Bossier Parish Library Historical Center

The Winham Family

2012-01-19T14:30:00.003-06:00

Henderson Winham, foreground, and his brother Ben are shown in their Plain Dealing dry goods store in 1946.

In July of 1987, Mr. Henderson Winham, a 75 year old native and life-long resident of Plain Dealing compiled a history of the Winham Family. Derived from aged newspaper clippings, family Bible records, conversations with other family members and stories that were related to him by his grandmother, Elmina Smith Winham, the history begins with the departure in the fall of 1845 of 236 souls from Houston County, Georgia. After a long and arduous journey, the party arrived in Minden on Christmas Day where they were met by a leading merchant of Minden, John Chafee. A sumptuous Christmas dinner was enjoyed before the families proceeded on to Bellevue, then Sugar Hill the next day.

Each family left the party to settle in different parts of North Bossier Parish, with Reverend Allen Winham and his family settling near Rocky Mount. A year later he founded the Caney Creek Baptist Church, believed to be the first Baptist church in North Louisiana. Reverend Winham was also instrumental in the founding of Salem Baptist Church and Red River Baptist Church.

Recalling his grandmother Elmina with great fondness, Winham related how he prepared black gum toothbrushes for her to enjoy her dips of snuff. “… to enjoy a dip of snuff, one needs a black gum toothbrush. The way to fashion such a toothbrush is to cut a twig from a black gum tree about 3 inches long and the thickness of a kitchen match, peel the bark back 1 inch from the larger end, and then chew the end until it becomes a soft mop. Then thoroughly moisten that mop, dip it deep into that can of exotic powder, and bring it out laden with the same. Place it in the mouth, run it all around the gums; then anchor it in the back of the jaw and sit back and rock – That is pure pleasure.” As his grandmother was toothless, Winham prided himself on preparing the toothbrushes for her.

In his childhood Winham first attended the New Brushy School, and then later attended the Alden Bridge School. The original Brushy School and Church were located west of the present Sunflower Church on Highway 3 in Bossier Parish. Brother Holliday, minister of the Plain Dealing Methodist Church, was often invited to preach at the Brushy Church. He was known to readily pack his Bible and his nightshirt and spend Saturday nights with the Winhams so that he could preach at Brushy on Sunday.

Both of Winham’s parents were hard-working and God-fearing. His father was recognized as a mediator in the community to whom people frequently went for advice and help in resolving problems. A.B. and Lilla Mae Winham had 12 children, 10 of whom grew to adulthood. In this memoir Henderson Winham relates particular memories of all of them.

Winham devotes the final pages of his memoir to his own recollections of growing up in North Bossier Parish. By age 12 he had become the family chauffeur, even attempting to teach his mother to drive the 1924 T Model Ford Touring Car that his father purchased. “My mother had an earnest desire to learn to drive – she never accomplished it. I would drive out into the open pasture and turn the wheel over to her. She went about it in a very determined way, but while she was looking down trying to decide the pedal on which to place her foot, the car invariably got out of control. Some candid camera shots of her facial expressions at such times would be quite entertaining. Though Mamma could do many things, and do them well, she never mastered the Model T, and sorrowfully abandoned the attempt.”

This is a poignant memoir that reflects the lives of a North Bossier family in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To read more about them and other Bossier families, visit the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center.

Plain Dealing history

2012-01-12T12:38:00.001-06:00

An article titled "Plain Dealing — Yesterday — To-Day" appeared in the June 9, 1932 issue of The Plain Dealing Progress. The article is unsigned, but was possibly written by Rupert Peyton.

In 1888 the Cotton Belt Railroad was laid in Plain Dealing and a depot was erected. The sign for the depot bore the name “Guernshein.” Shortly after, the name was changed to Plain Dealing to perpetuate the name of the 5,000 acre plantation which covered the area where Plain Dealing was located. In the same year, lots for the town site were sold, bringing a total of $12,000. B.W. Boggs was elected Plain Dealing’s first mayor when the town was incorporated in 1890. Fire destroyed the town twice, once in 1903 and again in 1906.

Early Plain Dealing merchants and some of their businesses includedthe following: S.J. Zeigler, a general merchandise store; John J. Swindle, a drug firm; mercantile firms of Nattin & Campbell and Cavett & Doles (where the post office was located); S.J. Cochran; E.F. Kirtley and Kelly Brothers. Mr. & Mrs. Daniel Smith operated the first hotel, and the wife of Mr. Grisdale, the first railroad section foreman, operated a section rooming house.

Along with the railroad, the first school was established in 1888. The Plain Dealing Academy had an enrollment of 56 students. Classes were held in a frame building that, by 1932, had been replaced by two brick buildings with an enrollment of 700 pupils.

Plain Dealing’s first bank was founded in 1906. P.B. Holt was the editor of the first newspaper, The Plain Dealer. The first church was a Methodist church founded in 1888, with a Baptist church following closely. By 1932, a Presbyterian Church was cooperating in the spiritual development of Plain Dealing.

The 1200 residents of Plain Dealing in 1932 numbered among their businesses: the mercantile firms of W.W. Oglesby and W.H. Martin; three drug companies; The Jewell Café and The Home Bakery and Café; A.W. Heifner Hardware Company; S.J. Caldwell Motor Company; three filling stations; offices of Southern Cities Distributing Company; Southwestern Gas and Electric Company; Bell Hotel; one recreational parlor; two tailor shops; one newspaper plant; one ice plant; two gins; one wholesale house and telephone exchange. Typical village roads had been transformed into model streets including gravel and paving.

Early doctors of Plain Dealing included Dr. Davis, Dr. W.J. Baird, Dr. Blackman, Dr. W.F. Bell and Dr. T.N. Keoun.

