Archaeology
Watson Brake Archaeological Site
Watson Brake is a prehistoric Evans culture site in Ouachita Parish dating to 3500–2800 BCE
Encyclopedia
Entry IndexArchaeology
Archaeology Index
Archaeology
Historical Archaeology in Louisiana
Archaeologists at sites across Louisiana help fill in the written record through physical excavations of the past
Archaeology
Caddo Culture
This entry covers prehistoric Caddo culture during the Late Woodland and Mississippi Periods, 900–1700 CE
Archaeology
Prehistoric Archaeology in Louisiana
This entry explores the history of American Indian life in Louisiana from 11,500 BCE to 1700 CE through the study of prehistoric archaeology
Architecture
Architecture IndexArchitecture
Historic Preservation
New Orleans's French Quarter was an early testing ground for preservation measures, and it continues to be one today.
Architecture
Old State Capitol
Designed by architect James H. Dakin, Louisiana’s Old State Capitol in Baton Rouge is among the state's most distinctive architectural landmarks.
Architecture
Highland Plantation
The Barrow family built Highland Plantation in antebellum St. Francisville, Louisiana.
Architecture
Nottoway Plantation
Nottoway is one of the largest antebellum houses in the South and the largest surviving plantation house in Louisiana.
Art
Art IndexArt
Ida Kohlmeyer
Ida Kohlmeyer, a New Orleans painter, sculptor, printmaker, and teacher, is nationally recognized as one of the most influential contemporary artists in the South.
Art
Josephine Sacabo
Known for her intimite, stylized photography, Josephine Sacabo principally has lived in New Orleans, citing the citys unique ambiance as a muse.
Art
Jacqueline Humphries
The daughter of New Orleans jewelry designer Mignon Faget, Jacqueline Humphries has forged her own internationally recognized career as a painter in New York City.
Art
William Spratling
William P. Spratling was part of a thriving artists colony in New Orleans in the 1920s. It was from New Orleans that Spratling first traveled to Mexico where he became a leading silversmith.
Business and Industry
Business and Industry IndexBusiness and Industry
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
One of the worst environmental disasters in US history
Business and Industry
Oil and Gas Industry in Louisiana
The oil and gas industry has been a dominant economic engine in Louisiana for well over a century
Business and Industry
Standard Oil
In the early 1900s, the Standard Oil Company of Louisiana built one of the largest refineries in the world in Baton Rouge.
Business and Industry
First Louisiana Oil Well
Exploitable petroleum deposits were found in Louisiana in 1901, changing the state's economy and landscape forever.
Disasters
Disasters IndexDisasters
Yellow Fever in Louisiana
The last known epidemic of yellow fever in the United States occurred in Louisiana in 1905. Due to the intensity and frequency of these epidemics, it was often referred to as the "saffron scourge."
Disasters
Cheniere Caminada Hurricane
A late-season hurricane struck Cheniere Caminada in early October 1893, becoming one of Louisiana’s deadliest hurricanes.
Disasters
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina's landfall in Louisiana and the subsequent levee failures resulted in one of the worst disasters in United States history.
Disasters
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
One of the worst environmental disasters in US history
Folklife
Folklife IndexFolklife
Herbert Singleton
Self-taught artist Herbert Singleton created dramatic scenes of the rough New Orleans environment into which he was born, using found objects such as salvaged doors, driftwood, and discarded furniture.
Folklife
New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
Founded in 1970, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, known as Jazz Fest, draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to experience the music, cuisine, and cultural heritage of Louisiana.
Folklife
Baby Dolls
The Baby Dolls were one of the first women's street masking groups in the United States. The practice continues today as a living legacy.
Folklife
Congo Square
Congo Square, now Armstrong Park in New Orleans's Treme neighborhood, served as a gathering ground for Africans in the early years of the city.
Foodways
Foodways IndexFoodways
Crawfish Boils
Crawfish boils are a springtime ritual in Louisiana.
Foodways
Muffuletta Sandwich
The muffuletta–a mammoth sandwich of round sesame bread layered with Genoa salami, ham, mortadella, cheese, and olive salad–is a signature dish of New Orleans.
Foodways
Po-Boy Sandwich
The so-called poor boy (po-boy) sandwich originated from the Martin Brothers' French Market Restaurant and Coffee Stand in New Orleans during the 1929 streetcar strike.
