New Orleans 1997
Local Arrangements
Leadership/Committees Special Events SOHO Officers Tours Historic New Orleans Collection Meals Featured Speakers Lodging Exhibits Travel Tips President's Welcome
Thirty years ago, the Oral History Association held its first official meeting at Arden House in New York state. The organization of a group dedicated to exploring the potential of memory and personal testimony was a difficult challenge. It required bringing together people in many disciplines within the university, and it meant providing a forum where academic scholars and community-based historians could meet and discuss on equal terms the methodological questions uniting them. There was little official recognition, but the rewards of the effort lay in the unusual discussions that were possible when people working in oral history came together to share their work and thoughts.
Exploration and friendly discussion have remained the nature of this field and of this organization. All of us who have worked to put together this year's meeting in New Orleans hope that you will find the panels and papers stimulating. As important to the culture of our group, we want you to feel invited into an ongoing conversation now in its fourth decade. In our efforts to reach out to all who work in the oral history-related work, we have expanded international participation to new levels. Recognizing that scholarship crosses national boundaries, we have increased the number of sessions bringing together researchers from different countries.
I want to give special thanks to program cochairs Alphine Jefferson of the College of Wooster and Steven J. Novak of the University of California, Los Angeles. They put in many hours to assure that the program would offer something for everyone's interests in our very interdisciplinary field. Ably assisted by Tracy K'Meyer and Paul Karlstrom, they sifted through many fine proposals and then thought long and hard about how speakers could go together in thought provoking ways.
Local arrangements chair Pamela Dean of Louisiana State University assembled a wonderful group of New Orleans and Louisiana residents who have worked to make this a smoothly run meeting. They have contributed their expertise on this unusual city and its surrounding region so that we can savor the unique nature of our meeting site. Thanks to them we will be enjoying an evening of Cajun music and dancing Saturday night after dinner. All those registered for the meeting are welcome to attend the concert and dance whether they have dinner or not.
This year's meeting is cosponsored by the Southern Oral History Organization (SOHO). Their officers and members have contributed to every phase of the program. Thanks to their efforts, much of this year's program deals with the life and culture of the region.
On behalf of the council and officers of the Oral History Association, I am delighted to welcome you to this meeting and trust that you will come away with new ideas about your own work.
Richard Cándida Smith
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OHA Leadership
Paul Karlstrom, Smithsonian Institution
Tracey E. K'Meyer, University of Louisville
Mark Cave, Historic New Orleans Collection
Sailor Jackson, Old State Capital Center for Political and Governmental History
Al Kennedy, New Orleans Public Schools
Karen Leathem, Louisiana State Museum
Alfred Lemon, Historic New Orleans Collection
Bruce Raeburn, Tulane University
Dorothy Schlesinger, Friends of the Cabildo
The Oral History Association gratefully acknowl edges the following organizations and institu tions in providing support for program and local arrangements:
The Southern Oral History Organization (SOHO), which is cosponsoring this year's meeting, held its first organizational meeting in 1992 at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association. After another organizational meeting in Charlottesville, Virginia, SOHO officially got off the ground at the 1993 Oral History Association meeting in Birmingham. At that time, SOHO became an regional affiliate of the OHA. Since then, SOHO has held four annual meetings, and begun publication of a semi-annual newsletter. SOHO members have played an active role in the OHA as well.
The Historic New Orleans Collection was established in 1966 by General and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams, private collectors of Louisiana materials, to keep their collection intact and to make available for research and exhibition to the public. It is supported by the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation. Housed in a complex of historic buildings in the French Quarter are administrative offices and a museum, which include the Williams Gallery for changing exhibitions; ten galleries illustrating the history of the city, state, and Gulf South; the Williams Residence, a house museum; and a gift shop. The Williams Research Center, which opened in 1996 at 410 Chartres Street, makes available to researchers the collection's holdings which comprise approximately 14,000 volumes, 9,000 pamphlets, 5,700 linear feet of documents and manuscripts, a microfilm col lection, and approximately 300,000 photographs, prints, drawings, and paintings.
The Oral History Association's Presidential Reception will be held in the main complex of historic buildings, dating from 1792, located at 533 Royal Street. Tours of the recently completed Williams Research Center will be available for members attending the annual meeting on Friday, September 26 at 10:00 and 3:30. The tours of the research center, located in a Beaux Arts style building completed in 1915 to house the original Second City Criminal Court and Third District Police Station, will be limited to twenty-five participants. Fidelity to the surviving historic fabric was a watchword of the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation's restoration of the building for adaptive reuse. Minimal exterior alterations to some windows and doors--necessary to provide improved facilities for scholarship and double the collection's vault space for some eighty tons of research materials--were made after careful consideration of the original design.
