All Non-Digital Titles

Local author Andy Peter Antippas presents a walking history of the Vieux Carre, one alley, corner and street at a time.

Walking through the French Quarter can overwhelm the senses--and the imagination. The experience is much more meaningful with knowledge of the area's colorful history. For instance, the infamous 1890 separate but equal legal doctrine justifying racial segregation was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court at the Cabildo on Jackson Square. In the mid-twentieth century, a young Lee Harvey Oswald called Exchange Alley home. One of New Orleans' favorite drinks--the sazerac--would not exist if Antoine Peychaud had not served his legendary bitters with cognac from his famous apothecary at 437 Royal.

Bayou St. John played a significant role in the neighborhood of the same name, fueling debate over the waterway's use, control and ownership for centuries.

Native Americans first used it as a trade route. Later, it became a backdoor entrance for settlers to the present-day French Quarter. As commercial use declined, residents witnessed a progressive shift toward recreation. Following the Civil War, tourists flocked to witness Marie Laveau's voodoo ceremonies. The early twentieth century brought two amusement parks. And events like the Bayou Boogaloo music festival draw thousands of visitors. Despite its many costume changes, the bayou continues to be the Crescent City's most beloved waterway. Author Cassie Pruyn reveals this evolving story.

Beginning as a real estate venture on the isolated prairie of southwestern Louisiana in 1894, Eunice is now a progressive small city due to its traditions of volunteerism, community spirit, and resourcefulness.

In the late 1980s, the city enjoyed a renaissance when a far-sighted mayor capitalized on the dominant Cajun culture to pull Eunice out of the economic crevasse of the decade's oil bust. It emerged as a picturesque community with an emphasis on its rich history and its newly recognized heritage tourism. The city's unique Frenchness lures tourists and locals to the live Cajun music shows at the Liberty Center and to experience the joie de vivre at a rural Mardi Gras. The historic images found in Images of America: Eunice feature the day-to-day activities of Eunice's people through good times and lean days from 1894 to the late 1980s.

Louisiana's famous Cajun Country is a place where today's travelers can still experience the rich heritage and traditions that began in the eighteenth century.

From foodways and folktales to music and festivals, Acadiana offers something you can't get anywhere else. Journey through this historic and unique part of the state with travel writer and historian Cher Coen as your guide Experience Cajun Country through its exceptional cuisine, area events, and historic attractions.

Discover Baton Rouge's bygone days of booming growth and the influence of its renowned residents.

For nearly two centuries, Baton Rouge remained a sleepy little river town. Situated on the first bluffs of the Mississippi River north of the Gulf of Mexico, it was prime real estate for habitation. Images of America: Forgotten Baton Rouge collects a plethora of lost images of this city's greatest period of expansion: from the 1890s to the 1930s. This era began when Louisiana State University moved to the grounds of the old US Army arsenal, followed by a corporate decision from John D. Rockefeller to build a Standard Oil Company refinery at Baton Rouge. These historic decisions, coupled with the forward-thinking actions of bold businessmen and politicians like Robert A. Hart and Huey P. Long, changed the face of the city forever.

Beyond the façade of stately Louisiana platations are stories of hope and subjugation, tragedy and suffering, shame and perseverance and war and conquest.

After sixteen workers chopped down most of the Houmas House's ancient oak trees, referred to as the Gentlemen, eight of the surviving trees eerily twisted overnight in grief over the losses wrought by a great Mississippi River flood. An illegal duel to reclaim lost honor left the grounds of Natchez's Cherokee Plantation bloodstained, but the victim's spirit may still wander there today. A mutilated slave girl named Chloe still haunts the halls of the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville. Cheryl H. White and W. Ryan Smith reveal the dark history, folklore and lasting human cost of Louisiana plantation life.

Explore the dark and mysterious past of New Orleans with this riveting collection of tales that devle into the most haunted city in America.

New Orleans--the Big Easy, the birthplace of jazz, home of Cafe du Monde and what some call the most haunted city in America. Beneath the indulgence and revelry of the Crescent City lies a long history of the dark and mysterious. From the famous Queen of Voodoo, Marie Laveau, who is said to haunt the site of her grave, to the wicked LaLauries, whose true natures were hidden behind elegance and the trappings of high society, New Orleans is filled with spirits of all kinds. Some of the ghosts in these stories have sordid and scandalous histories, while others are friendly specters who simply can't leave their beloved city behind. Join supernatural historian Troy Taylor as he takes readers beyond the French Quarter and shows a side of New Orleans never seen.

