Manuscript Resources on
Cajun History in the
Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections,
Special Collections, LSU Libraries
Contents:
Introduction
Alphabetical List
Chronological Index
INTRODUCTION
In 1755, a group of French-speaking people were exiled from their homeland by
British military tactics in a part of Nova Scotia then known as "French Acadia".
Those Acadian immigrants who relocated to Southern Louisiana adapted to the unique
challenges the region provided, to become known as the "Cajuns," an ethnic and cultural
group much celebrated, and sometimes misunderstood.
The collection of manuscripts pertaining to the Cajuns that may be found in the
Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (LLMVC) of the LSU Libraries is
varied in nature, ranging from the large group of records compiled by the Acadian
Handicraft Project to a single French Acadian Music Festival program. Oral history
interviews, personal papers, cartoons, photographs, scripts, and other artifacts are
present in the manuscripts groups. A range of dates from the late nineteenth to the
late twentieth centuries are present (see chronological listing).
Collections in this guide are listed alphabetically. Brief descriptions include
references to sources for additional information--either the
LSU Libraries' catalog, which
is accessible through the Internet, or the manuscript card catalog in the Special
Collections reading room of Hill Memorial Library. Still additional information on
some of these collections can be found in detailed finding aids in the reading room.
Increasingly, electronic copies of these finding
aids can be found on the World Wide Web site for Special Collections, where you can
also find information about using
the collections, searching the online catalog remotely, and
asking us questions.
ALPHABETICAL LIST
A | B | C | D | E
| F | G | H | I | J
| K | L | M | N | O
| P | Q | R | S | T
| U | V | W | X | Y
| Z |
Acadian Handicraft Project. Records. 1939-1962. 19.0
linear ft. (8,658 items, 152 vols.). Location: 7:58-63, 7: 67-68. Project launched
in 1942 to preserve the language and culture of the French-speaking people of
Louisiana; project was suspended around 1962. Records include correspondence,
promotional materials, financial records, registers, and scrapbooks, and include
papers of Louise V. Oliver documenting the day-to-day operation of the project.
Manuscript music and French songs are contained in a scrapbook. Songs and some
correspondence in French. For further information see online catalog. Mss. 1800.
Arceneaux, William, Papers, 1964-2007 (bulk 1972-2007). 15 linear
feet and 20 volumes. Louisiana higher education official. Papers consist of
correspondence, business papers, photographs, printed items, and scrapbooks related
to the professional, civic, and personal activities of William Arceneaux. A small
amount of correspondence is in French and Spanish. For additional information,
see online catalog Mss. 4107. Complete finding aid.
Bertrand, Alvin Lee, 1918-, Interviewee. Oral history
interview. 1995. 5 sound cassettes (7.5 hours), Transcript (276 p.). Location:
L:4700.0524. LSU alumnus and Boyd professor of Sociology/Rural Sociology. Bertrand
discusses growing up in rural La., and the French language and Cajun culture. He
also discusses rural sociology and La. agriculture. He describes the LSU campus
in 1936 and details his long association with LSU and the Sociology Department.
For further information see online catalog. Mss. 4700.0524.
Complete Finding Aid
Bertrand, Alvin Lee. Papers, 1942-1988. 1 linear ft. Location: 43:65. Author and professor of rural sociology at Louisiana State University. Includes copies, drafts, and typescripts of articles for publication; reports on rural industrialization, development, settlement, and social impact studies in Louisiana and the American South; and addresses and speeches given at sociology conferences in the United States and around the world. Mss. 4787. Complete Finding Aid.
HTML | PDF
Breaux, John B. Papers, 1933, 1938, 1963, 1970-2004 (bulk: 1987-2004). Approx. 781 linear feet. Location: Room B6, Map Cage, Vault:54. Correspondence, briefing books, bills, reports, testimony transcripts, research files, news releases, printed materials, audio-visual and electronic files, photographs and memorabilia documenting the political and U.S. Congressional career of Louisiana Representative (1972-1986) and Senator (1987-2004) John B. Breaux, and the work of his office. In addition to Senate and House files, contains materials related to his campaigns, the Democratic Party, and the Washington Mardi Gras. Topics include, among others, flood control, abortion, transportation, energy, the environment, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and healthcare, consumer protection, wetlands conservation, base closures in Louisiana, commerce, trade, and agriculture policy, especially for sugar and rice. For additional information, see the online catalog. Mss. 4922.
Complete Finding Aid (PDF).
Clark, Gladys, b. 1918. Papers, circa 1890-2004 (bulk 1940-1997). 0.75 linear ft. Location: 128:. An accomplished spinner and weaver in the Acadian tradition, Clark received numerous awards during her career. The collection includes correspondence, photographs, and printed materials that document her artistic works and awards received, including a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1997. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4953. Complete Finding Aid. PDF
Comeaux, Louis, 1911-, Interviewee. Oral history interview.
1993. 1 sound cassette (45 minutes), Index (3 pages). Location: 4700.0744. Retired
sugarcane sharecropper and life-long resident of Four Corners, an unincorporated
community south of Franklin, Louisiana. Recollections of Comeaux's childhood as the
son of a cane farmer. He recalls his work in an Avery Island salt mine; farming as a
sharecropper; the routine of sugarcane planting and harvest; cane syrup production;
farm labor; and early transportation. Comeaux also recalls traditional Cajun foods
including couche-couche and cracklins; the boucherie; and social conditions in Four
Corners. For further information see online catalog. Mss. 4700.0744.
Day, Anita G., Digital Prints. 2000. Forty (40) 5 inches X 7 inches digital prints, matted to 11 inches X 14 inches.