The featured exhibition in the Williams Gallery for the Presidential Reception will be Les Images d'Epinal en Louisiane: Overture to Theatrical Prints, an exhibition of nineteenth-century images created by the Pellerin Company of Epinal, France, combined with related artifacts from the theatrical traditions of New Orleans.
Thursday, September 25, 5:30 p.m.
Michel-Rolph Trouillot
Michel-Rolph Trouillot is a professor of anthropology at John Hopkins University. He is the author of three books in English, Peasants and Capital: Dominica in the World Economy (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 1988), Haiti, State Against Nation: The Origins and Legacy of Duvalierism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1990), and Silencing the Past: Power and the Production of History (Boston: Beacon Press, 1995). Trouillot's most recent work considers the history of Haiti from colonial times through present day. He has traced the growing separation of the state from the rest of political and civil society, an alienation that reached its peak under the Duvalier regimes, when the country divided into two camps, the "authorities" and the "others." One review has noted that Trouillot's work expressed a call to integrate "the soul of Haiti--its peasantry--into the nation's political life." He is the author of the first history of Haiti to be written in Krio, the language spoken by 95 percent of the nation. Since most Krio speakers are illiterate, their exposure to Trouillot's book has come in community meetings where it is read out loud. In his talk, Trouillot will discuss how orality has shaped the popular imagination of Haiti's history, from colonial times to the recent presidential elections. In Haiti, understanding the nature of an oral-based historical consciousness is necessary for listening to the voice of a nation.
Friday, September 26, 12:00 noon
John Maginnis
John Maginnis, who has been writing about Louisiana politics since Edwin Edwards' first year in the Governor's Mansion, 1972, will endeavor to explain the state's unique brand of politics. Huey Long set the mold in the thirties but Edwards has been the quintessential practitioner of the art for over twenty-five years. Maginnis publishes a weekly newsletter and a syndicated column on Louisiana Politics. He is the author of The Last Hayride, (a tale of when Louisiana politics was still fun) and Cross to Bear (the 1991 race from Hell), about the campaign for governor between Edwards, former governor Buddy Roemer and former Klansman David Duke, and often comments on Louisiana politics for the national media. He is currently writing a book on the politics of gambling.
Friday, September 26, 6:00 p.m.
"Recovering the Denied Past: Lessons from South Africa"
The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to recover and acknowledge the truth about the nation's past. The TRC, under chair Desmond Tutu, hears testimony from South Africans from all walks of life, telling their personal stories of the human violations they suffered under apartheid. Those who committed the violations also appear before the commission, seeking amnesty through their stories. The hearings are open to the public and are recorded by television and radio stations. Through oral history, South Africans are now learning the truth about their past.
In this session, Lindy Wilson, South African documentary filmmaker, will blend film footage with lecture in discussing the TRC. Wilson has used her documentary films to give voice to the illiterate and the banned in her country. Her films have appeared in festivals and on television in the U.S. and Europe. Wilson's most recent film, A Traveling Song, explores ways in which history will be told in the future and asks who will tell the new stories.
Two Americans will offer context for Wilson's presentation. Paul Gaston, professor of history at the University of Virginia, will place the TRC in historical perspective and outline some of the questions that it raises for Americans. Gaston contrasts South African assumptions about "truth telling" and national reconciliation with the American experience. Tom Dent, New Orleans poet, playwright, oral historian, and independent scholar, will analyze the meaning of Wilson's presentation for Americans, especially Southerners, in the 1990s.
Exhibits by publishers, equipment vendors, transcribers, oral history programs, and state and regional organizations will be in the Foyer and Evangeline A, B, and C from Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. through Saturday at 12:00 noon. Conference participants are invited to browse through the exhibits.
Opening Reception
Thursday, September 25, 9:30 a.m.
Everyone registered for the conference is invited to attend the opening reception on Thursday, September 25, from 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. in the Evangeline Suite on the lobby level of the Royal Sonesta.
Presidential Reception
Thursday, September 25, 7:00 p.m.
Everyone registered for the conference is invited to attend the Presidential Reception on Thursday, September 25, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at the Historic New Orleans Collection, 553 Chartres Street, a short distance from the Royal Sonesta. Directions will be provided in the registration packet.