Tragedy and destruction abound in this region and in these pages, but heroism, glory and Cajun flair come in equal measure.

From the improbable Thoroughbred Twenty-Twoinit, which defied odds and burned Vegas oddsmakers at Evangeline Downs, to the destitute Reconstruction-era Cajuns who sought recompense from the federal government after the war, history comes to life in these retellings by historian and yarn spinner William Thibodeaux. Before "serial killer'? was a term, a vile murderer stalked the streets of then-tiny Lafayette, inciting unimaginable terror. All too familiar are harrowing tales of locals who battened down the hatches as horrible storms roared forth. From the hills to the bayous, Acadiana has quite a story to tell, especially for those who lean in close to listen.

With its multitude of diverse heritage and various successful industries, Iberia Parish of Louisiana is the true American melting pot.

In the mid-1700s, the French explored the area that is now Iberia Parish, and by 1765, many Acadians had arrived, and the Spanish settled along the Bayou Teche in 1779. They named the area Neuva Iberia after the Iberian Peninsula in Spain. Though sugarcane plantations along Bayou Teche attracted English and American settlers, along with their enslaved laborers, by the mid-19th century, French had become the dominant language of the area. By the end of Reconstruction, distinctions between Acadians and neighboring groups had blurred, giving rise to a new people—the Cajuns. Today, Iberians stay true to the agrarian roots, and Iberia Parish is known as the hottest (tabasco), sweetest (sugarcane), oiliest (oil drilling), and saltiest (salt mines) place on Earth.

Explore the social, family, political and religious history of the Italians - one of New Orleans' most remarkable ethnic groups.

Between 1850 and 1870, New Orleans boasted the largest Italian-born population of any city in the United States. Its early Italian immigrants included musicians, business leaders, and diplomats. Sadly, in 1891, 11 members of the large Sicilian settlement in New Orleans were victims of the largest mass lynching in American history. However, by 1910, the city's French Quarter was a Little Palermo with Italian entrepreneurs, laborers, and restauranteurs dominating the scene.

Lafayette was founded as Vermilionville in 1822 by Jean Mouton, a prosperous landowner of Acadian descent whose donations of land for a Catholic church and the parish courthouse ensured the town's future.

The arrival of the railroad in 1880, the founding of Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute in 1900, and the growth of the oil industry in the 20th century further contributed to the city's prosperity. Lafayette experienced its share of hard times brought on by the Civil War, regional flooding, hurricanes, and economic depressions, but survived on the strength andgenerosity of its close-knit citizens. Lafayette has long been known as the Hub City of Acadiana, the economic and cultural center of southwest Louisiana. Today it is widely known for its food, music, and festivals that celebrate not only its Cajun and Creole heritage, but also its many other European, Middle Eastern, and African cultural roots.

Engulfed by the bayou, Lafourche is a parish rich in history and culture known for its close-knit, family-centered communities.

The parish was originally inhabited by Native American tribes and later by European, African, and English settlers, and many of the residents of Lafourche can trace their ancestry back to these early settlers, strengthening the sense of community that is distinctive to southern Louisiana. The fertile bayou delta fostered small vegetable farms as well as large sugarcane plantations that continue to thrive. The numerous waterways and marshes of the parish produce bountiful catches of fish, seafood, and other wildlife, giving rise to its reputation as a sportsmen's paradise. The parish's economy is also made up of a shipbuilding industry as well as the oil industry, and because of the continuous pattern of homes and businesses that sprung up organically along the bayou, many refer to the town as the Longest Street in the World.

Trace the history of Lake Charles in pictures as it grew from a small town to a a lumber industry center, and to the petrochemical hub and vibrant city it is today.

Isolated from the main transportation routes during the early 19th century, Lake Charles was a backwater of 500 people when incorporated in 1867. The arrival of the schooners and the railroad integrated it into the corridor between Galveston, Houston, and New Orleans, and Lake Charles grew rapidly after the Civil War. Streams of migrants from Europe, nearby communities in Texas and Louisiana, and northern states moved here and built a booming lumber industry. Though beset by fires, storms, and floods, the city rebuilt many times, and in the 20th century, Lake Charles and its environs became an important petrochemical center. Today, the city sponsors annual festivals that celebrate its heritage. Lake Charles supports many fine public schools, a regional university, and artistic endeavors of which it is justly proud, including a symphony, a community band, and a variety of choruses, theater associations, and dance companies—all of which are pictured within the pages of Images of America: Lake Charles.