In 1932, the oldest citizens of Plain Dealing in terms of continuous residence were Mrs. Roy Bolinger who moved to Plain Dealing with her parents when she was three years old, and W.E. Swindle who moved to Plain Dealing when he was a small boy. Next in line for the honor of oldest resident was Mrs. Mollie Banks Gray who moved to Plain Dealing in 1897.

For histories of other Bossier Parish towns and villages, visit the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center.

Cypress Masonic Lodge

2012-01-09T11:09:00.001-06:00

In the late 1950s, C.K. Wright dedicated a short publication to past brethren of Cypress Lodge No. 89. A copy of the publication tells the history of the lodge that was organized in 1849 in Benton, Louisiana.

Cypress Lodge No. 89 was the first Masonic Lodge established in Bossier Parish. When the charter for the lodge was issued in 1850, twenty-three men were members.

On June 3, 1850 James Blair Gilmer donated a one-acre lot in Collinsburg to Cypress Lodge of A.Y. Masons and the Sons of Temperance. Lodge minutes do not record that a building was ever erected on this property, so the title reverted to Gilmer, a pioneer settler of Bossier Parish.

Some of the events that are recorded in the minutes of the early lodge were the death of worthy brother Henry Clay, for whom a motion was carried appropriating ten dollars to erect a suitable monument over his remains; the annual return to the Grand Lodge on January 31, 1863 could not be forwarded by the secretary because the Grand Lodge Hall was in the hands of Union soldiers; and on February 20, 1864 the minutes noted that the Grand Lodge was still in the hands of the enemy and no communication could be established.

Minutes for September 7, 1867 noted that a motion was carried to change the meeting place of the lodge to Quality Hill in the upper story of Doles and Lambright’s store, and on October 1, 1867 a committee was appointed to make arrangements with Brother Lambright to rent that room. Even though a subsequent communication from the Grand Lodge authorized the removal of the lodge to Quality Hill, no action was ever taken. On April 4, 1868 permission was granted to move the lodge to Benton and on July 4, 1868 the Deputy District Grand Master was contacted for permission to move. Permission was given and the first meeting was held in Benton on August 29, 1868.

A site for the construction of a lodge building was acquired on April 12, 1876, and the new hall, the first home owned by the lodge itself, was completed on June 23, 1877. The lodge prospered between 1877 and 1884 but, because of a sharp decline in attendance from 1884 to 1887, the charter was forfeited on February 16, 1887. When a new charter was granted on February 12, 1890 meetings were held in a building used jointly by the Woodmen of the World, the public school, and the lodge. That building was ultimately replaced by the former location of the Benton Branch of the Bossier Parish Library. Sometime between 1890 and 1901 the lodge occupied a building located adjacent to the 1958 site. When a fire destroyed that building, communication was held in the lodge of the Knights of Pythias in Alden Bridge while a new building was being constructed. The 1958 site was acquired in 1901. From 1902 through 1952 the new building was used until a windstorm damaged it so badly that it was demolished.

The cornerstone to a new building was laid on April 11, 1953. The dedication was held on August 23, 1953. Five years later, in 1958, the funds for the final payment on the mortgage were paid. Besides being the oldest lodge in Bossier Parish, Cypress Lodge is presently the 22nd oldest active lodge in the state of Louisiana.

For more about Cypress Lodge #89 and other Bossier Parish history, visit the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center.

Early Christmases in Northwest Louisiana

2011-12-16T12:29:00.000-06:00

EARLY CHRISTMASES IN NORTHWEST LOUISIANA

The archives of the Historical Center hold numerous accounts of what Christmas was like in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Bossier Parish. Before the 1880s Christmas decorations were usually garlands of native Northwest Louisiana trees such as cedar, pine and holly. By the 1880s, however, many church, school and home parties featured a tree that was supported in a large jar of wet sand or by two cross pieces of heavy wood.

Christmas Eve was the traditional time for tree trimming. Individual wires held candles on tree branches, with homemade ornaments and natural items from the outdoors being the other decorations. Popcorn and whole cranberries were strung to make garlands. Sweet gum balls and pine cones were dusted with flour paste or covered with foil to add sparkle to the tree. The December 25, 1866 diary of one Northwest Louisiana homemaker told “Yesterday all busy preparing the Christmas tree and cooking for the children. We had it well filled, or hung, with beautiful presents, not one was forgotten.” On December 25, 1882 L. T. Sanders wrote in his journal “We went up early to Mary’s early, and Ibis and I went to Redland and helped all day to dress the Christmas tree, etc. That night a large crowd gathered. We had a nice tree and plenty of supper. Santa Claus distributed the presents. We had an essay on home by Mr. J. Swindle. Our children received several presents, mostly from us.”

Other Christmas decorations might include kissing bells that were made from a raw potato wrapped with wire to form a hanger. Then fresh greens and mistletoe were inserted to cover the potato and a red ribbon attached underneath. Spanish moss, magnolia leaves, ivy and fern, holly and nandina berries were used to make wreaths and garlands to be hung on doors and columns.

The tradition of Santa Claus and hanging stockings for him to fill was an established custom in this area by the 1850s. In the December 23, 1880 issue of The Bossier Banner the editor remembered how boys had envied girls their long stockings at Christmastime when he was young. In homes where stockings were not hung, Santa would fill boxes or baskets with nuts, fruit, candy and perhaps a toy or book for the children. In its December 20, 1883 issue The Bossier Banner reported that Santa Claus was at Dr. W. J. Mobley’s store in Bellevue.

