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Architecture Professor Collaborates with LSU Special Collections on North Baton Rouge Research

Fabio Capra-Ribeiro, Assistant Professor of Architecture and LSU Libraries Special Collections Faculty Fellow, collaborated with LSU archivists, librarians, and other fellows to develop archives-centered curriculum. The multi-faceted support of the fellowship enabled Capra-Ribeiro to conceptualize a special collections research project for his Graduate Design Studio, “Urban Renewal Catalysts: Architectural Strategies to Pursue Spatial Equity.” 

eight people crowd around a table of archival materials
Leah Duncan describes items from the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Historic Collection. Students, from left to right: Morgan Mills, Masood Koochaki, Joseph Schwartzenburg, McKenzie McDavid, Toska Gamble, Sadia Shatyi, Adrianna Jordan, and Sanaz Salajegheh
two people look at a map on a table
Architecture students McKenzie McDavid and Toska Gamble examine the 1936 “Intra-Urban Migration: Baton Rouge” maps, from the L. J. Voorhies Blueprints Collection.

This spring, Capra-Ribeiro implemented the project, tasking his master's in architecture students with pursuing archival research about North Baton Rouge and presenting their findings in a short video. Before the course began, Capra-Ribeiro worked with Leah Wood Jewett, LSU Special Collections Exhibitions Manager, to select collections representing North Baton Rouge. During the course, Leah Duncan, Digital Engagement and Educational Services Librarian, guided students in developing necessary archival research knowledge. At the project's end, students exhibited their videos in the Clark and Laura Boyce Gallery in Julian T. White Hall.

Students in Capra-Ribeiro's design studio reflected that the project allowed them to practice new skills, especially the ability to engage in an ongoing discovery process. 

Students also appreciated the opportunity to engage with primary sources, citing their use of historic maps, ephemera published by Baton Rouge non-profits, and neighborhood newspapers. 

a large class gathers around a TV screen
McKenzie McDavid speaks to students visiting the final exhibit in the Clark and Laura Boyce Gallery in Julian T. White Hall.

However, the architecture students gained insight that surpassed practical research skills; they explained that encountering archival materials sparked a personal connection with their topics and led them to recognize their responsibility to help communities flourish. McKenzie McDavid said that engaging with archival materials helps future architects understand the history of a space and “better connect to the feel of ‘what was.’” Morgan Mills shared that the experience made him feel a sense of “kinship” with past architects and led him to realize that “any desire to solve some social, spatial, or civic issue needs to [involve] researching accounts of people who have been working on those same issues in previous decades.” 

LSU Libraries Special Collections looks forward to fostering new learning experiences with our second year of the Special Collections Faculty Fellowship. The program is designed to enable digitally engaged and archive-centered teaching across campus by providing hands-on workshops, ongoing guidance and support from Libraries’ partners, and access to archival collections and digital tools. LSU teaching faculty members are invited to apply on the Special Collections website.  

two women smile while holding a certificate
LSU Libraries' Jen Cramer Receives Happy Award for Community Engagement

two women pose with a certificate
From left to right: Jennifer Baumgartner and Jen Cramer

LSU Libraries’ Jen Cramer is one of 10 recipients of this year’s Happy Awards. The awards are bestowed annually by the LSU Center for Community Engagement, Learning, and Leadership to faculty, staff, students, and community partners who represent the highest ideals of reciprocal service-learning partnerships. 

Cramer is the director of LSU Libraries’ T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, the largest and most comprehensive oral history repository in the state of Louisiana, and one of the largest in the South. She was nominated for this award by Jennifer J. Baumgartner, an associate professor in the School of Education and a 2023 Happy Award winner, for her work on Baumgartner’s service-learning courses and other courses on campus. 

Led by Cramer, the Williams Center works tirelessly to collect, document, and make accessible the stories of Louisianans. As an extension of that work, Cramer partners with LSU faculty to incorporate oral history projects and service-learning connections into their courses, and she instructs students on how to conduct their own oral histories.  

For example, in Dr. Baumgartner’s “Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education” class, Cramer assists students in creating interviews and transcripts that can be used by anyone curious about the topic and that address current approaches to education in Louisiana.  

Additionally, Cramer works diligently to collect the first-person stories of military veterans from across the state that might otherwise be lost to future generations.  

“We see her forward-thinking contribution to the community through these documentation efforts for what it truly is: undeniably groundbreaking work!” Baumgartner said.  

 

Additional Information 

Part of the Williams Center’s mission is to help members of the public with their own oral history projects. The center offers community workshops on best practices including interviewing techniques, how to conduct background research, and how to navigate the paperwork required to have their oral histories housed at the Williams Center or the Library of Congress. For more information, email Jen Cramer at jabrah1@lsu.edu. 

a group of people look over a long row of books
Friends of the LSU Libraries Hosting 2024 Book Bazaar

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 4, 2024

BATON ROUGE – The Friends of the LSU Libraries Book Bazaar will be held Friday, April 12 – Sunday, April 14. It will offer thousands of new and used books as well as CDs, DVDs and vinyl records. Tables will be refreshed throughout the three days of the sale with each day bringing another opportunity to discover something new. On Sunday, all remaining books will be discounted by an additional 50 percent.

A large assortment of rare and collectible books on art, architecture, military history, the Civil War, Louisiana and the South will be for sale as well as an amazing collection of vintage books—some dating back to the 1800s. Additionally, there will be a robust selection of cookbooks, including many regional favorites. 

Friends of the LSU Libraries was formed in 1962 to provide financial support to LSU Libraries. All proceeds from the Book Bazaar benefit LSU Libraries. 

DATES:

Friday-Sunday, April 12-14, 2024

HOURS:

Fri., Apr. 12, 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Sat., Apr. 13, 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Sun., Apr. 14, 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

LOCATION: 

John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum*

AgCenter Dr. 

Baton Rouge, LA 70803

* Free parking is available in the lot off East Parker Boulevard.

 

For more information, visit lib.lsu.edu/friends or call 225-578-5925.

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Contact Christine Wendling

LSU Libraries

225-578-7714

christinew@lsu.edu

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