Sparta, Georgia, Female Model School (1833); and a prospectus of the Taylor Montgomery Cottage College and Academy, Mississippi. Diaries relate to personal matters, weather conditions, school affairs, religious matters during the period from 1849 until 1863. Volume 12 contains comments on wounded Confederate soldiers in hospitals. Also included are the personal diaries of Henry Kirby (1854) and Mary Emerson Taylor (1859-1860, 1869). For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 617. |
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Texada family. Papers, 1856-1999 (bulk 1865-1898). 1 linear foot, 4 oversize folders. Location: 19:9, OS:T. The Texada family, originally from Spain, immigrated to Natchez, Mississippi. In 1864, they moved to Rapides Parish, Louisiana, where they were significant landholders and planters. This collection consists of correspondence and genealogical materials. The genealogical materials include research and notes, newspaper clippings, photographs, copies of vital records, and excerpts from publications relating to the Texada family and the extended family including the Ker, Davidson, Pintard, Landers, Hickman, Luckett, and Peyton families. The bulk of the correspondence is from the Civil War period and is written to Margaret Ker Davidson Texada. The letters are predominately from Charles V. Cosby, her cousin; Joseph Welsh Texada, her husband; and John Pintard Davidson, her father. Mss. 5119. |
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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. |