Historical Center archives contain numerous other references to Santa Claus and Christmas presents. In a December 1863 letter to his wife Mattie, Thomas Fort wrote “I bought some candy and picans for Santa Claus today.” In his journal entry for December 25, 1876 L. T. Sanders documented “Gave Lee an axe as a Christmas gift as a reward for his advance in his studies and industry. He has been through the 1st Reader 3 times and is only 6 years old. He seems to appreciate the gift very much.” Three years later Sanders’ Christmas Day entry was “The children got some ‘Santa Claus.’ Jannie got a china doll. Lee had bought himself a hat. I gave Charlie one and Lee and Hattie a book, each of them. I love to encourage them to study. Lee had worked and made the money that he paid for his hat.” In 1880 and 1881respectively, Sanders wrote in his journals “… the children got apples and candy. Leon got a ball & Jannie a pair of vases;” “The children only got some candy.”

In 1987 Clare M. Nelson researched Christmas customs in Northwest Louisiana 1850-1880. In her study she noted that following a night of dancing that rarely ended before midnight, Christmas morning brought early visits from friends and family who enjoyed the eggnog offered by hosts and hostesses.

Ms. Nelson also related that the main Christmas meal was served at mid-day. It included the usual fare of meat, vegetables, relishes, chow-chow, cucumber pickles and pickled peaches. Cornbread and beaten biscuits were eaten with butter churned at home. Oysters were a special Christmas treat, often brought as a gift to the hostess. Desserts would include cakes, puddings and pies. As an example of the ingenuity of these pioneers, “vinegar pie” would be made when no fruit was available or affordable. Such pies were said to have tasted remarkably like lemon pie. Because of their extravagant price of ten cents each, coconuts were a special Christmas present. After the milk had been drained from the coconut and the meat grated for a cake, even the shell was carefully saved and used as a dipper bowl or an ornament for the house.

Whatever your decorations and gifts and whatever is on your Christmas dinner menu this 2011 Christmas, all of us at the Historical Center wish you the happiest Christmas ever!

Open House on December 9th

2011-12-01T11:01:00.002-06:00

Our Holiday Open House is next Friday! Join us on the 9th from 1 - 3 at the History Center for refreshments, live music by Allen Smith, and lots of holiday cheer. View our exhibit about Christmas stamps, read Christmas and New Year's cards from the 1940s, and see beautiful handmade ornaments. Everything is free!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-21T10:53:00.001-06:00

The Historical Center will close at 7 pm this Wednesday and will remain closed Thursday and Friday. We will resume our normal hours on Saturday. Have a happy Thanksgiving!

1953 Bossier High School band trip

2011-11-14T15:34:00.001-06:00

This October, we received an interesting donation of material of the Bossier High School band from the early 1950s. This donation included a photograph of the 1954-1955 band, two recordings of the band’s performance at a Natchitoches festival, a program for the 1953 cadet and concert band spring concert, and a scrapbook that chronicles the BHS band’s trip to Chicago. The scrapbook provides a wealth of information about the band’s trip in 1953.

The Bossier High School band, which was under the direction of Mr. Kenneth L. Green, attended the Lions International convention in July of 1953. The band was selected by the Louisiana Lions Clubs to represent our state in competition with dozens of other bands from across the nation, as well as from foreign countries. The band participated in a parade down Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago and won second place in the 56 band competition. The musicians then completed an eleven day educational tour on their bus trip back to Bossier. The band performed additional concerts on their journey, including one at baseball stadium Comiskey Park, where the Chicago White Sox played the Cleveland Indians. The students traveled to Director Green’s hometown of Michigan City, MI, then to Toronto, Canada, and Niagara Falls. The band then went to Cincinnati, OH and made their final stop in Savannah, TN before returning home. A group of band mothers raised funds for the journey.

Preschool archaeology

2011-10-25T11:04:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, Bossier Central Library's preschool reading program is all about archaeology! Bring your little ones to the children's department Wednesday the 26th at 10 am so they can discover why and how archaeologists dig up the past. Miss Pam will teach them about "Clues in the Ground" and each child will get a magnifying glass to take home.

Sacred to the Memory exhibit open

2011-10-21T15:52:00.003-05:00

Our newest exhibit focuses on the meaning behind gravestone symbols. Learn about common symbols found on Bossier Parish headstones and grab a symbol guide to bring with you to area cemeteries. "Sacred to the Memory" will only be up through November, so be sure to visit soon.

Our Fall Festival next Friday, the 28th, from 9 - 4:30 is a perfect time to check out the exhibit! We'll also have a craft for the younger visitors - kids can make pumpkin or tombstone treat bags. Kids will definitely need that treat bag to carry their Halloween haul. We'll be passing out candy and toys. Head over to the reading garden in the Central Library for face painting, apple bobbing, pumpkin painting, and other games.

Historical archaeology program this Thursday!

2011-10-18T09:59:00.001-05:00

To celebrate Louisiana Archaeology Month, we are presenting a program this Thursday, Oct. 20th at 6 pm. in the Historical Center. Dr. George Avery, an archaeologist at Stephen F. Austin University will give a show-and-tell talk about antique bottles. Curious about a bottle you found? Bring it with you to the program and Dr. Avery will help you learn more about its history.

October is Family History Month

2011-10-17T10:10:00.003-05:00

Front row, left to right: Larry Vance, Ed Logan, Tom Land Back row, left to right: Cal Vance, Pixie Butler, Joe Adger, Bev Hill

Here is a photo that is not new to our collection, but until now had been unidentified. Local historian and History Center patron Dale Jennings solved that mystery when visiting with Caddo Parish resident Dan Logan. The men in this photo were identified by Mr. Logan’s father Buddy Logan before his death. Buddy Logan’s father, Ed Logan, is in the photo. Get those mystery family photographs identified by older relatives before they pass on, or write identifications in soft pencil on the back of pictures for future generations.

