For schedules of current exhibits at the Archives call (225) 922-1000, or visit our new on-line calendar.
See below for online previews. Visit our Web Archive to view previous on-line exhibits.
We are located at 3851 Essen Lane between I-10 and I-12. Click here for a map.
We are closed for most holidays. See Holiday Schedule for details.
October 12
Protecting Louisiana's Historical Records in EmergenciesThe Louisiana Historical Records Advisory Board, Louisiana State Archives, Office of Secretary of State and the Louisiana Archives and Manuscripts Association invite you to participate in an Archives Week Symposium October 12, 2006 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
The morning panelists will consider the effects of hurricanes Katrina and Rita on Louisiana records collections and the afternoon panel will discuss planning for future emergencies. The symposium will be held at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge. View the agenda here. Panel members include representatives from agencies devastated by the storms, state and national recovery agencies, and experts in disaster recovery and emergency planning.
The program is designed so that you and others responsible for the preservation of Louisiana’s historical records will have the information needed to protect your collections and deal with emergencies. Each attendee will be given a packet of useful information from commercial companies and regional agencies which provide assistance in disaster recovery. Attendees will earn continuing education credits where appropriate.
The symposium is free and includes a light lunch. Seating is limited, so pre-registration is required. Please call Ellen Brown at the Louisiana State Archives, 225-922-1000 or email ebrown@sos.louisiana.gov by October 5, 2006 to make your reservation.
Please take a minute to fill out the enclosed questionnaire, even if you do not plan to attend the symposium, and return it to the address on the questionnaire. The Louisiana Historical Records Advisory Board is assessing damage to records-holding institutions and the successes and failures of their disaster preparations.
July 9 - August 24
Baton Rouge Art League All Member Show & Sale
This exciting exhibition will open with a reception and sale on Sunday, July 9th from 2 to 4 PM. The exhibition is free and open to the public. 20 per cent of each sale goes toward BRAL purchases of artwork for the Permanent BRAL Collection at the Louisiana State Archives. Several artists have donated their works and 100 per cent of those sales will go towards purchases for the collection.
The following artist are participating in this show: Marsha Barkemeyer, Susie Blyskal, Patricia Broussard, Mary Ann Caffery, Carol Creel, Yvette Creel, Barbara Wyatt Dupree, Marilyn Alexander Ehr, Mignon Gautreaux, Hazel Hardy, Elayne Kuehler, Betty Olsen, Jane Olson-Phillips, Sandra Roccaforte and Kathy Miller Stone. See online previews HERE.
July - August
El Nuevo Constante - An Eighteenth Century Spanish Shipwreck from Cameron Parish, Louisiana
In the first week of September 1766, a hurricane blew two Spanish merchant ships aground on the Louisiana coast. Both were in the New Spain Fleet sailing from Veracruz, Mexico to Spain. Delays in Veracruz had forced the fleet to sail late in August, well into the dangerous hurricane season. The new Spanish government in Louisiana began immediate salvage of the two ships. This work to save and move cargo lasted two months.
Two hundred thirteen years later, Curtis Blume found one of the ships when he caught several large ingots of copper in his shrimp nets. The wreck lay in state waters near the southwestern coast of Louisiana. The State of Louisiana developed an agreement with Curtis Blume and several of his associates and a contract provided for historical and archaeological study of the shipwreck. That investigation led to the positive identification of the merchant ship El Nuevo Constante.
El Nuevo Constante is the first historic shipwreck discovered off the Louisiana coast. Careful study of it is both appropriate and fortunate. Archaeologists and historians found out about the ship and the events leading to its loss. They also excavated well-preserved artifacts, many of which are unique. These tell about the ship's construction, its cargo, and life aboard an eighteenth century merchant vessel.
Ongoing ExhibitionsLouisiana State Multimedia Archives
The Secretary of State presided over the grand opening of the Louisiana State Multimedia Archives on September 14, 2004 at the Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge. The Multimedia Archives is a computer-based archival system that allows for the storage and rapid recall of thousands of hours of film and video footage relevant to Louisiana culture.
