By vocation, Alexander Allison was a civil engineer with the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans; by avocation, he was a photographer, and the Louisiana Division holds hundreds of his prints and negatives, taken in two large groups, one in 1905-1915 and the other in 1948-1952.

Allison photographed New Orleans houses, public and commercial buildings, street scenes, churches, cemeteries, statues, port activities, and -- most significantly to us this month -- Mardi Gras. The Louisiana Division is currently in the midst of a project to scan the Allison prints and negatives and to make them available online. For more Allison photos (and there will be more to come), link HERE.

Mardi Gras is late this year. It doesn't come around until March 7, instead of the more usual February date. Enjoy this gallery during the final frenetic week before Fat Tuesday and peek at it from time to time to cheer yourself up as we make our way through the long forty days of Lent. The brief captions used are Allison's.