A program for Family History Month will be held at the Benton Branch of the Bossier Parish Library: On Wed. October 19, Historical Center Director Ann Middleton will present “Do You Own a Radio Set? (What Census Takers Wanted to Know 1790-1930)" Benton Branch Library, 11:30 a.m. Bring your lunch, if you wish.

Census program this Wednesday

2011-10-17T10:00:00.000-05:00

Curious about the US census records? Attend Ann Middleton's presentation "Do You Own a Radio Set?" at the Benton branch library at 11:30 this Wednesday, the 19th. She will explain what census takers wanted to know for the 1790-1930 enumerations. Learn how the census can help in your genealogy searches. Bring a brown bag lunch if you'd like!

Archaeology month events

2011-10-13T10:05:00.002-05:00

October is Louisiana archaeology month and the Historical Center is excited to highlight local cultural resources and the work of archaeologists.

We have an archaeology month scavenger hunt in the Historical Center for ages 8 - 13. Participants will search for answers in our Caddo Indian exhibits and receive prizes. Our grand prize winners for each age group will get a book about archaeology! Join the hunt anytime during the month of October.

We also have a program next Thursday, Oct. 20th at 6 pm. Dr. George Avery, an archaeologist at Stephen F. Austin University will give a show-and-tell talk about antique bottles. Curious about a bottle you found? Bring it with you to the program and Dr. Avery will help you learn more about its history.

Our collections are on ancestry.com!

2011-09-30T11:58:00.002-05:00

We are excited to announce that we are now working with ancestry.com's new Content Publisher service to convert some of our records to searchable online collections.
This service is free for us and free for our patrons! To take a look at the site and search for members of your family tree, just click here to go to the Publisher site. You can also find a link in the "important documents" menu to the right.

We have included our Bossier Banner index on the publisher site, but we also have many collections that have never been online before. These include an index to the Plain Dealing Progress, records from the Rocky Mount Presbyterian Church, Salem Baptist Church, and Red River Baptist Church, and Bossier Parish conveyances, tax rolls, wills, and probates.

Right now only text files are available on publisher, but we plan on adding images of documents and photographs. If you see the name of an individual in your family tree, please contact the Historical Center so we can send you a copy of the information you need. We'd also like to hear your comments about the publisher site and what you'd like us to add.

The Davis Theatre

2011-09-26T11:17:00.003-05:00

Photo of the Davis from Clif Cardin’s book, Images of America: Bossier Parish.

We received an inquiry about the Davis Theatre, which was located at 915 Barksdale Boulevard in the 1940s. With that basic information, we were able to begin a hunt for information. A few photographs of the theatre are in our collection, including one of an unknown woman and child standing in front of the theatre marquee. The Davis is showing a movie called “The Gold Rush”, which was a 1925 Charlie Chaplin silent film about a prospector in the Klondike Gold Rush. It was rereleased in the US in April of 1942 with a musical score and narration by Chaplin.

Historical Center staff member Laurie Dyche worked to find any newspaper articles regarding the theatre’s opening. In order to get a better idea of when the Davis opened, she checked our collection of city directories. The directory listing for the Davis also included the name of Don and Darrell George, brothers who owned and operated the theatre. A quick internet search on the George brothers resulted in the discovery of a court case involving Don George and Paramount Pictures. Paperwork for the case shows that the brothers owned the Davis from May 17, 1942 until January 1, 1947. With this new date established, Laurie looked through our microfilm collection and found the article we needed in the May 14, 1942 issue of The Planters Press, “New Davis Theatre Opens Sunday 1 p.m.” It provides a wealth of information about the motion picture house.

“The new Davis Theatre owned by Mrs. J.E. Davis [Mary Paulk Davis Gresham], a resident of Bossier City, stands as one more example of her far-sighted confidence in the future growth and development of this prosperous community. Started during the early days of the war, and completed under the trying conditions created by the all-out war effort, this theatre will probably be one of the last privately owned motion picture houses built for some years to come…Mrs. Davis and her lessee exhibitors, Messrs. Don and Darell George, have spared nothing in an effort to give the people of Bossier Parish one of the country’s finest small theatres.” The article describes every inch of the new theatre building that was designed by Peyton and Annan Architects with building contractor A.J. LeVasseur. The Davis was air-conditioned, equipped with fire prevention devices, and could seat 702. “The attraction sign of blue and cream porcelain enamel, opal glass, three-dimensional aluminum changeable letters, and Neon tube lighting forms the central feature above the marquee.” The lobby was painted light coral and maroon with gold light fixtures. The Planters Press article ends by writing “everyone in Bossier appreciates the addition of this institution of education and amusement and will attend regularly.”

If you have memories of the Davis Theatre, please let us know! We would love to have more information about the Davis and other entertainment venues in the Bossier area, like the Southland Theatre (also on Barksdale Boulevard). If you are willing to share your photographs, antiques, or stories with the Historical Center, please contact Marisa at 746-7717.

Adley's Grocery

2011-09-06T12:11:00.003-05:00

Here is one of our new acquisitions, a 1930s photograph of the interior of Adley's Grocery. Adley's was located at 901 Barksdale Boulevard. You can see advertisements for Holsum Bread, Wonder Bread, Baby Ruth candy bars, Coca-Cola, and Carnation Milk. The meat counter along the back wall sold "six tasty new meat loaves" and porkchops. Do you remember Adley's Grocery or other local shops from Bossier's past? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Fold3 news

2011-09-02T09:56:00.003-05:00

Our genealogy database service previously called footnote.com is now fold3.com
A shift in content accompanies the name change. Whereas footnote.com pulled content relating to census records, city directories, and other various genealogical sources, Fold3 will focus solely on military records and stories. Fold3 aims to be "the web's premier collection of original military records." All non-military content that was searchable on footnote.com will remain on the Fold3 site, but military information will be the only new content added to the site.

