| Tulane University
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library
The spacious, oak-shaded campus of Tulane University in Uptown New Orleans shelters a number
of special research centers. Housed in Jones Hall are the Special Collection Division, with extensive
holdings in Southern manuscripts and rare books; Tulane University Archives; the excellent Latin American Library,
and the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive. Nearby on the campus of Newcomb College, the women's coordinate
college of Tulane University, is the Newcomb Center for Research on Women, which specializes in women's
collections.
In the Special Collection Division of Howard-Tilton Library, staff have identified Carnival-related materials in over
twenty manuscript collections. Notable is the Comus Carnival Collection (1857- , c. 8 cu. ft.), which includes
krewe
favors, Comus cups, invitations, programs, cards, Pickwick Club materials, costume and float designs, float plates,
parade descriptions, letters, photos, and original designs of the famous 1874 Missing Links characters.
The Rex, School of Design deposit (1872-,12 cu ft.) contains certificates, proclamations, photos, ducal
decorations,
invitations, programs, cards, float and costume designs, float plates, correspondence, favors, doubloons, minutes, cash
books, rosters, a deed, and articles of incorporation.
Among other items of Mardi Gras interest in Special Collections are the Coralie Davis Costume Designs,
1954-64; Olga
Peters drawings, 1927?-1976; and color transparencies by Emile A. Rainold, Jr. (1955-1973, 4000 items)
depicting the
activities of some 14 krewes, along with French Quarter street scenes. The Townsend-Stanton Family Papers
(1873-74)
contain letters, decrees, newsclippings, and poems by Mary Ashley Townsend, "poet laureate of Carnival." The
Richard
Remy Dixon Collection (c. 1963-c. 1976) includes scripts, float descriptions, press releases, doubloons, programs,
and
police parade assignments. The Carnival researcher may also consult Division holdings in theses, dissertations, diaries,
Congressional records, photograph collections, and video tapes.
Tulane's William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive (Jones Hall), contains a wealth of sources for the
study of Mardi Gras. The collection includes 2,000 tape reels of oral history documenting the politics, race relations, and
folklore of New Orleans, as well as its music. Carnival-related items have been identified from 17 collections, 16 book
titles, 27 pieces of sheet music, 37 recordings, 31 vertical files, 108 photographs, and files on 27 Carnival marching
clubs and "social aid and pleasure" clubs. These may be used to document in depth the music, culture, and sociology of
Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Sheet music items contain both orchestrations and piano copies, and range from Carnival de Venice (New
Orleans,
1854) to numerous late 19th and early 20th century Carnival waltzes, marches, struts, two-steps, and parade
compositions. Among these are King Zulu Parade (Johnny Wiggs, ca. 1948); King Zulu on Parade
(N.O.: George
Guesnon, 1945); If Ever I Cease to Love (the official anthem of Rex, N.O., 1946); and Mardi Gras Aux
Enfers Quadrille
(N.O., 1884).
Important manuscript and photographic items may be found in the Al Rose, William Russell,
John Robichaux, Edmond
Souchon, Harry Souchon, Jim Scheurich, Dan Murdoch, and American Federation
of Musicians Collections, among
others. These contain numerous images of Mardi Gras Indians and street parades. The Archive holds several videos and
films, including "Parades, Funerals, Mardi Gras" (Buzz Sharp, ca 1961); and "Eureka Band, Mardi Gras 1951." There
are also clipping files, oral histories, diaries, and numerous books on the subject.
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