Delve deep into the history of Lake Charles, Louisiana's past, through pirates, Creoles and cowboys, and other lost stories with historian Adley Cormier.

Fires, hurricanes, neglect and progress erased much of Lake Charles's physical history. The young town was a magnet for pirates and privateers, like the infamous Jean Lafitte, who conducted business at the mouth of what is today called the Contraband Bayou. Michigan Men, creoles and cowboys made their way to the fledgling Louisiana town to start new lives. A great lumber industry shaped the town in the nineteenth century. Streetcars ran routes around the clock seven days a week. Author and historian Adley Cormier delves deep into Lake Charles's past to uncover a history that has been lost to time and change.

From ancient bayous to beloved old businesses, Metairie has changed dramatically over generations.

Many of those landmarks are lost to time; the lake, railroads and a beach resort were popular features in the early days. A streetcar ran through the short-lived City of Metairie Ridge, where gambling houses and dog tracks contributed more tax dollars than did the few residents. Old Bucktown was famous for its seafood. Fat City, once notorious for its nightlife, has seen better days. Author Catherine Campanella takes a look back at the schools, shops, bars, restaurants, alligator farms, bowling alleys, drive-ins and movie theaters from a bygone era.

See how New Orleans became a place where several cultures met and blended to create a city and lifestyle unlike any in the United States.

Few cities boast a heritage as rich and a local color as dynamic as that of New Orleans, which is known around the world for its unique architecture, exquisite cuisine, flamboyant celebrations, and exotic peoples. Founded in 1718 as a backwater outpost of France, New Orleans was the catalyst for the greatest land deal in the history of the world, the Louisiana Purchase. Discover in these pages what made one city so appealing that one-third of the continental United States was purchased in order to obtain it. Images of the old city streets and such well-known districts as the French Quarter reveal the charm and mystery of New Orleans, and are complimented by informative and historical captions. A virtual tour of the city, New Orleans provides readers with a glimpse into the past and preserves the images of landmarks that have vanished. A scrapbook of memories for longtime residents of the city, this unique pictorial history will also be embraced by the millions of visitors who are captivated by the Crescent City.

While the name of the city New Orleans itself implies reinvention, among its traits most beloved by residents and visitors alike in the 21st century are the things that have not changed much over time. Jazz, flavor, celebration, and a warm welcome are always on the menu.  Lifelong resident and author Troy Broussard recounts the more than three-century story of a city as familiar with rebuilding and rebirth after tragedy as it is with revelry.

Join author and Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock on a visual tour of the most captivating New Orleans burial sites -  above ground!

The mysticism of cemeteries is inescapable and the cemeteries of New Orleans are no exception. They have long enticed residents and visitors alike with their beauty and rich history. We are intrigued by the way these sacred cities of the dead have the ability to both fascinate and unnerve us at the same time. Within these final resting places lie many personal histories marked by myriad monuments ranging from grand architectural homages to endearing sculptures and simple gravestones. In New Orleans, the cemeteries are unique in that they are primarily built above ground. Done in part because of the city's location below sea level, this type of burial is also a common practice rooted in the area's Latin culture tradition. Witness this for yourself with over 200 photographs accompanied by an illuminating narrative of some of the most intriguing burial sites of the Crescent City.

Join author Catherine Campanella as she recounts the history of one of the country's largest city parks located in New Orleans, Louisiana.

City Park's 1,300 acres cradle the largest collection of mature live oaks in the nation. Established in 1854, it is one of the country's largest urban parks (457 acres larger than New York's City's Central Park and two years older) and contains the highest earthen elevation in New Orleans. City Park has welcomed as many as 11 million visitors per year who walk among 50 species of trees, including bald cypress, southern magnolia, and pine, and the thousands of ancient southern live oaks. At one mile wide and three miles long, the park's 11 miles of lagoons (the largest in the shape of Lake Pontchartrain) are stocked with a variety of fish. Neoclassical, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Arts and Crafts, Mission, and modern architecture complete City Park. It is a precious and beloved jewel.

Mix yourself a Hurricane and see New Orleans through a glass of rum.