All of the Historical Center's subscription services with the site remain the same. You can still access all content on Fold3 by using any Bossier Parish Library computer at any branch. For those of you with servicemen or women in your family tree, this switch to Fold3 will give you more research avenues to pursue. Of course, we still have our library subscription to ancestry.com for anyone who is looking for general genealogy content.

Bonnie & Clyde in Bossier

2011-08-31T14:33:00.002-05:00

From Ann Middleton's weekly column in the Bossier Press-Tribune:
On May 23, 1934 Bonnie Elizabeth Parker and Clyde Chestnut Barrow were ambushed by law officers and killed in Gibsland, Louisiana in Bienville Parish. From 1931-1934 the couple had led a life of crime committing robberies and murders in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, Minnesota and Louisiana.

In one of the fascinating oral histories at the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center, Mathilde Gatlin McLelland recalled that Bonnie and Clyde had visited Bear Point, her childhood plantation home in Bossier Parish a few days before they were killed:

“Almost every plantation has something special to tell about happenings there. These things are sworn to be true, and I always really thought this to be true. Frank Monroe, one of our most trusted workers, lived over by the railroad track down in a large field. [His] was the only family in that area. A little road led to the very end of the place that, where the old bears used to walk. Something happened funny that night that scared that man to death. He said that overnight a strange car came up way over in the field and he said they closed all the shutters on their door and wouldn’t even open it ‘cause they looked out and they saw a man and a woman, and they had guns everywhere. And they had this open car kind of thing, but guns everywhere. And they were out working on the guns and Frank, he was so scared that the next morning when he came down, he could hardly speak. His voice was trembling so, and he gave this description of this great big old car and so Daddy said, and he said. So two or three days [later] we saw the horrible picture in the Times where these two people were shot to death in Gibsland, Louisiana and the people that had been looking…Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker [and] the girl that accompanied [him]. And a sign is made of stone there today where they were killed. So the old Bear Point had this uninvited guest that turned around and made a little bit of bad history there. The fact is that this interesting little road that the bears crossed and that the cotton gin was on and the criminals came and that is interlocked now with Dam Number 5. It runs right into Dam Number 5.”

The oral history interview collection at the Historical Center reveals interesting and often unusual interpretations of Bossier Parish life by the people who lived it. Visit the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center to listen to or read transcripts of approximately 125 oral history interviews.

National Spirit Of ’45 Day

2011-08-12T09:07:00.006-05:00

Mrs. Bonvillion's fifth grade class in 1944 at Bossier Grammar School standing behind a small banner that proclaims "We brought the GREASE to write the PEACE." 2006.013.001

On August 14, 1945 President Harry S. Truman announced that World War II was over. Newspaper headlines across the country proclaimed victory for the United States as Japan surrendered, inciting spontaneous celebration nationwide.

In Northwest Louisiana throngs cheered the arrival of peace with joyous, noisy celebrations. The three and a half year war had cost Caddo and Bossier Parishes an estimated 1,000 casualties—some 300 of them killed, captured or missing. President Truman’s declaration of a two-day holiday closed local businesses and expressions of gratitude in church services and a city-wide service at Shreveport’s Municipal Auditorium. As soon as Shreveport received word of the surrender, all restraint was cast aside. Confetti and scraps of paper floated down from windows of office buildings, laughter and tears intermingled, car horns blared, church bells rang and firecrackers burst. Traffic did not move, gasoline rationing was forgotten, sidewalks were lined with thousands of soldiers and civilians and switchboards were swamped. Amazingly, the crowds were comparatively orderly.

Bossier’s celebration of America’s return to peace was described in The Shreveport Times issue of August 15, 1945. “From the new traffic bridge to the far reaches of the town, Bossier City last night cheered the news ‘the war is over,’ and within seconds of the official flash, Barksdale Boulevard, the city’s main thoroughfare, was a continuous string of cars, horns blowing, occupants yelling. Stores closed their doors in accord with requests of city authorities. Bars quickly closed their doors.” The war was over and Bossier City Mayor Hoffman Fuller recognized that every Bossier City citizen had cooperated to make the war effort in the city and parish a complete success.

To establish an annual day of remembrance and national renewal, August 14th has been established as “National Spirit of ’45 Day.” This Sunday will see celebrations all over the United States as we remember.

Excerpted from Ann Middleton's Bossier History column in the Bossier Press Tribune

Brrr, It's Freezing...

2011-07-22T11:04:00.007-05:00

1999.159.001 Before electric refrigerators or freezers there were 'ice boxes', food cabinets kept cold by the blocks of ice an “ice man” would deliver to Bossier residents.

Brrr, It's Freezing...

Well, not outside any way, but it sure is cold inside our new large chest freezer at the Historical Center. No, we’re not having an ice cream party - it’s potentially hidden bugs that are getting frozen! Freezing is the most accepted way by conservators to ‘decontaminate’ new collections. We love to get donations of Bossier Parish related objects, documents and photographs, but if they’ve been stored in a shed or an attic, little critters might tag along. These insects, who like to eat holes in paper or the wool fibers in a soldier’s jacket, would be ready to feast on the rest of our collection. A freeze-thaw cycle will kill the bugs and their eggs – eliminating any potential infestations.

