Visitors to the Hill Memorial Library reading room are encouraged to have a look at our newest display, focusing on the Nita Sims Breazeale Family Papers.

Nita Sims Breazeale was born in 1896 to Robert Nicholls Sims, Jr., and Nita Dalferes Sims of Ascension Parish, La. She was a member of a prominent family of businessmen, judges, lawyers, and politicians. As a resident of Baton Rouge, she actively participated in community affairs, and her involvement in charitable organizations continued throughout her life. In 1940, she established the Baton Rouge chapter of Bundles for Britain. This relief organization provided clothing, supplies, and equipment for victims of the London bombings. Her husband, Hopkins Payne Breazeale, a Baton Rouge attorney, served in the 358th Infantry, 90th Division during World War I. During the Allied occupation of Germany, he remained with the American Expeditionary Forces as Provost in Charge of Civil Affairs.

The papers consist of correspondence, legal documents, printed material, photographs, and artifacts that reflect the family’s interest in service organizations, the arts, local history, genealogy, and the professional careers of family members. Notable in this collection are papers related to family history, World War I and the relief organization, Bundles for Britain.

If you would like to find out more about this collection, please contact our reference department at (225) 578-6568.

You can’t judge a book by its cover… or can you?

Visitors to LSU Special Collections’ new mini exhibit, “A Brief History of European Bookbinding from the Middle Ages to 1900,” will have a chance to ponder that question. In the days before mass-produced publishers’ bindings, books were often bought with no covers on them at all, leaving their owners to have them bound as they saw fit. The result was a wide and colorful range of binding styles that varied from time to time and place to place. The exhibit also introduces visitors to some of the work and materials that go into binding a book. Did you know, for example, that scraps of medieval manuscripts are often “hidden” in the bindings of later books? Have you ever wondered how marbled paper is made? Did you know that there are books bound in ivory, velvet, and even Scottish tartan?

Come and find out more about these and other fascinating aspects of the history of the book. The new exhibit will be on display in the Hill Memorial Library lecture hall from May 9 through June 30. The library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and Tuesday evenings (while classes are in session) until 8 p.m. For more information, contact Michael Taylor at (225) 578-6547 or mltaylor@lsu.edu.

A new book and exhibition entitled Andrew D. Lytle’s Baton Rouge: Photographs, 1863-1910 showcase the life and work of photographer Andrew D. Lytle. The exhibition in Hill Memorial Library is based on Mark Martin’s newly released book on Lytle, published by LSU Press.

On Sunday, April 6, two events will mark the opening of the exhibition, which runs through June 28. At 3 p.m., Martin will give an illustrated lecture, followed by a reception and book signing. At 2 p.m., preceding the talk, photographer Bruce Schultz will demonstrate the wet-plate collodion photographic technology that Lytle used during in his career. Both events are free and will take place at Hill Memorial Library.

With his roving camera, Lytle captured the city’s history in all its facets, from formal portraits of leading citizens to hilarious group shots of amateur theatricals. The Federal occupation of Baton Rouge during the Civil War is chronicled, as well the annual spring Fireman’s parade. Lytle photographed the cadets at LSU, as well as inmates of the state penitentiary. The exhibition offers views of the evolving landscape of Louisiana’s capital city through more than sixty years. Lytle’s photographs are, according to Martin, “the only visual record of that period of the life and times of Baton Rouge and its people.” Martin is the Photographic Processing Archivist in the LSU Libraries’ Special Collections division.

Bruce Schultz got involved with photography while a student at LSU, and went on to work as a photographer, reporter, and bureau chief for various newspapers in Louisiana, before joining the LSU AgCenter’s Communications Department. In April 2007, he took a workshop under expert wet-plate photographer Robert Szabo. After the workshop, Schultz says, “I was hooked. I haven’t shot any film since that fateful weekend in April 2007.” He often photographs Civil War reenactments and gives demonstrations of the wet-plate process for schools, libraries, and other similar institutions.