Location: 91:3. The collection consists of 40 digital prints of images created at the 1999 Festivals Acadiens, an annual cultural
event that began in 1972. The Lafayette Jaycees, along with the help of Rubber Boots, Inc., organize the principal components of
Festivals Acadiens, including four separate festivals: Festival de Musique Acadienne; La Vie Cadienne Wetlands Folklife Festival;
Heritage Pavilion, and; Bayou Food Festival. These festivals are held in Girard Park in Lafayette, Louisiana. The 1999 festival,
during which these images were created, was held from Friday, September 17, through Sunday, September 19. These prints were part
of the exhibition, "Preservation as Public Spectacle: Festivals Acadiens," displayed in Hill Memorial Library in 2000. Mss. 4993.
Complete finding aid.
de Caro, Francis A. and Rosan A. Jordan, 1926-2006, n.d. (bulk 1966-2003) 12.5
linear ft. Location: 11:19, 15:15-20. De Caro and Jordan were folklorists, authors, and
Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, La.) professors. The collection includes personal
and professional correspondence, writings, exhibitions, photographs, printed items consisting
of brochures, handbills, newspapers, and posters; and topical files that document de Caro's
folklore class at LSU, his work with the Louisiana Folklife Commission, and Jordan's work
with the women's movement. Writings as well as exhibitions comprise material primarily related
to folklore within Louisiana and British colonial life in India. For further information see
online catalog. Mss. 3197, 4089, 4164. Complete finding aid.
No "E" Records.
French Acadian Music Festival program. 1 item. Location: 32:79. Mss. 3690.
No "G" Records.
No "H" Records.
No "I" Records.
No "J" Records.
No "K" Records.
La Houssaye, Sidonie de. Papers [between 1880 and 1894],
n.d. 21 vols., 6 mf reels. Location: F:17, Mf., Mss.Mf:L. Louisiana French
author (1821-1894) of Franklin, St. Mary Parish, Louisiana. Manuscript drafts of
short stories written by la Houssaye and published under the pen name of 'Louise
Raymond.' In French. For further information see online catalog. Mss. 105.
Complete finding aid
Louisiana Folklife. Program files. 1976-1998 (1979-1996). 22 linear ft. 21 video cassettes ; 3/4 in. 3112 sound cassettes; 1/4 in. Location: 63:2-11, OS:F, L:45-54, 115:24-28, L:2a-4a. The Louisiana Folklife Program is one of the programs of the Division of the Arts. The mandate of the Folklife Program is to identify, document, preserve, and present Louisiana's traditional cultures. Collection includes correspondence, financial documents and papers, grant drafts. Also included are Folklife Program publications data, printed materials, newspaper clippings, posters, photographs, oral history recordings, videos, and contracts with musicians and craftspeople and completed applications, different commissions' minutes and materials, and correspondence and documentation on different folklife projects and folklife festivals. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 4730. Complete Finding Aid. HTML | PDF
Miro, Estevan Rodriguez, 1744-1795. Letters, 1782-1791.
20 items [typed copies]. Location: Misc., BTC, Safe:15. Governor of Spanish colonial
Louisiana. Letters from Miro to Alexandre de Clouet, Commandant of Attakapas and
Opelousas, and to St. Marc Darby and Juan de la Villebeuvre, government officials
at Opelousas pertaining to administrative matters including successions, road
repairs, and a decree restricting the movement of Acadians. In French and Spanish
with English translations. Filed in the manuscript card catalog under Miro, Estevan,
1744-1795. For further information see manuscript card catalog. Mss. 298.
Mouton, J. Andre, b. 1892. Papers, 1928-1975. 263 items, 7 vols. (6 ms. vols., 1 printed vol.). Location: N:8, 79:117, OS:M. Native of St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. Mouton worked for the Southern Pacific and Illinois Central railroads, the Moore-McCormack Steamship line, and the New Orleans Dock Board. The bulk of the collection consists of invitations, public relations materials, and photographs pertaining to Mouton's speaking engagements and his involvement in clubs and organizations. Scrapbooks (1929-1965) contain clippings. Diaries (1959-1972), some written in Saline County, Arkansas, discuss gardening, participation in church and recreational functions, speaking engagements, family news, and the weather. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 3828. Complete finding aid. HTML | PDF
No "N" Records.
No "O" Records.
Post, Lauren Chester, 1899-1976. Papers. 1899-1977, n.d.
10 linear ft. Location: 7:11-19, W:10. Professor of geography at San Diego State
University, author of CAJUN SKETCHES (1974) and LOUISIANA AS IT IS (1969), and native
of Rayne, Louisiana. Correspondence, an autobiography, research materials, published
and unpublished works, newspaper clippings, recordings of folk music, interviews,
photos, and other material related to Post's books and research on Cajun folklife
and other topics. For further information see manuscript card catalog. Mss. 2854.
No "Q" Records.
No "R" Records.
No "S" Records.
No "T" Records.
No "U" Records.
No "V" Records.
No "W" Records.
No "X" Records.
No "Y" Records.
No "Z" Records.
CHRONOLOGICAL INDEX
1880-1894. La Houssaye, Sidonie de. Papers
1890-2004 (bulk 1940-1997). Clark, Gladys Papers
1899-1977, n.d. Post, Lauren Chester, 1899-1976. Papers.
1926-2006. de Caro, Francis A. and Rosan A. Jordan Collection
1928-1975. Mouton, J. Andre, b. 1892. Papers.
1933, 1938, 1963, 1970-2004 (bulk: 1987-2004). Breaux, John B. Papers
1939-1962. Acadian Handicraft Project. Records.
1972 April 15. French Acadian Music Festival program. 1 item.
1976-1998 (1979-1996). Louisiana Folklife. Program files.
1993. Comeaux, Louis, 1911-, Interviewee. Oral history interview.
1995. Bertrand, Alvin Lee, 1918-, Interviewee. Oral history interview.
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