Louisiana Division/City Archives   New Orleans Public Library

Images of the Month Gallery
November 2007

Sooner or later, when one wants to know what happened in New Orleans history, one must turn to the Picayune. So this month we present a selection of images from the pages of the then Daily Picayune (it didn't become the Times-Picayune until 1914) as our viewfinder into the Crescent City during November 1907. You will note, alas, that none of the images date from earlier than the 17th of that month. This is due to the fact that NOPL's original newspapers for November 1-16 are more or less in shreds. All is not lost, though, since the entire month has long been preserved on microfilm. But all is not "saved" either, for NOPL's copies of the Picayune microfilms are infected with vinegar syndrome, a chemical imbalance within the film's base that slowly but surely disintegrates everything. At least the master negatives of the films are safe in the ProQuest storage vaults in Michigan (or wherever)--it's just going to cost the Library an awful lot of money to replace the damaged product. Yes, it is complicated.

For now, though, we trust that you will be entertained and, we hope educated as well, by our look back into the pages of the Daily Picayune a century ago.

11/1/2007