Thursday, August 20, 2009

Latter Day Saints Affiliate Library Program

The Bossier Parish Library Historical Center is pleased to announce that we are a FamilySearch Affiliate Library. Our patrons now have access to over 2.4 million rolls of microfilm and 727,000 microfiche of microfilmed genealogical records spanning the globe.

The cost to borrow a reel of microfilm is $5.50 to cover the use of the microfilm for 30 days, and the mailing costs to our library and then back to FamilySearch. Microfiche can be borrowed at the rate of 15 cents per fiche card.

This is a great opportunity to search records that might solve your genealogical challenges.

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish



Photo of a community Christmas party in 1949 at Bossier High School.
Local residents have fond memories of local produce, but exotic oranges were special enough to be tempting Christmas presents.

1998.047.201 Photo by Bacon’s Studio; Bossier Chamber of Commerce Collection


Bossier Parish Food 1910's - 1960's

An exhibit coming soon to the Plain Dealing branch library


Eating across the food groups without going to the store, cont...

Fruits and Veggies - Some of the fondest food memories of people who grew up in the country in Bossier Parish are of fresh vegetables and fruit. If residents had a garden when they were growing up, they would point out how well they ate and that they always had enough to eat. They can yearningly list what came out of their gardens: Melons, turnip greens, cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn and peas. Their mothers would cook from the garden "whatever they had a mess of"and would also preserve food to last them through the year.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish


An exhibit coming soon to the Plain Dealing branch library

Hardly a local memoir goes by without mention of food – how it was grown, processed and prepared at home, deliciously fresh and plentiful. The price of it was an entire family’s labor, supplemented by the efforts of a whole community. Bossier Parish residents could eat across the food groups without going to the store.

Meat – Bacon, sausage or ham was for breakfast, a slice of meat between biscuit halves was for lunch and for dinner it was ham, hamburger or chops. Since one cow could feed eight families, and the meat would go bad before consumed by a single family, neighbors formed “beef clubs”. Members took turns slaughtering a cow each week. People also raised their own hogs and chickens and supplemented these with fish, squirrel or hogs taken from the woods. Plain Dealing folks could bring their meat to the Food Preservation Center at Plain Dealing High School and get their meat canned and cured. The best cured meat could win a prize at the Bossier Parish Fair, usually held in Plain Dealing, from 1906 to the 1940’s. Next post: Fruits and Veggies

Photo: Unidentified squirrel hunters from the Beulah Findley Collection of Plain Dealing and North Bossier Parish photos by John Allen

Friday, August 7, 2009

Pioneer School


This is the Pioneer School in Plain Dealing, Louisiana. According to a 20 April 1944 Bossier Banner article by JT Manry, the school was built in the 1890s by SJ Zeigler. The article contains Miss Aletha Vaughn Montgomery's recollections of the school,
"I thought the building was quite beautiful. And it really was when compared with the other buildings in our section of the country, at a time when even homes were built for use, with little regard for beauty, comfort, or convenience."

We have the original Second Annual Catalogue of the Pioneer High School for the 1903 school year. School didn't start for those Plain Dealing children until September 2. The catalogue gives a brief history of the school. A sixty foot wing was added to the building in 1902, making the Pioneer School
"the finest school building in Bossier Parish and one of the finest buildings for a small town in Louisiana."

In our collections you can also find the Fourth Annual Catalogue, which is from the 1905 school year. Tuition was free to all children in Bossier Parish and enrollment grew to 157 students. The purpose of the school was
"to develop good, honest, intelligent citizens; to thoroughly cultivate those qualities of head and heart that make the true gentleman and the true lady."

To find out more about the Pioneer School, please search our online collections database. This image has an object identification number of 2003.004.012.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Back to School

School is just around the corner for Bossier Parish. We'll be including some images of school days past while our current students get back into their classroom routine.

This photo shows Haughton High School transfers (known today as school buses) loaded with students. About 200 children rode the transfers to school and back home again. The ride was probably a little bumpy!