The demonstration, lecture, and exhibition are all free and open to the public. Hill Memorial Library, which houses the exhibition and extensive historical archives, is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays. When classes are in session, the library is open Tuesday evenings until 8 p.m. For more information about the library, visit the Special Collections’ Web site.

LSU Libraries’ Special Collections has opened a new exhibit inspired by One Book One Community’s 2008 winter/spring selection, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. “In Truth’s Bold Cause: Louisiana and the Freedom of the Press” will be on display in the lecture hall at Hill Memorial Library from February 20 to April 25.

Visitors will learn about the early history of the freedom of the press in England and the American colonies as well as in Louisiana during the period of French and Spanish rule. Highlights of the exhibit include a copy of the Comte de Mirabeau’s Sur la Liberté de la Presse (1788), owned by Daniel Turnbull of Rosedown Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana. In addition to a first edition of Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852)—a work which was banned in the South due to its call for the abolition of slavery—a copy of Creole author Charles Testut’s Le Vieux Salomon will also be on display. Although Testut wrote his novel before the Civil War, he chose not to publish it until 1872, fearing that he would be lynched because of its anti-slavery views. Rounding out the exhibit are materials related to Huey Long’s attempts to gag the Louisiana press—including the LSU student newspaper—in the 1930s, one of which resulted in a landmark Supreme Court case.

The library is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays, and Tuesday evenings until 8 p.m. For more information, contact Michael Taylor at (225) 578-6547 or mltaylor@lsu.edu.

LSU Libraries’ Special Collections will open a new exhibition, titled “Have You Heard? The Past in First Person from the T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History,” which will be on display from Nov. 12 through March 8 at Hill Memorial Library on LSU’s campus.

In addition, oral historian Joel Gardner will lecture about the exhibition on Friday, Nov. 30, at 6 p.m. at Hill Memorial Library’s lecture hall. A reception will follow the talk. The exhibition and talk are free and open to the public.

“Have You Heard” showcases a diverse selection of oral history interviews covering topics such as LSU history, World War II, the Houma Indians, Hurricanes Betsy and Katrina, the Flood of 1927, folklife in the Atchafalaya and Louisiana politics.

Visitors will learn about student Grover Rees’ two-day journey on four trains and a ferry to get from Breaux Bridge to LSU in 1908; Huey P. Long’s attempt to convince LSU football star Abe Mickal to run for the Louisiana Senate; World War II nurse Ida Turcan’s experience in North Africa and in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge, where she experienced living with a daily allotment of one helmet full of water to take care of hygienic and personal laundry needs; and veteran Millard Brewer’s participation in the liberation of a Nazi concentration camp.

Coupled with related images, manuscript collections, and published materials from Special Collections, the words and voices of the interviewees bring history to life. Listening stations will showcase audio interviews about the Civil Rights movement in Baton Rouge, Vietnamese refugees relocating in Louisiana, the history of women’s education at LSU and more. Visitors can listen to various showcased excerpts through portable listening devices, which will be loaned to visitors by request.

The library is open 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. on Saturdays. When classes are in session, the library is also open Tuesday evenings until 8 p.m. More information is available at www.lib.lsu.edu/special or by calling 225-578-6544.

For the related lecture, Gardner will speak on oral history in Louisiana, the founding of the T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, and the importance of documenting Louisiana culture and history. Gardner has directed several oral history projects and programs in Louisiana, served as copy editor of “Louisiana Folklife A Guide to the State,” and was actively involved in the founding of the Williams Center. Gardner is the author of Oral History for Louisiana (1981), Looking Back: A Guide to Genealogical Research in Louisiana (1983), and Built in Louisiana: A Social History of Louisiana Carpenters (1985). He has interviewed dozens of people in all walks of life on topics ranging from television production to sports to publishing. In 1987, he founded Gardner Associates to conduct oral history research for corporations and institutions in the Delaware Valley.

The T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History, or THWCOH, collects and preserves, through the use of recorded interviews, unique and valuable information about Louisiana history and culture.

Image: from Mississippi River Flood of 1927 Album, Photograph by Jasper Ewing

Contact

Leah W. Jewett

LSU Libraries

225-578-6558

lwood@lsu.edu