Speaking of freezing, there was a time when a freezer and the electricity to run it would have been unobtainable to many families. The first electric service came to Bossier Parish (Bossier City) in 1912, but some rural families were still without it in the 1940’s. In the Feb. 15, 1945 Bossier Banner newspaper, Home Demonstration agent Lettie Van Landingham announced that machinery was being purchased for the Bossier Frozen Food Locker. This community freezer allowed any Bossier Parish resident to reserve space to freeze food. A similar freezer had been up and running for a year in Webster Parish. Ms. VanLandingham made this announcement during World War II when citizens were encouraged to win the war effort through gardening and raising their own food. Community freezers provided a way to extend the time that families could consume the yields of their “Victory Gardens” or home chicken coops.

70th Anniversary

2011-07-01T11:51:00.002-05:00

The Bossier Parish Library's 70th anniversary celebration was yesterday at the Historical Center. We had great attendance, including members of the Bossier Parish Police Jury and the Library Board of Control, and Bossier City Mayor Lo Walker. Thanks to everyone for coming to visit! If you missed it, you're always welcome to view the scrapbooks and photos that document the Library's 70 years - just head over to the Historical Center.

Summer Newsletter

2011-06-22T13:33:00.003-05:00

Our summer newsletter is available! Click here to read about our new summer exhibit, learn about recent donations, and find information on our upcoming September RELIC program. Be sure to read the article about the Bossier Parish Library's history - we have a 70th birthday coming up!

Teens Travel in Time

2011-06-14T13:55:00.004-05:00

"You Are Here - Travel in Time". If you’re a teen, you’re invited to go backward and forward in time this summer with the Bossier Parish Library’s Teen Summer Reading Program. The program meets every Wednesday June 15-July 13 2-4pm, but teens can go to as many or as few sessions as they want. Historically they will be diving into the 1920’s, touching on the popularity of flappers and the opening of King Tut’s tomb before traveling back to the time of the Ancient Egyptians. They’ll look ahead to 2012 and the Mayan prophecy that the world will end on December 21, 2012, and finally back again in time to a Renaissance Faire. On June 29, Local History and Outreach Specialist Pam Carlisle will be conducting a program on the history of Bossier Parish, from Caddo Indians up through at least the 1960’s, particularly from the perspective of food! They’ll even do a little cooking themselves (traveling forward in time with the use of a microwave). Teens will also learn about a Bossier Parish ‘then and now’ photography project in which they can participate. Programs will have plenty of future speculation, too, including this year’s SRP lock-in (July 8-9 from 7pm to 7am), with a theme of space, aliens, and robots. Go to www.bossierlibrary.org to see the Library Events calendar for each day’s theme. To sign up, see Tonya Oswalt, director of Young Adult Services at the Central Library or call her at 746-1693.

Bossier Parish School Yearbooks

2011-06-10T13:50:00.002-05:00

The collection of Bossier Parish School Yearbooks at the History Center is one of our most frequently used resources. However, there are many schools for which we have no yearbooks, or only a partial collection for a school. If you have yearbooks that you would like to donate, or if you know someone who might want to donate yearbooks, please contact a staff member at the History Center at 746-7717. Your donation will be greatly appreciated, and you will be contributing to the preservation of Bossier Parish history.

Billie Stevens - In Honor of Bossier Parish Library's 70th Anniversary

2011-06-08T10:01:00.004-05:00

Billie Stevens and the Bossier Parish Library Bookmobile

Wanted: Bossier Parish Librarian C. 1950. Duties include: Put buckets under leaks, cut the tops off of large cans and nail them to cover holes in the floor, order books for all the schools in the Parish (in addition to the public library books), take the bookmobile on unpaved roads to Rocky Mount (or Chalybeate Springs, Red Land, Walker’s Chapel, or Mott), help get it out of a ditch, get back to Benton and type all the records of the circulated books and magazines, present children’s story hour, write a book review of the latest gardening book for the parish garden club meetings and home demonstration clubs, paint the walls and shelves, fix the plumbing and pay son to mow the grass out of own pocket or do it yourself. Sound nearly impossible? It was all in a day’s work for Mrs. Billie Williams Stevens of Benton, who worked for Bossier Parish Libraries from 1950 to 1984 and sat for an oral history interview in 2001.

She was with the library almost from its beginning. The library started in 1940 at the urging of the Bossier High School PTA as a demonstration library by the Louisiana Library Commission (now the State Library). It relied on library assistants from the Works Progress Administration, which was a Federal employment program created by the Franklin Roosevelt administration to pull the U.S. out of the Great Depression. Bossier had never had a public library save for some books donated to the courthouse for public use. The demonstration library system allowed the parish to experience the benefits of a public library for a year-long trial period, after which the parish would choose to either to abandon the program or take over the library by accepting the state’s books and equipment. The Police Jury voted almost unanimously to adopt the library on June 12, 1941. Although the war made the library very focal as a “War Information Center”, dedicated funding for the library was thwarted by World War II. It limped along financially until 1947 when it was funded with a tax specifically for the library system.

Bossier Parish Libraries 70th Anniversary Event

2011-06-08T09:42:00.003-05:00

Bossier Parish Libraries are turning 70! On Thursday, June 30, 2011 from 11:30AM—3:30PM, Bossier Parish Library will host a reception in the History Center to celebrate 70-years of public service to the citizens of Bossier Parish. The public is invited to celebrate with us. There will be cake, cookies, coffee and lemonade. At 11:30AM a small ceremony will take place in honor of this special occasion. Please stop by, and you can check out our exhibits while you're here (including current temporary exhibits Confederate Currency, Summertime in Bossier Parish and Something Blue - Weddings in Bossier Parish).

