Archaeology
Archaeology of the New Orleans Area
In New Orleans archaeological explorations span 2,500 years of history
Archaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Watson Brake Archaeological Site
Watson Brake is a prehistoric Evans culture site in Ouachita Parish dating to 3500–2800 BCE.
Archaeology
Marie Thérèse Coincoin
Coincoin, a formerly enslaved woman freed in colonial Natchitoches, is an icon of American slavery and Louisiana’s Creole culture.
Archaeology
St. Peter Street Cemetery
Thousands of New Orleans’s eighteenth-century residents are interred at the site of the St. Peter Street Cemetery in the French Quarter.
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth
The architectural firm of Weiss, Dreyfous and Seiferth is best known for designing public buildings in the 1930s, many of which were commissioned by Governor Huey Long.
Architecture
Oak Alley Plantation
The 800-foot-long allée of live oak trees leading from the river to the columned house constitutes one of the most familiar and evocative images of Louisiana's grand plantation houses.
Architecture
Houmas House Plantation
Houmas House Plantation in Darrow is an excellent example of the peripteral type of Greek Revival architecture in which the main structure is surrounded by grand columns, each with an uninterrupted span from ground level to the roofline.
Architecture
Turners' Hall
Once a German social hall in New Orleans, Turners' Hall was purchased in 2000 by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities to serve as the Louisiana Humanities Center.
Art
Art IndexArt
William Woodward
William Woodward was a prolific painter, etcher, potter, historic preservationist, architect, teacher, and promoter of art in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century New Orleans.
Art
Coushatta Baskets
The skills of the Coushatta Tribe’s contemporary basket weavers have elevated this centuries-old utilitarian craft to a highly valued art form showcased in private and museum collections nationwide.
Art
Albert Rieker
Albert George Rieker became one of the most notable sculptors in the United States after his membership in the New Orleans Art League provided an exhibition venue for his plaster-cast Neoclassical friezes.
Art
Syndey Byrd
South Louisiana's musical traditions and Carnival celebrations fueled photographer Syndey Byrd's work for more than thirty years.
Business & Industry
Business & Industry IndexBusiness & Industry
D. H. Holmes
For one hundred forty years, D. H. Holmes served as a shopping destination for generations of New Orleanians, growing from a small dry goods shop to an enormous consumer emporium.
Business & Industry
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The 2010 BP spill was one of the worst environmental disasters in US history.
Business & Industry
Strand Theatre
Designed by New Orleans–based architect Emile Weil, the Strand Theatre opened in Shreveport on July 3, 1925.
Business & Industry
Singer Submarine Company
The Singer Submarine Company operated a naval yard on the banks of Cross Bayou that built five Confederate submarines, four of which were sunk before seeing combat.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Yellow Fever in Louisiana
The last known epidemic of yellow fever in the United States occurred in Louisiana in 1905. Due to the intensity and frequency of these epidemics, it was often referred to as the "saffron scourge."
Disasters
Hurricane Camille
Hurricane Camille struck coastal Mississippi in mid-August of 1969, marking the first designated Category 5 storm and one of Louisiana’s most storied tropical weather events.
Disasters
Grabow Riot (Massacre)
Labor union meeting results in death and arrest of timber workers.
Disasters
Hurricane Audrey
Hurricane Audrey, the first named storm of the 1957 season, took residents by surprise with an earlier-than-expected landfall and claimed more than four hundred lives.
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Mardi Gras Indians
Mardi Gras Indians have become recognizable symbols of New Orleans's unique local culture, yet remain closely tied to their specific communities and traditions.
Folklife
St. Joseph Altars
Catholic Louisianans of Sicilian descent erect altars laden with fresh produce, baked goods, and other foods to honor Saint Joseph.
Folklife
Blessings of the Fleet
At Boat Blessings, a Catholic priest blesses a community’s shrimp boats before the start of shrimp season
Folklife
David Butler
Well known in for his audaciously decorated home and lawn, David Butler fashioned whimsical, brightly painted assemblages from salvaged roofing tin to become one of the twentieth century's most widely collected self-taught artists.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Jambalaya
A rice-based mixture of meats and/or seafood along with vegetables, herbs, and spices, jambalaya is a representative dish of South Louisiana.
Foodways
Antoine’s Restaurant
Founded in 1840, Antoine’s Restaurant is the oldest continually family-owned and -operated restaurant in the United States.
Foodways
Snoballs
Once peddled by street vendors who hand shaved large blocks of ice, snoballs remain a favorite frozen summertime treat.
Foodways
Freeman & Harris Café
Freeman & Harris Café was a Black-owned restaurant that served as a pillar of Black social, cultural, and political life in Shreveport.
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Bourbon Street
The origins of the notorious adult playground
Geography
Natchitoches Settlement
The Natchitoches settlement, founded in 1714, is the oldest in the Louisiana Territory.
Geography
Bayou Teche
Before railroads and highways, Bayou Teche served as an important transportation route deep into the fertile interior of south-central Louisiana.
Geography
Neutral Strip
The Neutral Strip existed outside the governance of either the United States or Spain until 1821.
Government, Politics & Law
Government, Politics & Law IndexGovernment, Politics & Law
Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board
Desegregation efforts in Tangipahoa Parish began in 1965 when M. C. Moore and Henry Smith filed a lawsuit against the parish school board calling for a racially integrated and unified school system.
