| Winter 1998 The GNOA Newsletter is published three times each year in the Spring, Fall, and Winter. Submissions can be sent to Rebecca Hankins care of The Amistad Research Center, Tilton Hall/Tulane University; New Orleans, Louisiana 70118-5698; Fax (504) 865-5580: e-mail: hankins@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu
Next Meeting: |
Our Winter meeting is being hosted by Sally Reeves and The Notarial Archives, located in the Amoco Building, 1340 Poydras Street, Suite 360. Parking is available in the Super Dome parking lot ( after 5:00 p.m. parking is free). The building is right across Liberty Street from Lord and Taylor, one short block from the Dome.
1998 Fall Meeting
On September 23 the GNOA met at Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve Headquarters at Canal Place. Susan Tucker, president welcomed members and thanked the hosts, especially Kathy Lang. Alison Pena, on behalf of the Park Service, also welcomed us. In addition, Susan thanked Norbert Raacke of the New Orleans Museum of Art for hosting the previous meeting.
Treasurer Rob Sherer gave a report of GNOA finances. A listing of dues paying members was handed out. Everyone is encouraged to send their membership dues of $10 to Rob. The dues helps defray the cost of publishing the newsletter and allow us to reimburse repositories for meeting cost. A discussion followed about the status of nonmembers who wished to receive newsletters. It was agreed that we should send the newsletter to everyone on GNOA list, whether paid member or not, but that we should encourage payment of dues.
Old Business:
A report was given on the progress of the Jewish Guide; Cathy Kahn gave a history of the
publication from the initial work begun by former Amistad archivist Andrew Simons to its final
state with the GNOA. She also spoke about the $2,000 grant from the Jewish Endowment
Foundation and the $1500 grant from the Southern Jewish Historical Society that will pay all
costs of publishing the guide. The editor of the guide Lester Sullivan will give each repository
a final print-out of their listing for editing and corrections. The final copy will go to the printer
by October 1. The publication should be ready by November 1 with an initial run of 1000
copies. Each repository will receive a number of copies for their holdings and to sell. The
suggested cost will be $10. Sally Reeves suggested we create a marketing group or committee that will develop a
strategy to oversee the promotion and sale of the publication. The
subcommittee on the Guide will discuss this and other options concerned with sale of the
Guide.
New Business:
Report of members attending the SAA conference in Florida. Susan handed out copies of
the SAA presidential address of William J. Mayer. She also spoke about two sessions
concerned with helpful information on User Surveys. Carol Bartels spoke about the Technical
and Finding Aids sessions. Brenda Square spoke about the E-mail policies and Shopping for
Supplies sessions. She found them very informative regarding legal issues and procedures,
noting that vendors differ greatly and do not always have products that are truly "archivally
safe." Rob attended the Encoding Archival Description (EAD) sessions and found the
discussion by Microsoft Corporations archivist very interesting. Rob talked about the need for
all repositories to consider EAD when preparing finding aids and to begin the process of using
the structure which, in his opinion, will be the national standard.
Historic New Orleans Collection will co-sponsor the Northeast Document Conservation Center's Scanning workshop December 7-9 given at Le Petit Theatre.
Lee Miller spoke about the next SSA meeting in May of 1999. He is program chair and encourages everyone to submit a program proposal before the Deadline of October 15. The theme of the next meeting is "Archives in Bloom: How environment affects archives."
Lee Miller was thanked for serving as proctor for the ACA exam given at NOMA. Norbert Raacke was also thanked for providing accommodations and food.
Sally Reeves spoke about the Notarial Archives move into a second site with larger quarters, across the street from the old building. Hours of operation have been expanded.
Bill Reeves spoke about an upcoming conference co-sponsored by Tulane University on Creole Families.
Rob Sherer spoke about the next meeting of LAMA, November 13th. If anyone is interested in presenting a paper please contact him. Tulane University's Special Collections and University Archives have moved into Jones Hall, across from their former home at Howard Tilton.
Kathy Lang gave a brief history of Jean Lafitte's archive and invited everyone to view the beautiful downtown New Orleans skyline from the office windows.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:10.