Summer Hours

2011-06-01T16:35:00.003-05:00

Just a reminder that we have switched to our summer hours - the Historical Center now closes at 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Lorain Cooking

2011-05-05T14:23:00.008-05:00

We have a small cookbook from 1930 in our collection entitled "Lorain Cooking". The cover shows a simple red wheel, which was a revolutionary tool for the kitchen that we take for granted today. The Lorain Oven Heat Regulator with its signature Red Wheel allowed cooks to maintain a constant temperature inside the oven during any baking period. The wheel is marked at intervals of 50 degrees Fahrenheit. After setting the Red Wheel, the flow of gas is automatically reduced when the oven registers the desired temperature. Can you imagine what baking would have been like prior to the introduction of the Lorain Oven? The Red Wheel eliminated the burning of food (except for in the case of chef error!) and assured uniform results each time a recipe was cooked. The thermostat control freed cooks from watching the food as it baked.

Here are some recipes from the Lorain Cooking book.

Footnote.com is now at the Bossier Parish Library

2011-05-02T15:42:00.004-05:00

A new genealogy database has been added to others available at the Bossier Parish Library branches. While it can't be accessed remotely, you can come to any branch and search Footnote's many history and genealogy resources. Among them are the Brady Civil War photos, Confederate Amnesty Papers and Confederate Citizens Papers. Numerous newspapers, naturalization records and indexes, and city directories can be browsed. World War II and Vietnam War records are there, as well. One resource that you won't want to miss in Footnote.com is "Project Blue Book--UFO Investigations." Visit us soon (or any library branch) and take advantage of these resources and many more.

To access footnote.com, simply click here or choose the link from the menu to the right.

Spring Festival this Saturday!

2011-04-28T13:45:00.002-05:00

Visit the Louisiana Boardwalk this Saturday, April 30, from 9am - 1pm for Bossier Parish Library's Spring Festival! There will be something for everyone: games, crafts, face painting, performers, Build-a-Bear mascot, technology, Bossier history, water safety, railroad safety, door prizes - fun for the whole family!

The History booth will feature photos and information about the steamboat era along the Red River. We will also help you make your very own "Steamboat in a Cup" craft to bring home!

The festival will be under the Texas Street Bridge and it's FREE! Hope to see you there!

Talley murder

2011-04-25T12:11:00.003-05:00

We've spent some time digging deeper into the newspaper account of Elias O'Neil's murder in Shreveport. Martin Talley, Jr. shot O'Neil in April of 1871, an act of retribution for O'Neil's murder of Fred Talley, Martin's father. Fred Talley's murder occurred just 8 months earlier, in August of 1870.

Fred Talley has a violent history of his own, with the Ouachita Telegraph reporting on Talley's killing of EB Huff in November of 1866. "The difficulty originated at a gaming table." Fred Talley had nine children, but his third daughter, Lou, died at age 9 on August 10, 1870, just 7 days before Talley was fatally shot by O'Neil. Talley's wife, Elizabeth M. Fite, was left to raise her remaining 8 children alone.

According to the memorial obituary for 39 year-old Talley placed in the Southwestern on 24 August 1870, "Though fearless and calmly resolute in danger, it could never be said of him that he was a quarrelsome man; and it was a source of consolation to him in his last moments to know that he had received his death wound while acting the peacemaker."

Elias O'Neil, was confined upon the charge of killing Talley, but was supposedly too unwell to be brought into court right away. The Southwestern reports that "in the difficulty, he was several times struck on the head by a large walking cane, and as erysipelas [infection] has supervened, his physicians regard him in a somewhat critical condition." This diagnosis did not stop the trial and on the 30th of August, O'Neal was "brought before Judge Levisee to undergo a preliminary examination upon an application for bail."

According to the Southwestern's 7 Sept 1870 article, within the week, "the application to be admitted to bail by Mr. Elias O'Neal, charged with murder in killing Mr. FW Tally, was finally argued yesterday, the examination of witnesses having occupied three days. The arguments of cuonsel, pro et con, were able and exhaustive, though not so ornate and flowery as usual, being limited in time. After a lengthy, impartial, and thorough investigation, Judge Levisee decided that the accused be admitted to bail in the sum of $20,000."

Gale news

2011-04-19T10:18:00.003-05:00

Have you been using the free Gale trial to search for Bossier City or Shreveport news? We have! Here is one of the articles that we were able to find that ran in the Daily Evening Bulletin of San Francisco, CA on April 28, 1871:

TERRIBLE MURDER IN SHREVEPORT,LA.
A Young Man Kills His Father's Murderer

A correspondent of a New Orleans paper writes from Shreveport, under date of April 8th as follows:
Our usually quiet, very orderly and law abiding city was thrown into great excitement to-day about dinner time, by the discharge of two shots from a double-barreled shotgun in the hands of a wild young man, eighteen years of age, named Martin Talley, Jr., on Market Street, about a square from the Brooks House. Coming from an alley, he approached very near without speaking a word to his victim, Elias O'Neil, of Bossier Parish, and fired one barrel into his face killing him instantly; but after O'Neil fell, put the gun to his head and discharged the other barrel, charged with buckshot, completely tearing his head to pieces. By the first shot, he, it is feared, also mortally wounded Dr. L.S. Fisher, who was conversing with O'Neil, blowing out one eye and horribly disfiguring him. Dr. Fisher has recently moved here and is not as well known here as O'Neil, who was almost forty-five years of age, and long a resident of the neighboring parish. Mr. O'Neil, last August, near the same place where he was murdered, killed the father of his murderer in a gambling difficulty, and this retribution has come to him. Young Talley attempted to escape, but was captured at once and conveyed to prison. It is a sad event viewed from any point...especially it is sad in regard to Dr. Fisher, who was innocent in every respect, and it is to be most sincerely hoped he may recover.

We will be checking our newspaper collection to see what locals had to say about the murder.