Government, Politics & Law
Mike Foster Jr.
Murphy J. "Mike" Foster Jr., the 53rd governor of Louisiana, served from 1996 to 2004.
Government, Politics & Law
Home Rule Charters
A home rule charter allows local governments to exercise all powers not explicitly denied by state law or constitution.
Government, Politics & Law
Edward Bermudez
Edward Bermudez served as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1880 to 1892.
History
History IndexHistory
Judah P. Benjamin
Judah P. Benjamin was one of the nineteenth-century South’s most prominent attorneys and statesmen.
History
Live Oaks Plantation
The plantation chapel at Live Oaks, built for the enslaved workers in 1840, is the last to survive in Louisiana.
History
Cajun Folktales
Cajun Folktales are heavily influenced by French, West African, Caribbean, Acadian, German, and American South oral traditions.
History
Coushatta Massacre
The 1873 Coushatta Massacre resulted from both anger about Reconstruction policies and the presence of carpetbaggers in the state.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
Frances Parkinson Keyes
Francis Parkinson Keyes first visited New Orleans during Mardi Gras in 1940 when she was 55 years old. Enthralled with the city, Keyes rented a grand home in the French Quarter and set many novels there, including "Dinner at Antoine's," published in 1948. Keyes died in her home in New Orleans on July 3, 1970.
Literature
Loujon Press
Loujon Press was an avant-garde operation in 1960's New Orleans that was a pioneer of high-quality, independent publishing.
Literature
Louisiana Folktales
Louisiana’s folktales have been influenced by Indigenous peoples and the many cultural and ethnic groups that have immigrated to the state.
Literature
Lyle Saxon
Lyle Saxon published articles, short stories, books of creative nonfiction, and one novel; he also directed the Louisiana branch of the Federal Writers Project.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Frank Amacker
Frank Amacker, nicknamed “Dude,” was not only a gifted jazz musician, but also an impeccable dresser.
Music
Irván J. Pérez
Musician and woodcarver Irván Pérez spent much of his life advocating the preservation of the cultural traditions of Louisiana's Isleño community.
Music
Irma Thomas
R&B singer Irma Thomas, hailed as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans" has been performing and recording since the 1950s.
Music
Zion Harmonizers
New Orleans's Zion Harmonizers excelled in all forms of gospel music, from early a cappella spirituals to modern R&B.
Peoples of Louisiana
Peoples of Louisiana IndexPeoples of Louisiana
Quapaw Tribe
The Quapaw Indians, whose four villages were located along the Arkansas River, were military allies and trade partners of colonial Louisianans.
Peoples of Louisiana
Free People of Color
Free people of color constituted a diverse segment of Louisiana’s population and included people that were born free or enslaved, were of African or mixed racial ancestry, and were French- or English-speaking
Peoples of Louisiana
Indigenous Slavery
Indigenous people were enslaved alongside enslaved African people as domestic and agricultural laborers, guides, interpreters, hunters, sexual companions, and wives in colonial Louisiana.
Peoples of Louisiana
Receiving Communities
A receiving community is a city, town, or neighborhood that accommodates people displaced by a disaster.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & Spirituality
Marie Tranchepain
Marie Tranchepain was the first Mother Superior of New Orleans’s Ursulines and an early female diarist.
Religion & Spirituality
Archbishop Joseph Rummel
Archbishop Joseph Rummel was among the first religious leaders in Louisiana to proclaim the immorality of racism and ordered the desegregation of Catholic schools in New Orleans.
Religion & Spirituality
Black Gospel Music
African American Gospel music incorporates elements of both black vernacular and sacred music, including blues, hymnody, spirituals, the folk church, and even popular song.
Religion & Spirituality
Judaism in Louisiana
Jewish people have greatly contributed to Louisiana’s culture and economy as philanthropists, civic and educational leaders, business owners, and art patrons.
Science & Technology
Science & Technology IndexScience & Technology
Cholera in Louisiana
During the nineteenth century, cholera epidemics caused tens of thousands of deaths throughout the state of Louisiana.
Science & Technology
Freeman and Custis Red River Expedition
An American effort to explore the Louisiana Purchase territory was hindered by a log jam on the Red River and two hundred Spanish troops.
Science & Technology
Sherwood “Woody” Gagliano
Woody Gagliano sounded the alarm on Louisiana’s coastal land loss crisis and worked with his colleagues for decades to remedy the problem.
Science & Technology
Coastal Land Loss
The gradual loss of Louisiana’s coastal wetlands is a slow-moving disaster largely set in motion by a series of human interventions in natural processes.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
John Franks
John Franks dominated the sport of horse racing for over twenty years and became one of the leading stable owners and breeders in the country.
Sports & Recreation
Tony Canzoneri
Louisiana' Tony Canzoneri secured his place among the boxing elite when he became the second fighter in history to win world championships in three different weight classes.
Sports & Recreation
Whitey Esneault
For nearly fifty years, legendary boxing trainer Whitey Esnault trained both neighborhood children and world champions in his French Quarter gym.
Sports & Recreation
New Orleans Zephyrs and Baby Cakes
The New Orleans Baby Cakes, formerly the New Orleans Zephyrs, were a Minor League Baseball team that played in the New Orleans area from 1993 to 2019.
