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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Bray, John A. Papers, 1838-1856. 4 items. Location: Misc:B. Cotton planter of 'Cotile,' Rapides Parish, Louisiana. Items include a bill for goods bought by Bray and for freight shipped aboard the steamboat Louisiana; a statement by New Orleans cotton factor A. Miltenberger recording Bray's sale of cotton; and a letter concerning the hire of a 'boy.' Included is a copy of a deed to land and slaves in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 893.

Brees, Ray. Photographs, 1959-1960. 37 items. Location: E:66. Photographs from 1959 and 1960 capture scenes from plantation homes, as well as buildings and streets of New Orleans. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 236.

Referenced in Guides: Plantations, New Orleans 1866-

Brent, Joseph Lancaster. Papers, 1862-1940 (bulk 1862-1904, 1926-1940). 1.3 linear ft., 12 volumes. Location: U:243-245. Maryland native, lawyer, and Confederate general. Joseph Lancaster Brent practiced law in Louisiana, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. Married to Rosella Kenner, he assisted in the management of his father-in-law, Duncan Farrar Kenner's, plantations. Brent served as a Brigadier General in the Louisiana Cavalry Brigade during the Civil War. Collection consists primarily of correspondence between Brent and his wife, Rosella, and published and unpublished writings, including manuscript and printed copies of "Memoirs of the War Between the States" (1940), "The Lugo Case" and "Capture of the Ironclad Indianola" (1926). There is also a diary written by Brent in 1862 during his service in the Civil War. Also part of the collection are the papers of Brent's daughter, Nanine M. Brent, including a personal diary, recipe book, and household hints. Parts available on microfilm: University Publications of America, Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 1, Reel 15. Mss. 1477, 1822.

Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Women, Civil War, Literature

Brent, Rosella Kenner. Papers, 1865, 1902-1916. 0.1 linear ft. Location: U:245. Daughter of Ascension Parish, Louisiana, planter and politician Duncan Farrar Kenner and wife of Confederate brigadier general Joseph F. Brent. Two narratives of Brent's recollections of Ashland Plantation, including a sketch of slave Henry Hammond. She also recounts an 1862 incident in which her father escaped to Bayou Lafourche upon learning that Union troops were coming to arrest him. Three letters pertain to Rosella Kenner Brent's husband, Brigadier General Joseph L. Brent, C.S.A. A 1910 letter describes General Brent's service in the Confederate army. Available on microfilm 6061: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 1, Reel 14. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1167, 1822.

Bringier, Louis Amadee and family. Papers, 1786-1901. 2 linear ft. and 13 volumes. Location: T:96-97, F:9, OS:B. Planter of Ascension Parish, Louisiana; Confederate officer and commander of the 4th Louisiana Cavalry and the 7th Louisiana Regiment. Papers include military records, correspondence and business papers relating to the administration of Hermitage Plantation in Ascension Parish and Houmas, Burnside, and Bagatelle plantations. One letter report that a woman killed a federal soldier in New Orleans (1862); another describes Grand Ilse as a resort frequented by Jews. Some items 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 1, Reels 1-2, and microfilm 5322: Records of Ante-Bellum Southern Plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series I, Part 1, Reel 13. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 43, 139, 544.

Britton & Koontz. Records, 1824-1899 (bulk 1838-1858). 569 items, 7 vols. Location: U:18-19, F:9. Banking house in Natchez, Mississippi, operated by Audley Clark Britton, also a plantation owner, and by George W. Koontz. Collection includes records related to the Commercial Bank of Natchez. Other items relate to Britton & Koontz banking activities and to personal bills and receipts of the Britton family. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 747.

Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Business, Natchez, Mississippi

Britton, Audley Clark and Family. Papers, 1830-1929 (bulk 1843-1912). 2.1 linear ft.,14 volumes. Location: S:138-140, O:16, OS:B. Banker and planter of Natchez, Mississippi. Papers include letters and descriptions of the family, plantation, and social lives in Natchez and documents specific to Britton's business activities. Miscellaneous items include photographs, autographs, poems, ledgers, and genealogies. Available (with some omissions) on microfilm: University Publications of America Records of Southern Plantations from Emancipation to the Great Migration, Series B, Part 4, Reel 1. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 1403, 1710.

Brooks, F. M. Bills, 1870, 1882, 1883. 3 items. Location: Misc.:B. Dr. F. M. Brooks, plantation and retail druggist of Baton Rouge. Bills from Dr. Brooks. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 2555.

Referenced in Guides: Plantations, Baton Rouge, Medicine

Brown, Edward F. Letter, 1866 Dec. 18. 1 letter. Location: Misc. Edward F. Brown of Salem, Mass., writes to James Carnegy Savage of New Orleans, La., regarding Savage's going down to New Orleans to commence work on a plantation. He also relates family news and discusses the religious aspects of dying. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4244.

Referenced in Guides: Religion, Plantations, New Orleans 1866-

Brown, W. D. Account books, 1913-1921. 7 vols. Location: F:15. Owner or agent of Gossypia Plantation. Records for the plantation kept by Brown covering cotton ginning and crop records, pay roll, cash accounts, and merchandise. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 45.

Referenced in Guides: Plantations

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