Like a drunken Mardi Gras parade, the history of New Orleans lurches from electrifying highs to heart-rending lows. Through it all, good drink was a constant - especially rum. The victory at the Battle of New Orleans was sealed with a barrel of rum, and a half-hearted implementation of Prohibition a century later certainly didn't dampen the city’s spirits. From priests making tafia to modern delights like Old New Orleans and Bayou, rum has always been an integral part of the funky, sultry, crazy story of the Crescent City. Longtime historian and writer Mikko Macchione presents a witty and informative history of the city and its love affair with the sweetest of liquors.

Today three towns and five villages are located in north Caddo Parish, while the memories of 10 historic communities remain strong.

In 1835, the United States purchased close to one million acres of land from the Caddo Confederacy of Native Americans; the Louisiana portion became known as Caddo Parish. The Indian agency's protection of that land delayed the settlement of the parish for 25 years or more after it began in other parts of Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. The Red River logjam that existed for a few hundred years backed up bayous, which in return created navigable streams and lakes. The uplands contained massive stands of virgin timbers and bountiful fruit, berries, fish, and game. The first land patents were sold in 1841, and by 1850, the area was known as Caddo Prairie. For a majority of the next 100 years, steamboat traffic, homesteaders, plantations, subsistence farmers, logging operations, entrepreneurs, and a building boom brought on by the railroad and oil industries uniquely melded to define local, cultural history.

Opelousas, one of Louisiana’s oldest European settlements, takes its name from the Opelousas tribe, who roamed the area for years before the first French explorers arrived.

After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the community was called Opelousas Church until it was officially incorporated as a town in 1821. Known for its hospitality, music, cuisine, and cultural diversity, Opelousas prospered during antebellum times, survived the Civil War, and suffered through the period of Reconstruction. In the late 1870s, the town again began to flourish with an increasing population and a great number of new businesses. The coming of the railroad in the 1880s led to more economic development, and Opelousas grew to be one of the most progressive towns in the state by the turn of the 20th century. In the 21st century, Opelousas is again seeing a revival of its past glory and continues to be the seat of Imperial St. Landry Parish, a title it has held for over 200 years.

Carola Lillie Hartley, a native of Opelousas, has worked for the city as tourism director and in 1993 became the first Opelousas Main Street director. A community activist and local historian for over 50 years, she has written numerous books and articles about Opelousas, including a weekly column titled Parlons Opelousas for the Daily World newspaper, part of the USA network.

For those that call the one of the oldest settlements in Acadia Parish home, there is so much more to the community than meets the eye. The development of Rayne as it grew from Pouppeville to Rayne Station to an important hub for the frog, rice, and cotton markets played an important role in establishing a very unique cultural foundation. Influences of a multitude of heritages, including French and German, have driven Rayne's evolution in economics, politics, and architecture, as well as its its rich musical roots.

In this captivating collection of vintage images, the history of navigation on the Red River unfolds.

Known by the French settlers of the eighteenth century as the Fleuve Rouge, the Red River boasts a fascinating history in Louisiana. It is the state's historic highway along which plantations were built, and upon which their wares went to the great markets of New Orleans and the rest of the world.  Flowing some 1,300 miles through four states, the Red River is the eighth-longest river in the continental United States. Despite numerous disasters, regular navigation occurred on the river for over a century. Huge craft loaded with North Louisiana cotton plied the river between Shreveport and New Orleans, and packet steamers carried mail and passengers to dozens of stops along the river's path. The showboats traveling along the river brought a new form of entertainment to the cities and towns that lined its banks. Included in this volume are views spanning the Great Raft, the opening of the river to navigation and commerce, the role the river played in the Civil War, and the twilight of commercial steam navigation. The first photographic tribute to the river ever published, Red River Steamboats captures a bygone era in Louisiana's history.

Rare and vintage images document the fascinating history of Louisiana's Shreveport, from its settlement in the early nineteenth century to its modern day importance.

Shreveport, Louisiana, is a town with a history as fascinating as it is long. From the settlement of the area at the start of the nineteenth century, through the city's founding in 1836, to Shreveport's role as state capital during the Civil War, up until its present-day role as one of Louisiana's leading cities, figures ranging from snagboat operators to Huey P. Long have worked, lived, and played in this city by the Red River.

In St. Landry Parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for three centuries to produce zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people.

