The papers comprising the “Woodside Collection” were donated to the New Orleans Public Library by Mrs. Mathilde Seixas Baldwin ofWoodside, in Covington, Louisiana. An inventory of the papers was compiled upon their receipt and identified sixty-nine items according to a letter of acknowledgement sent to Mrs. Baldwin by City Librarian John Hall Jacobs on June 8, 1956.

The collection apparently was placed in the Library’s Archives Department, although no record of its disposition can be found in the correspondence or reports of the Department. Eventually the papers found their way into the Louisiana Division’s vertical file from which they were removed (ca. 1976) to become part of the Division’s Manuscript Collection. At some point in this process the “Woodside” materials were divided into several smaller units. The Slidell letter, for example, was included in the manuscript file as a separate entity. In Spring, 1980, with the rediscovery of the 1956 inventory, the papers were reorganized into a unified collection. Only one item was lost during this interim, that being a newspaper clipping dealing with John Slidell.

Insight into the origins of the collection is provided by the envelope marked “Papers Mrs. J. D. Seixas.” This suggests that some of the materials were collected by Mrs. Baldwin’s mother, Mrs. Julia Deslonde, who died in 1901. She was the widow of J. M. Seixas and the daughter of Andre Deslonde. Her sisters were Mrs. G. T. Beauregard, Mrs. John Slidell, and Mrs. R. W. Adams. Thus the Deslonde succession and the Slidell letter had probably come to Mrs. Baldwin through her mother.

Several of the deeds in the collection are for the property on which was later located the Dufour-Baldwin House, a Henry Howard mansion on Esplanade Avenue. This building was the family home of Albert Baldwin, the father of David Gilmore Baldwin, who was Mathilde Seixas’ husband. This suggests that these, and possibly other of the papers, came to Mrs. Baldwin through her husband’s family.

Inventory

Folder 1:	Original description and inventory of the “Woodside Collection” by City Librarian John Hall Jacobs
Folder 2:	Sale of property by Joseph Cobert, fmc and Mrs. (Widow) Roquette to Mssr. Louis Donnet and Claude Levasseur, April 14, 1819
Folder 3:	Sale of land by Claude Levassseur to Louis Donnet and Mrs. (Widow) Roquette, May 3, 1825
Folder 4:	Sale of land and buildings and mortgages, heirs of Roquette and Mr. Louis Donnet to Mr. Terence Carriere, July 1, 1828
Folder 5:	Sale of property, Mr. Terence Carriere to Raynal Auguste, fmc, September 29, 1828
Folder 6:	Sale of property, Raynal Auguste and Suzane Hazeur to Rosilliette Hazeur, June 23, 1830
Folder 7:	Retrocession and sale by Felicie Hazeur to Mrs. Crocker, fwc, December 10, 1834
Folder 8:	Sale of land to P. J. Tricou by Pierre Crocker, July 27, 1837
Folder 9:	Sale of property, Perre Joseph Tricou to Marie Louise Eulalie Pierre Lay, fwc, June 11, 1839
Folder 10:	Sale of property, David Francois Guex to Eugene Rousseau, February 18, 1842
Folder 11:	Mortgage to the Citizens’ Bank by E. Rousseau, February 26, 1842
Folder 12:	Sale of property and slaves by David F. Guex to Mrs. Monrose, May 9, 1843
Folder 13:	Copy of sale, John Eaton to A. O. Murphy, February 9, 1847
Folder 14:	Sale of property and stock, Andrew O. Murphy to Louis Gagnet, February 17, 1848
Folder 15:	Sale of property and stock by Louis Gagnet to Mrs. Ad. Treme, april 1, 1851
Folder 16:	Sale of property and bank stock by Mrs. Ad. Treme to Arthur Thibaut, December 30, 1852
Folder 17:	Sale by the Sheriff of the Parish of Orleans to Arthur Thibault, December 18, 1858
Folder 18:	Letter to Arthur Thibaut from J. Augustin, attorney, New Orleans, December 18, 1858
Folder 19:	Sale of property by Arthur Thibaut to Pierre Webre, March 25, 1861
Folder 20:	Receipt for Lousiana State Tax of 1860 paid by A. Thibeau [sic], march 23, 1861
Folder 21:	Fire insurance certificates issued to P. Webre by the New Orleans Mutual Insurance Co., 1866 and 1868
Folder 22:	Receipt for City of New Orleans tax of 1867 paid by P. Webre
Folder23:	Envelope marked “Papers Mr. J. D. Seixas”
Folder 24:	Succession papers, Andre Deslonde, ca. 1860
Folder 25:	Letter to unidentified correspondent from Mathilde Slidell, St. John the Baptist Parish, July 3, 1853
Folder 26:	Notes payable to Andre Deslonde, Jr. and signed by A. Deslonde, 1860 [also receipt for payment by A. Deslonde, signed Michel Duhe, 1862]

Two items included in the original 1956 inventory were removed from the manuscript collection and added to the Louisiana Division’s book collection: Charter, etc. of the Association of the Army of Tennessee, Louisiana Division (Lou RV 973.76 A84c; and the Constitution of the Washington Artillery (Lou RV 976.3 L 866c2).

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