News From The Archives
Amistad Research Center at Tulane University
Amistad Arts Awards-December 5: Amistad's annual fundraising gala will honor three giants in the arts community: Camilla Williams, soprano; William Warfield, bass-baritone; and Pinkie Gordon Lane, poet. For further information and tickets please call 504-862-3219.
Emanuella Spencer retires-After 28 years of dedicated and loyal service to Amistad, Mrs. Spencer retired. She will be missed.
Recent Acquisitions:
Dr. James Blackwell addendum (9 linear ft)-Prominent sociologist, Dr. Blackwell has
donated additional materials to his collection. These papers document his work as an expert
witness to numerous desegregation in higher education legal cases, Black sociologists across
the nation, and numerous collected publications.
Professor Ron Bechet-Professor Bechet, Dean of the Art Department at Xavier University has donated a black and white painting on white heavy stock paper titled, Sense of Remembrance" to the Center.
Archdiocese of New Orleans Archdiocesan Archives
The winner of the 1998 Sister M. Claude Lane Award is Charles Nolan, archivist and records manager of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans. The Lane Award was established in 1974 by the Society of Southwest Archivists, and is given each year to an individual archivist who has an outstanding record of involvement and contributions to religious archives.
Nolan has been at the Archdiocese of New Orleans since 1980 where he has established a model program for incorporating records management with the traditional functions of diocesan archives administration. His program is also well known for its thorough preservation and description of the sacramental records of one of the oldest Catholic regions in the country.
As an archivist, records manager, practicing historian, and teaching historian, Nolan is well known in circles beyond archives where he is a fine ambassador of the profession. He is currently the president of the Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists where he continues to build on the tradition of involvement he has made to religious archives. The Lane Award is a well-deserved recognition of Nolan's past, present, and future contributions to the field of religious archives.
Archives of the Dominican Congregation of St. Mary
Sister Dorothy Dawes, O.P. archivist for St. Mary's Dominican sisters, has found information on the Catholic Winter School in the Salve Regina, a monthly magazine issued by their academy 1888-1900. Anyone who is interested may contact her at 861-8155. A tour of the Heritage Room may be arranged by appointment.
New Orleans Public Library ,Louisiana Division
The Louisiana Division is pleased to announce the publication of the third edition of Genealogical Materials in the New Orleans Public Library's Louisiana Division and City Archives, sponsored by the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library and authored by Collin B. Hamer, Jr., Wayne Everard, and Irene Wainwright. The new edition of the genealogy guide offers a greatly expanded description of the family history resources available at NOPL and can be purchased for $10.00 at the Louisiana Division desk or by mail (add $2.00 postage and handling) from the Friends of the New Orleans Public Library, 219 Loyola Ave., New Orleans, LA 70112-2044. Members of the Friends can purchase the guide for $8.00. (The guide is also available online at home.gnofn.org/~nopl/guides/genguide/ggcover.htm).
The following finding aids have been added to the "Archival Inventories" link in NUTRIAS (home.gnofn.org/~nopl/inv/invlist.htm); New Orleans (La.) City Council. Petitions before the Council, 1905-1909. Charter Committee for the City of New Orleans. Records, 1950-1952. Also new in NUTRIAS' "Archival Inventories" is the Index to New Orleans Indentures, 1809-1843, compiled some years ago by Professor Paul Lachance of the University of Ottawa. The City Archives has long had a paper copy of this valuable source for accessing the apprenticeship agreements signed before the Mayor of New Orleans, but Professor Lachance's database and the detailed accompanying explanatory material is now available to a much wider audience via NUTRIAS. This is NUTRIAS' first "guest web page" and a fine example of the collaboration between archivists and researchers.
Thanks to a legacy from a generous patron, the City Archives is preparing to microfilm the first five (of seven) general docket books of the Orleans Parish First District Court, 1842-1873 and the extant indexes to these volumes. Between 1842 and 1852, First District Court handled both civil and criminal cases, but after 1852, the court dealt exclusively with criminal matters; since the indexes to all but two of the dockets are missing, the dockets provide the main avenue of access to these valuable records. The two remaining dockets (1873-1880) will be filmed when funding permits.