St. Landry Parish, one of the oldest European settlements in Louisiana, has a fascinating history and culture. By the 15th century, the Appalousa Indians were known to be in residence. In 1720, the French established le Poste des Opelousas. Traditionally an area of settlement by French Creoles and Acadians, the parish was named for St. Landry, an early bishop of Paris. In the late 1700s, les gens de couleur libres (free people of color) began arriving to take advantage of Spanish land grants. Soon, the government post developed into a commercial center. In the present-day parish, Native American, European, African, and Acadian cultures have melded for almost three centuries to produce world-famous zydeco music, great food, and welcoming people. It celebrates its heritage at the Creole Heritage Folklife Center, one of the destinations on the Louisiana African American Heritage Trail.

Louisiana is perhaps best known for its distinctive French heritage, a legacy visible in the street names and architecture around the state.

The truth is, Louisiana has one of the most culturally diverse populations in the nation, with not only French and Anglo-American settlers, but the Native Americans who lived there already, and the enslaved Africans the new colonists brought with them into Louisiana Territory. A chapter of Louisiana history that tends to be forgotten however, is when the area fell to Spanish control in the late 1700s. Coaxed by promises of new opportunity, thousands of Canary Islanders of Spanish descent relocated to Louisiana, where they established four settlements. Generations of Isleños, that is the ethnic group of descendants from the Canary Islands who have intermarried with other communities, have overcome the challenges of an evolving American society, as well as the devastation of storms that have ripped through their land. Through it all, the Isleños have preserved their unique heritage, traditions and culture for more than two centuries.

In The Jewish Community of Shreveport the rich history of this influential and vibrant citizenry is chronicled by well-known Louisiana historian Eric J. Brock, archivist of Shreveport's B'nai Zion Temple. Nearly 18 decades of Jewish life in Shreveport are depicted in over 200 vintage images, many of which are previously unpublished. Both of the city's synagogues, B'nai Zion and Agudath Achim, are represented, as are many of the rabbis, business leaders, political leaders (including three mayors), and laypeople from the community's long history.

Fear, rumor and white supremacist ideals clashed with an unprecedented labor action spawned an epic tragedy.

On November 23, 1887, white vigilantes gunned down unarmed black laborers and their families due to strikes on Louisiana sugar cane plantations. A future member of the U.S. House of Representatives was among the leaders of a mob that routed black men from houses and forced them to a stretch of railroad track, ordering them to run for their lives before gunning them down. According to a witness, the guns firing in the black neighborhoods sounded like a battle. Author and award-winning reporter John DeSantis uses correspondence, interviews and federal records to detail this harrowing true story.

Discover the rich heritage and history of Union Parish, Louisiana as preserved by local author W. Gene Barron.

In the late 1830s, prominent local settlers Peter J. Harvey, John Taylor, Col. Matthew Wood, Philip Feazle, Daniel Payne, Stephen Colvin, and Mills Farmer of upper Ouachita Parish Wiley Underwood petitioned the Louisiana Legislature for the creation of a new parish. Created by the legislature on May 13, 1839, it was given the name Union, supposedly because Daniel Webster stated, Liberty and union, now and forever, one and inseparable. By the 1850s, settlers streamed into the parish from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most came by steamboat, landing at a point on the Ouachita River, which became known as the Alabama Landing since many Alabamians arrived there. Agriculture always dominated the Union Parish economy, evolving from cotton and corn in the 1840s to the 1950s to cattle, timber, and poultry today

Using materials from the vast university archives in the Edith Garland Dupré Library, Drs. Zachary G. Stein and Michael S. Martin trace the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's dynamic history.

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette) welcomed its first classes in 1901. Originally a vocational school, the Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, it has since grown in physical size from a small parcel of former farmland to a campus of more than 1,300 acres and a student population of a handful of students to over 19,000 enrollees. Under the leadership of six presidents across more than 120 years, UL Lafayette’s students and faculty have overcome devastating adversities and ushered in dynamic changes. They provided relief amid the Great Flood of 1927, built military training programs during World War II, and developed among the nation’s earliest computer science labs and classes. Dozens of Black students made history in 1954 by being the first cohort to desegregate a previously all-white public college in the Deep South. Today, as an R1 institution, UL Lafayette continues to expand its reach through pathbreaking research, technological and environmental innovation, and dedication to its region’s unique cultures and history.