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Randy: Posted on Saturday, June 15, 2013 9:27 AM
From THE LOUISIANA COURIER, Oct. 28, 1831:  “CREOLE.” -- A most singular, and we think preposterous and absurd definition of this word is contained in theEmporiumof Wednesday last; namely, that none are creoles but such as are born ofEuropean parents. I have always called, and so considered myself, acreole, notwithstanding my father and father’s father were calledcreoles. We have also called the slaves born in the countrycreoles, --the horses raised here are also termedcreole horses |
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Randy: Posted on Friday, June 07, 2013 6:38 AM
Through the years there have been attempts to rewrite history and serve it up as a buffet where one is permitted (if not encouraged) to help oneself to all the mac and cheese one can shove down one's gullet and completely ignore the brussells sprouts and creamed spinach. One of the more troublesome revisions in Louisiana history is the argument that Creole/American animosity was largely either a myth or an overstatement. It perplexes me as to why “historians” would see the need to discount it when the evidence of its reality is stark and overwhelming. |
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Randy: Posted on Monday, May 20, 2013 9:54 AM
New Orleans was a center for shipbuilding - the most famous being the Higgins LCVP - the boat that made D-Day possible and the reason the National WWII Museum is here. Among the ship builders who manufactured U.S. military ships was the Delta Shipbuilders - they were located in the Industrial Canal. They published a newsletter and I found a copy of one in an antique store a few months ago. I thought, in honor of Memorial Day, I would post it here and remind the world that New Orleans plays a key role in the defense of our nation. |
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Randy: Posted on Tuesday, May 14, 2013 6:36 AM
It's becoming increasingly difficult to be a tour guide AND a historian. Unfortunately many people who research and write about our history refer to books that people (often outsiders) wrote and use them as their sources. This is how facts and history get so distorted that we have to pry these myths from people's cold, dead fingers. I tell visitors all the time that unless a "history" book has detailed notes, bibliographies and indices that give explicit source material then a book is not historical research. |
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Randy: Posted on Tuesday, May 07, 2013 6:07 AM
I am doing work for the New Orleans City Archives processing ordinances from the 20th Century. (It's kind of fun to be away from the 19th Century for a change.) I ran across an ordinance description that says: "(Ordinance) directing commissioners of John McDonogh fund to convert into cash such marketable securities held by said board as shall not exceed in amount sum of ($385,000.00) and transfer proceeds to Orleans Parish School board for purpose of defraying a substantial portion of cost of erecting a free public school. |
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Randy: Posted on Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:08 AM
Jackson Square facing the river, circa 1890's Note the wharf building on the present site of Washington Artillery Park, the French Market where Cafe du Monde is today and the steamboats lined up along the West Bank. |
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Randy: Posted on Tuesday, February 26, 2013 8:49 PM
I'm a stickler for historic accuracy. This is a fact that either makes people love me or hate me. As I root around through history and learn how to research I start looking at things that are held close to our history-loving hearts and to my utter surprise I frequently find that facts dispute the tale. I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything; I'm just taking a walk though history and, as I do, I find myself becoming something of a myth buster. Not that I ever mean to, it just happens. |
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Randy: Posted on Sunday, February 24, 2013 7:29 AM
Somehow or other when the word from New Orleans reaches the outside world it always gets distorted! I just purchased anAMAZINGpostcard dated Oct 14, 1906. Around September 24th of that year (which was the Autumnal Equinox, hence the word "equinoctial") a violent storm rocked the Crescent City and by the time reports got out the world was under the impression thatthe entire city had been flooded out. Sound familiar? Not that reports of flooding from other disasters |
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Randy: Posted on Thursday, February 21, 2013 5:43 AM
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Randy: Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2013 1:07 PM
I am very excited to have acquired a check written on August 1, 1867 by Forstall & deLassus; not one - but TWO ofMadame Lalaurie'ssons-in-law. Placide Forstall married Madame Lalaurie's daughter from her first marriage, Maria "Borquita" Lopez y Angullo, and was the son-in-law to who Madame Lalaurie signed over her power-of-attorney when she and her husband fled Louisiana. Pierre Auguste deLassus married Jeanne Blanque, Madame Lalaurie's daughter from her second marriage to Jean Blanque, and he was the the stepson-in-law to whom Dr. |
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