Manuscripts Department

The Manuscripts Department, a department within Tulane University's Special Collections Division, is one of Louisiana's older research archives. On May 3, 1889, Mrs. L. Dolhonde presented to the Charles T. Howard Memorial Library a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to M. duPlantier of New Orleans. That single-page letter marked the beginning of what is now the Tulane Manuscripts Department.

In the years since that inaugural donation, we have become one of Louisiana's premier research archives. Our constantly expanding holdings currently comprise more than three linear miles of documents organized into more than 4,000 collections. Our holdings are open to all. We look forward to your visit with us.

• Confederate President Jefferson Davis
• Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston
• Southern authors John Kennedy Toole and George W. Cable
• Louisiana governors Sam Jones and David Treen

• New Orleans mayors deLesseps Morrison and Victor Schiro
• Members of Congress Hale Boggs, Lindy Boggs, F. Edward Hebert, and Bob Livingston
• Medical pioneers Rudolph Matas and Bernard Weinstein,and many, many others.

• Click for a Listing of Finding Aids Available Online •

Reviewing our guidelines before visiting will help you better plan your time with us. Of special note are our:

• photocopy policy (which explains the damage photocopying inflicts on documents), and
   
• our information about how to handle original documents.

Out of town guests should be particularly careful to schedule sufficient time to do research.

We work hard to make our holdings available in as comfortable and convenient a manner as possible. In return, we ask researchers to conduct their research here, not merely request photocopies to read somewhere else. Because photocopying damages documents, we provide photocopies only to augment research, not replace it.

We do not have the staff to reproduce holdings that are easily accessible, nor would we if we could, because the damage from photocopying is cumulative and irreversible. Therefore, we will not provide photocopies solely for the purpose of conducting research with them elsewhere. Before requesting a photocopy, please make a good faith effort to read and take notes from it first. Do not hesitate to let us know if you have any questions about our use guidelines.
 

• ... at Tulane. Did you know Tulane has seven archives? Explore them all here.
   
• ... in New Orleans. There are almost thirty research archives in the Crescent City.
   
• ...in Louisiana. Browse the Louisiana Archives and Manuscripts Association's directory of archives.

• ... throughout the United States. This subscription to ArchivesUSA, is available only to members of the Tulane community.
   
• ... around the world. From here you can surf to every archival resource in the metaverse.

The Tulane Manuscripts Department has a program to teach students and others how to use archival materials for class papers, theses, and dissertations.

We will also provide a speaker for your social or civic group who can talk on a variety of topics, including archives, history, the Civil War, the Internet, and more. For more information, to arrange for a speaker, or to discuss our teaching program, please call 504-865-5685.
 

• To preserve our past for future generations, the Tulane Manuscripts Department depends on the help of persons such as yourself.  If you know of  letters, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, or other documents illuminating Louisiana's past, please contact us so we can help ensure that they are preserved. We can also work with your social, civic, fraternal, or professional organization to preserve its minutes, reports, and other organizational records.
   
• Our more prominent collecting specialties are Louisiana politics, the Civil War, medicine, Carnival, Jewish studies, social welfare, civic and fraternal organizations such as Masonic Lodges and historical societies, women's studies, waterways, and Southern literature, but we can help preserve almost any subject relating to Louisiana. We would also be grateful for donations of Louisiana brochures, pamphlets, flyers, campaign literature,  menus, and books. For materials that might fall outside of our collecting criteria, we can work with you to find a more appropriate professional archival, library, or museum facility.

The Society of American Archivists, the world's oldest and largest professional archival organization, has prepared several resources to help donors understand archival work and the issues involved in donating to archives:

Original 1882 watercolor float design
for the Carnival Krewe of Proteus.

Click the image to see the original drawing and to
learn more about the 1882 Proteus Carnival parade and ball.

Special Collections
is a division of
Howard-Tilton Memorial Library

Wednesday, January 11, 2006 04:07 PM
We welcome your comments and suggestions.