The opening of the Multimedia Archives comes after years of acquiring and digitizing film and video sources from television stations, film collections and newsreels featuring content relevant to Louisiana from all over the United States. Using a powerful search engine, visitors to the Multimedia Archives will be able to research and instantly view film of former Louisiana governors, news events of the 20th century and oral histories compiled by the State Archives staff. Visit the Multimedia Archives HERE.
World War One Poster Collection Permanent Exhibit
At the outset of the First World War, most Americans were reluctant to get involved. The bellicose fever which had permeated America during the Spanish American War had diminished, and now most Americans viewed the conflict in Europe as being a European matter.
However, it became inevitable that America would be drawn into the war, and with the sinking of the Lusitania, public opinion changed quickly. To accomplish this, the United States government secured the talents of some of the nation's foremost artists to stimulate support for the war effort. Individuals such as Charles Dana Gibson, J. C. Leyendecker, James Montgomery Flagg, Howard Chandler Christy and N. C. Wyeth offered their talents to this massive undertaking. Their combined efforts resulted in the creation of more than 2,500 designs. More than 20,000,000 posters were printed during the war. As instruments of persuasion, these posters proved to be a tremendous success.
The posters displayed are part of the State Archives collection. The Archives' inventory of 168 of these World War I era posters constitutes one of the largest single collections of these items in the United States.
World War I era posters were framed courtesy of Virginia Kilpatrick Shehee in memory of her father, Lonnie Benjamin Kilpatrick.
Mr. Kilpatrick enlisted in the United States Army on April 27, 1918, serving as private in the 360th Infantry Texas Brigade, 90th Division. He participated in the battles of St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne in France. Following the war, he resided in Shreveport where he founded and served as president of Kilpatrick Life Insurance Company and Rose-Neath Funeral Home.
View selected posters from the collection HERE.
[Pictured above: "Over the Top" by Sidney Riesenberg.]
The Baton Rouge Art League's Permanent Rotating Exhibit
The value of visual art for the community, and public recognition of that value, has been the purpose of the Baton Rouge Art League since its founding in 1934. It was the first organization to insist on the importance of making art available for the general public, and it has played a major role in the development of art programs in Baton Rouge and throughout the state.
Among its major accomplishments was the development of a permanent collection and the care and preservation of a major collection of WPA art. This combined collection has been preserved and is cared for at the State Archives where it is displayed on a rotating basis so that some of the pieces can always be seen in the lobby and other public areas at the facility on Essen Lane.
The WPA Collection
The WPA collection was acquired from the federal government for the city of Baton Rouge in 1937 through the efforts of city officials, and includes works done by artist living in Louisiana during the Depression years when the art program was carried out.
The paintings depict the structures, people, occupations and landscape of Louisiana during the period and are of immense historical value as well as being of great artistic interest. Graphic artist Caroline Durieux, LSU professor emeritus, was at one time supervisor of the Louisiana WPA art program, and artists represented in the collection include Bernard Shardt, Hebert Water, Harold Pierce, Alice Fowler, Reinike, McCrady, Herbert Frere, George Post, Bill Perkins, Lynette Prochaska, Edwin Schoenberger, Myron Lecky, Millet and Lalla Lewis, as well as artist otherwise unknown today.
The Original Collection
The Art League's group of paintings is the result of the original effort of the group to provide public art for the people of Louisiana. It now consists of 48 works in a variety of media, and 25 Louisiana artists are represented.
Among the more well known artists on the list are John McCrady, Clarence Millet, Charles Reinike, Paul Dufour, Rolland Golden, Bill Stracener, Ellsworth Woodward, Henrietta Joseph, Burney Myrick, Durieux, and Robert Rucker.
The Art League deserves a community vote of thanks for its early and continued efforts on behalf of the Louisiana art scene, and particularly for its care and conservation of Louisiana art from the early 1930's to the present. Protection of the historic WPA collection has saved a valued part of Louisiana's heritage from a difficult period in history.
Click here to view selected pictures from the collection.
[Pictured above: "Metamorphosis" by Henrietta Jospeh; "Portrait Head of Cliff" by Harold Pierce; and "Pelicans" by Irma Herzog.]