The Louisiana Division's current exhibit, "219 Loyola: Building a Library for New Orleans," will be on view on the third floor of the Main Library through January 28, 1999. The exhibit uses photographs, documents, drawings, and other materials from the City Archives and other Louisiana Division collections to illustrate the construction of the Main Library building, which celebrates its 40th anniversary this December. The Library's chief architect, Arthur Q. Davis, contributed his memories of the architects' design concepts and an analysis of the building's continuing functionality. An online version of the exhibit is available in NUTRIAS at home.gnofn.org/~nopl/exhibits/219/219.htm.
New Orleans Notarial Archives
The Notarial Archives Research Center is now located at 1340 Poydras St., Suite 360. The Research Center generally holds notarial records created prior to 1900. Twentieth-century acts and projected 21st century acts will still be housed in Room B-4, Civil District Courts Building. 421 Loyola.
Ms. Wesley Anne De Vore has joined the staff as Archival Assistant. Wesley received a degree in Liberal Studies from the University of Montana in May 1998, and for two years worked as Preservation Technician at the Mansfield Library, Missoula, Montana. There she trained in Oxford style book conservation techniques, including respining, recasing, new casing, board tacketing, rebacking, and sewing.
The Notarial Archives has agreed to lend the New Orleans Museum of Art an 1860 water color plan for the Museum's upcoming exhibition on Degas and New Orleans. The drawing by Eugene Surgi and Adrien Persac depicts the Esplanade Avenue home and gardens occupied by the Musson family when Edgar Degas visited them in 1872-73 and where the artist completed a number of paintings. Degas and New Orleans: A French Impressionist in New Orleans will hang from May 1 through August 29, 1999 at NOMA, and will then travel to the Ordrupgaard Samlingen, Museum in Copenhagen for a second venue September 16 through November 29, 1999.
Sally Reeves participated November 6 as a panelist with Gary Van Zante of Tulane and Creed Brierre of The Mathes Group in an architectural records workshop at the HNOC, sponsored by the Northeast Document Conservation Center and SOLINET (Southeast Libraries Information Network.)
Newcomb College Center for Research on Women
The Newcomb Archives announces its presentation of two online exhibits--one concerned with Newcomb pottery and the other concerned with literary efforts of Newcomb students in the early part of the twentieth century. The exhibits are located at www.tulane.edu/~wc/pottery and www.tulane.edu/~wc/arcade.
Both exhibits form part of a three-part project to collect the art and writing of girls and young women during the twentieth century. As a part of this project, the Newcomb Archives has begun also to collect paper copies of online "zines," radio program transcripts, and other examples of the activities of girls around the world in the late twentieth century.
News Notes
The Library Of Congress
The personal papers of Pamela Digby Churchill Harriman, who died in 1997 while serving as the U.S Ambassador to France, have been given to the Library of Congress by her estate. The Pamela Harriman papers are a large collection, estimated to contain about 500,000 items. They cover all aspects of her life but are most extensive regarding her active involvement in civic, political, and governmental matters in the last 20 years.
Born Pamela Digby in Farnborough, England, in 1920, Mrs. Harriman studied at the Sorbonne in Paris (1937-1938). In 1939 she married Randolph Churchill, the son of Britain's wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. She came to the United States in 1959 and married Leland Hayward in 1960. She became an American citizen in 1971 and married W. Averell Harriman in that year.
In addition to the gift of Pamela Harriman papers, her estate also donated to the Library of Congress approximately 29,000 more items to supplement the Averell Harriman papers. The Averell Harriman papers, approximately 300,000 items, are also held by the Library of Congress and were a gift of Pamela Harriman in 1986.
Congratulations
Marie Windell at the University of New Orleans Archives and Manuscripts/Special Collections unit passed the archival certification exam this year.
Back to the top
Back to Past Newsletters
Back to GNOA Home