January 2008 Meeting

The next meeting of the SWLA Historical Association will be Monday night, January 28, 2008. We will meet in Room #106 at Central School. Park on the north side of the building and enter on the ground level. We want to thank the Calcasieu Historical Preservation Society for allowing us the use of this room. The meeting will begin at 7:00, but come early to socialize and enjoy refreshments.

Our speaker will be Paul White. Mr. White is a graduate of Westlake High School. He holds a BS from Loyola University and a MS from LSUMC, both in New Orleans. He became interested in Louisiana history after studying under Dr. Joe Gray Taylor at McNeese (in whose honor the Historical Association sponsors the Louisiana History Essay Contest). Mr. White’s discussion will focus on the administrations of the two former governors from Southwest Louisiana, A. O. King and Sam Houston Jones.

Please try to attend the meeting and bring a guest - or two! We hope to see you there!

October 2007 Meeting Report

The October meeting was held at the McNeese Library. The speaker, Dr. Bruce Turner, archivist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette discussed the collections in his depository that concern Lake Charles and the Southwest Louisiana area. Included in these are records relating to the oil field activities of the Heywood family in Jennings, oral history tapes from the Jennings area, rice milling records from mills in Jennings and Lake Charles, Intracoastal Seaway Association Records, and materials concerning Lether Frazar, former president of McNeese State University. If anyone has any questions concerning these holdings, they may see them online at http://library.louisiana.edu/Spec/policy_SAMC.shtml or may contact Dr. Turner at bturner@louisiana.edu.

2000^th Image Added to the Digital Library

The McNeese Archives recently cataloged its 2,000^th image for the LOUISiana Digital Library.

The Archives began digitizing its photographs in 2003. The 2,000^th image depicts a raucous celebration at the Charleston Hotel marking the end of Prohibition on April 13, 1933. Isaac Murrey, a local professional photographer, captured the scene of L.S. Wharton and C.C. Suttle raising their glasses of Jax beer in a toast. Newspaper articles accompanying the photograph feature reporters recounting the joys of eating sandwiches and drinking cold beer in the afternoon.

The original image is part of the Maude Reid Scrapbooks. Miss Reid was the first public health nurse in Calcasieu Parish and established several free clinics for the poor. In addition to her work in public health, Reid served as the unofficial historian of Lake Charles, collecting photographs, postcards, pamphlets, and clippings into scrapbooks. Today her materials give researchers insight into daily life in Lake Charles in the early 1900s. Images like this one help our community understand the history and culture of Southwest Louisiana and illustrate the importance of preserving these images and presenting them to a wider audience.

The digitization project is an on-going project to make the Archives Department’s photograph collections available via the Internet. The Digital Library is accessible from the Archives Department website at library.mcneese.edu/depts/archive .

Lake Charles High School Alumni – Show Your Spirit!

Fashionable Wildcat gifts on sale now! Show everyone your school spirit with these custom-made accessories. All proceeds benefit the Lake Charles High School Archives at McNeese State University.

All items available in the MSU Archives office Monday through Friday, 8 am to 4 pm (except when the University is closed). Or use our mail-in form, available here.

	Double Pocket Zippered Tote Bag has outside pockets for a water bottle and cell phone. Also features a zippered top closure and shoulder-length handles. Made of 600-denier poly duck material with polypropylene handles. Size: 14" x 17" x 3." $ 10.00 each.
	3-1/4" Round Shatterproof Christmas Ornament. No longer reserved for the holidays, these ornaments are great to display year round! $ 5.00 each.
	Classic brass lapel pin (white background and red lettering). Size: 1-1/8" x 1-7/16." $ 5.00 each.
	Donald Newcomer's drawing of the "old" LCHS building which burned in 1951. Available as a 16x20 poster with light blue border or a package of 5 note cards. $ 5.00 each.

Works from the A. J. Rybiski, Jr. Photographic Archive

Exhibit and Opening Reception

The McNeese Archives Department will be mounting an exhibit of photographs taken by A. J. Rybiski, Jr. at the Old City Hall. The photographs, primarily taken from the 1940s through the 1960s, are black and white and show local scenes of historical significance. Included are aerial views of the construction site of the Civic Center, historic buildings, construction of the I-10 Bridge, aerial views of some of the city’s subdivisions, industry photos, and damage from Hurricane Audrey and the Flood of 1953.

The exhibit will run throughout the month of February through the end of March. The opening reception will be Friday night, February 8, from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. The public is invited. Members of the Historical Association are especially encouraged to attend.

William T. Block, Jr.

7/29/1920 - 12/15/2007

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Mr. W. T. Block, Jr., a very fine man and one who had contributed so much to the history of Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas. A bibliography of Mr. Block’s collection of historical books and articles can be viewed online at his website: http://www.wtblock.com/wtblockjr/. Some of the citations link to the full text of the article. Mr. Block had donated much of his material to Stephen F. Austin State University and the McNeese State University Archives. The links to these sites are: http://www.sfasu.edu/libweb/etrc/collections/manuscript/personal/BlockWT/index.asp and at: http://library.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/block191.htm

I Saw in Louisiana a Live-oak Growing by Walt Whitman

I saw in Louisiana a live-oak growing,
All alone stood it, and the moss hung down from the branches;
Without any companion it grew there, uttering joyous leaves of dark green,
And its look, rude, unbending, lusty, made me think of myself;
But I wonder’d how it could utter joyous leaves, standing alone there, without its friend,
Its lover near—for I knew I could not;
And I broke off a twig with a certain number of leaves upon it, and twined around it a little moss,
And brought it away—and I have placed it in sight in my room;
It is not needed to remind me as of my own dear friends,
(For I believe lately I think of little else than of them;)
Yet it remains to me a curious token—it makes me think of manly love;
For all that, and though the live-oak glistens there in Louisiana, solitary, in a wide flat space,
Uttering joyous leaves all its life, without a friend, a lover, near,
I know very well I could not.

Dues

If you are not a "Lifetime" member, please send a check for $10 ($15 Family) to George Ann Benoit, 4201 Alma Lane, Lake Charles, LA 70605 for your 2008 dues. If you are a new member or your address has changed, please use this form to help us keep our records up-to-date. Thank you!!

Awards

Dr. Donald J. Millet

Memorial Award for Historical Writing

Nominations are now being taken for the Millet Award. This award is presented annually for the best historical writing (book, essay, historical monograph, play, poem, etc.) about a historical subject or person written by a resident of Imperial Calcasieu and written or published during the year preceding the contest. Click here for a list of past winners.

Contact Kathie Bordelon, McNeese Archives, 475-5734.

Dr. Joe Gray Taylor

Louisiana History Essay Contest

This contest is held in conjunction with the Calcasieu Parish School Board’s Social Studies Fair. Entries on some aspect of Louisiana history written by middle school students are judged by Association members and awarded plaques and savings bonds.

Contact Pati Threatt at 475-5731 if you are interested in serving as a judge.

Webmaster: pthreatt@mcneese.edu