Foodways
Lucky Dogs
The weiner-shaped Lucky Dog hot dog pushcarts in New Orleans's French Quarter were the inspiration for the fictional Paradise Vendors in John Kennedy Toole's novel "A Confederacy of Dunces."
Geography
Geography IndexGeography
Mandeville
Mandeville was founded in 1834, occupying part of what was formerly the sugar plantation of Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville in Louisiana.
Geography
Red River Raft
The Great Raft was a thousand-year-old logjam in the Red River that prevented transportation downriver to New Orleans.
Geography
Neutral Strip
The Neutral Strip existed outside the governance of either the United States or Spain until 1821.
Geography
Bourbon Street
The origins of the notorious adult playground
Government & Politics
Government & Politics IndexGovernment & Politics
Thomas C. Manning
Thomas C. Manning served as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1877 to 1880.
Government & Politics
Jean-Michel de Lépinay
Jean-Michel de Lépinay served as the fifth governor of Louisiana from 1717 to 1718.
Government & Politics
Ruffin Pleasant
As governor of Louisiana from 1916 until 1920, Democrat Ruffin G. Pleasant oversaw Louisiana’s efforts during World War I (1914-1918).
Government & Politics
John B. Fournet
John B. Fournet served as the chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1949 to 1970.
History
History IndexHistory
Micaela Almonester, Baroness Pontalba
Micaela Leonarda Almonester de Pontalba was the sponsor of landmark architectural complexes in her native Louisiana, as well as in France, her home for sixty-seven years.
History
Pentagon Barracks
Built in 1819 as a fortification against the Spanish and slave insurrections, today the Pentagon Barracks house a museum, apartments, and the lieutenant governor's office.
History
Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal, the fifty-fifth governor of Louisiana, served from 2008 to 2016.
History
Francis T. Nicholls
Francis Nicholls served two nonconsecutive terms as governor of Louisiana from 1877 to 1880, and again from 1888 to 1892.
Literature
Literature IndexLiterature
George Washington Cable
The writings of George Washington Cable explored the Creole culture and generated national attention.
Literature
Tony Kushner
Playwright Tony Kushner, one-time resident of Lake Charles, is the author of prizewinning drama "Angels in America."
Literature
Grace King
New Orleans novelist and historian Grace King made the city and state of her birth an abiding theme in her work.
Literature
Sherwood Anderson
Sherwood Anderson first arrived in New Orleans in 1922 and quickly became the charismatic center of the arts scene now known as the French Quarter Renaissance.
Music
Music IndexMusic
Edmond Dédé
Edmond Dédé was a prominent African-American musician and composer in born in New Orleans in the nineteenth century.
Music
Oscar Chicken Henry
Oscar “Chicken” Henry played both jazz piano and trombone in New Orleans in the mid-twentieth century.
Music
Pete Fountain
Jazz clarinetist Pete Fountain was one of the New Orleans's most recognizable and commercially successful artists.
Music
Chester Jones
Chester Jones, a traditional jazz and brass band drummer, was a lifelong resident and community leader of the Treme neighborhood in New Orleans.
Religion & Spirituality
Religion & Spirituality IndexReligion & Spirituality
Jimmy Swaggart
Called the "King of Honky Tonk Heaven" by Newsweek in 1982, Ferriday's Jimmy Swaggart was America's most popular televangelist in the 1980s.
Religion & Spirituality
Marie Tranchepain
Marie Tranchepain was the first Mother Superior of New Orleans’s Ursulines and an early female diarist.
Religion & Spirituality
Black Gospel Music
African American Gospel music incorporates elements of both black vernacular and sacred music, including blues, hymnody, spirituals, the folk church, and even popular song.
Religion & Spirituality
Voudou
Voudou, a synthesis of African religious and magical beliefs with Roman Catholicism, emerged in New Orleans in the 1700s and survives in active congregations today.
Sports & Recreation
Sports & Recreation IndexSports & Recreation
Bernard Docusen
Bernard Docusen started boxing at the age of 12 and won the National Amateur Athletic Union bantamweight title in 1942 at the age of 14.
Sports & Recreation
Terry Bradshaw
Louisiana's Terry Bradshaw won four Super Bowls as quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s.
Sports & Recreation
Ben Abadie
Ben Abadie, head coach of Tulane's baseball program in the 1950s, is best known for his "field of dreams" training program.
Sports & Recreation
Rolland Romero
Rolland Romero was the youngest member of the 1932 US Olympic team and the world-record holder in his event at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany.