Dinner Groups
Friday, September 26, 8:00 p.m.
Food and music, music and food, they are the essence of New Orleans. So Friday night local hosts will take you to their favorite restaurants, and/or night spots, the places tourists don't always find. We'll offer a variety of types of food--vegetarian to seafood to Soul food to Cajun to haute Creole--with a range of prices as well. Check your registration packets for further information and look for the sign-up sheets at the registration desk. Dinner groups will depart from the Old Mint Museum, 400 Esplanade Ave., following Lindy Wilson's presentation.
Awards Dinner
Saturday, September 27, 7:00 p.m.
At the dinner on Saturday evening, September 27, OHA will present awards for an outstanding book using oral history, an outstanding nonprint media project using oral history, and to a distinguished precollegiate educator. For those not attending the dinner, the program will begin at approximately 8:00.
Fais Do Do
Saturday, September 27, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday night, following the banquet, we'll dance the night away to the music of Kristi Guillory and Reveille, among Louisiana's hottest young performers of traditional-style Cajun music and one few groups of any age led by a woman.
Silent Auction
A silent auction will be held throughout the conference to benefit the Oral History Association's Endowment Fund. The items being auctioned will be on display near the conference registration desk. We've got lots of goodies for you to bid on this year, including two tickets to the House of Blues; posters of jazz greats and Mardi Gras Indians; books on New Orleans arts and architecture, including one on Newcomb College pottery ; a week in January in a beach-front in Vero Beach, Florida; an autographed copy of a first edition of T. Harry Williams' Pulitzer prize-winning biography Huey Long; and many other great items.
Saturday, September 27
To enhance your appreciation of New Orleans and its environs, OHA is offering tours to conference participants. Limited space on these tours makes preregistration necessary. Reservations may be made by marking the appropriate slot on the preregistration form (available from OHA_Support@Baylor.edu). All tours leave from the hotel lobby.
Louisiana can be quite warm in late September and all tours involve some walking and/or time outdoors. We suggest that you wear light, loose clothing and comfortable walking shoes for all tours. Sunglasses, sunscreen, and umbrellas are useful accessories; on any given day in Louisiana you'll need them all.
Please note that OHA reserves the right to cancel tours with insufficient preregistration. Written notification of any cancellation will be mailed prior to the conference.
African Americans in New Orleans Walking Tour
12:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
New Orleans' unique above-ground cemeteries will be the starting point of an exploration of the roles of African Americans and Creoles of Color in the city's history and culture. The tour will include visits to Congo Square, Louis Armstrong Park, the site of Voodoo queen Marie Laveau's house, and a sincere Voodoo temple.
Cost: $10 (includes guide)
Honey Island Swamp Tour
12:45 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Venture into the interior of one of the wildest and most pristine river swamps in America and the Nature Conservancy's first Louisiana Nature Pre serve. Tour guide Dr. Paul Wagner, a wetland ecologist, uses small boats that allow access deep into the swamp interior. Resident and migratory wildlife we may see include alligators, bald eagles, herons, raccoon, otter, beaver, mink turtle, and frogs.
Cost: $35 (includes round-trip transportation and admission)
Laura Plantation
1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Built in 1805 and headed by women for eighty-four years, Laura Plantation is one of the oldest and largest existing plantation complexes in the area. It has twelve historic buildings, including two manor houses, slave quarters, and Creole cottages. The tour is based on 5,000 pages of documents from the Archives Nationals de Paris, and Laura Locoul's "Memoires of my Old Plantation Home."
Cost: $32 (includes round-trip transportation and admission to Laura Plantation)
Garden District Walking Tour
1:00 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Ride the St. Charles Streetcar to the fabled Garden District, the "American sector," which was developed after 1830. See this beautiful antebellum neighborhood with its Greek revival mansions; hear the stories of its early residents; and visit a private home where you'll meet the present owner who'll tell us the history of the house.
Cost: $16 (includes streetcar fare and guide from Friends of the Cabildo)
French Quarter Walking Tour [wheelchair accessible]
1:15 p.m. - 4:15 p.m.
A memorable walk through one of the oldest communities in the United States, the historic Vieux Carre. Tour emphasizes the history, folklore, and architecture of the Quarter and includes visits to two private courtyards.
Cost: $15 (includes tour guide from Friends of the Cabildo)
Several meals are included as a part of the program, with speakers and awards presentations as noted in the program. A meal package is available or meal tickets may be purchased individually. The program following each meal is open to all conference registrants.
The meal package ($110) includes lunch on Thursday, lunch on Friday, dinner on Saturday, and a continental breakfast on Sunday.
Both the package and individual tickets for meals are available through preregistration only. No meal tickets will be sold on site.
Hotel Accommodations
The Royal Sonesta Hotel New Orleans at 300 Bourbon Street will serve as the conference hotel for the 1997 annual meeting. Room rates (excluding tax) are $100 single/double. Reservations may be made by phone (504) 586-0300, fax (504) 586-0335, or by mailing a printed reservation form available from the OHA office. When phoning or faxing a reservation, take advantage of the special room rates offered by indicating that you are attending the Oral History Association annual meeting.
To obtain conference rates, reservations must be made by August 24, 1997.
Alternate Accommodations
We have also reserved a block of rooms at the Dominican Conference Center, 540 Broadway. This is on the St. Charles streetcar line, in a wonderful neighborhood just two blocks from Audubon Park. $30 single; $25 per person for a double. To reserve a room call 504-861-8711 and ask for Charlotte Ewing. Be sure to mention that you are a part of the Oral History Association meeting. Reservations should be made by September 10, 1997.
Days Inn-Canal: (504) 586-0110 or (800) 232-3297, phone; (504)581-2253 FAX. Located at the opposite end of Canal Street from the Quarter, about a 15 minute bus ride. One bed, $95; two beds, $105.
Marquette House New Orleans International Hostel: (504) 523-3014, phone; (504) 529-5933, FAX. One block from the St. Charles streetcar line. $16.29 plus tax.
Bed & Breakfast, Inc.- Reservation Service: (504) 488-4640, or (800) 749-4640, phone; (504) 525-4640. There are B & B's throughout the Quarter and other neighborhoods across the city. Prices vary greatly but none in the Quarter are cheap.
Childcare
The New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau recommends the following agencies for child care: Diane Lyons, Accent on Children's Arrangements ([504] 524-1227); Roseanna Nash, Conference Childcare Service ([504] 241-7321; and Jonie Freedman, Dependable Kid Care ([504] 486-4001).
Climate
The climate of New Orleans is nearly tropical: think hibiscus and palm trees. The city is located below sea level on a bend of the Mississippi River, and it is extremely humid. The average daily high temperature in September is 88 degrees Fahrenheit, with an average low of 70. Expect rainfall, from a gentle shower to a torrential downpour, on any given day. Bring light, comfortable clothing, an umbrella, and sun glasses. The hotel is located in the heart of the French Quarter, which is most easily experienced on foot, so comfortable walking shoes are essential.
New Orleans has a vast array of information for the tourist. Their web page address is: www.neworleanscvb.com.
By Air--Airfare Discounts
The OHA has made arrangements with Association Travel Concepts to handle travel for the New Orleans meeting. Flier is available from the OHA office.
Ground Transportation
Shuttle buses depart continuously from the baggage area at the New Orleans International Airport. Shuttle fare is $10 each way and can be purchased at the Airport Shuttle information desks at the airport. Taxi fare to the Royal Sonesta will be $21 each way for up to three people and $8 for each additional passenger, not to exceed five. Buses depart the airport every ten minutes during peak hours (6-9 a.m. and 3-6 p.m.) and every twenty-three minutes between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The buses arrive downtown at Tulane Avenue between Elks Place and South Saratoga Street, approximately eight blocks from the Royal Sonesta. Fare is $1.10.
By Train
New Orleans is served by AMTRAK (800-USA-RAIL). The station is at 1001 Loyola Avenue, a short cab ride from the Royal Sonesta.
By Bus
The Greyhound terminal is located at 1001 Loyola Ave, a short cab ride from the Royal Sonesta.
By Car
From the west and the airport: 1. Follow I-10 East to New Orleans Business District Exit. 2. Con tinue to follow I-10 East and follow I-10 Slidell Exit. 3. Follow I-10 to Orleans Ave./Vieux Carre Exit. 4. Take Basin St. to Conti St. and turn left. 5. Follow Conti immediately past Bourbon St. and turn right into Royal Sonesta garage.
From the east: 1. Follow I-10 to Orleans Ave./Vieux Carre Exit. 2. Take Basin St. to Conti St. and turn left. 3. Follow Conti immediately past Bourbon St. and turn right into Royal Sonesta garage.
Parking
Royal Sonesta has self-parking for $14 for guests with no charges for in-and-out access during the day. The parking rate for non-guests is $13 for 8 hours.