Free Access to Gale for National Library Week

2011-04-11T13:33:00.004-05:00

Gale will offer their vast historical newspaper collection for National Library Week this year for a full two weeks Apr 10 to 24th. Click below or to the right to browse through the historic newspapers for the following categories!

Gale NewsVault — The definitive cross-searching experience for exploring Gale's historical newspaper and periodical collections — with access to more than 10 million digitized pages.

Global Issues in Context — Empower your users with the tools they need to understand today's world issues from a truly global perspective.

GREENR (Global Reference on the Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources) — From the green-collar economy to questions of energy and resource management, GREENR is the foremost online reference portal for sustainability and environmental studies.

Powerspeak Languages — The perfect language learning resource teaches users how to immerse into cultural authenticity. New languages include ESL Mandarin, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Korean.

Science in Context — From global warming to space exploration, students are drawn into the subject by integrating pure information with today's headlines and videos — showing how scientific disciplines relate to real-world issues.

Slavery and Anti-Slavery: A Transnational Archive — The largest, most ambitious collection devoted to the study of slavery. In its entirety, it will consist of more than 5 million cross-searchable pages. Part I: Debates over Slavery & Abolition available now.

Leaving Bossier Parish

2011-03-25T15:07:00.003-05:00

In 1861, nearly 800 Bossier men departed the parish and headed off to war.

The June 19, 1861 issue of The Southwestern notes the Bossier Volunteers leaving town.

Captain Randolph's company of "Bossier Men" passed through this place en route to the wars last Thursday. Our citizens vied with each other in giving them a hospitable reception. The Shreveport Sentinels received them at the ferry landing, and escorted them to the boat, where R.J. Looney, Esq., delivered a neat address, which was responded to by Capt. Randolph. Lieut. Winans, on behalf of the ladies of Shreveport, in a few appropriate remarks, presented them with a wreath of flowers. We understand the ceremonies on the other side of the river were still more interesting, consisting of a barbecue and flag presentation, by one of Bossier's loveliest daughters, Miss Maples. We learn that some of the returned "Bossier Boys" have embraced this opportunity to prove themselves "Men".

The Bossier Banner also reported on the events at the Volunteers' departure.

On June 13, the Bossier Volunteers, under Captain E.G. Randolph, left. At the Cane place, Miss Mattie Maples presented the flag. Mrs. Cane gave a reception dinner, and Wesley P. Winans and Robert J. Looney delivered addresses. The company, numbering 104 men and 9 servants, left per steamer via New Orleans for Camp Moore, where it and other companies were organized into the 9th Louisiana regiment with Richard Taylor as colonel; E.G. Randolph as lieutenant colonel, and Wm. R. Peck, as major.

On June 13, the Bossier Volunteers, under Captain E.G. Randolph, left. At the Cane place, Miss Mattie Maples presented the flag. Mrs. Cane gave a reception dinner, and Wesley P. Winans and Robert J. Looney delivered addresses. The company, numbering 104 men and 9 servants, left per steamer via New Orleans for Camp Moore, where it and other companies were organized into the 9th Louisiana regiment with Richard Taylor as colonel; E.G. Randolph as lieutenant colonel, and Wm. R. Peck, as major.

The Bossier Banner of the 19th of April contained a headline "Off for Charleston," announcing the departure, on the 16th, of Ed. A. Lowry, Morgan O. Taliaferro, J.E. Jackson and Wm. G. Aarons. They joined the Caddo Rifles at Shreveport and went to Virginia, whither the Shreveport Grays had already gone.

A military ball was given at the courthouse in honor of the departure of Capt. Loudon Butler's company, the Bossier Boys, on Wednesday, May 8. Miss Maggie Moore presented the flag. This company left Shreveport the next day on the Grand Duke, arriving in New Orleans on the 12th, where it was mustered into service by the State authorities, but, owing to a disagreement between Gov. Moore and the Confederate secretary of war as to term of enlistments, Capt. Butler's company, together with many other companies, were disbanded at Camp Moore with all but a few members returning home and joining new companies as they were organized.

The Banner also reported on the events at the Volunteers' departure. On June 13, the Bossier Volunteers, under Captain E.G. Randolph, left. At the Cane place, Miss Mattie Maples presented the flag. Mrs. Cane gave a reception dinner, and Wesley P. Winans and Robert J. Looney delivered addresses. The company, numbering 104 men and 9 servants, left per steamer via New Orleans for Camp Moore, where it and other companies were organized into the 9th Louisiana regiment with Richard Taylor as colonel; E.G. Randolph as lieutenant colonel, and Wm. R. Peck, as major.

On September 22, the Robins Grays left, with Loudon Butler as captain. A barbecue was given by the friends of the company at Fillmore and Miss Emily Garrison presented the flag. This company went directly to Camp Moore, via Monroe and Vicksburg.

On September 25, the Vance Guards left, under Captain Richard Welcome Turner. Miss Lizzie Dickson presented the flag. A barbecue was given to the Guards at this place the day before their departure, and on the day of their departure another barbecue was given on the Bellevue and Minden road, between the residences of John W. Hudson and C.P. Thompson. The Rev. Baxter Clegg delivered a few friendly words of admonition and offered a prayer for their safety.

Spring newsletter

2011-03-21T10:15:00.001-05:00

Our Spring newsletter is complete, so watch for it in your mailboxes. You can also click here to view it.

Louisiana Secession

2011-03-09T10:38:00.005-06:00

On January 26, 1861, the state of Louisiana seceded from the Union. This caused immediate changes in the lives of residents in the Shreveport and Bossier area. One of those changes was visible in the Shreveport newspaper, The Southwestern. You can see in the January 30, 1861 issue, the paper's masthead features the American flag.

In the next issue (February 6, 1861), the flag has been removed. The editor notes that

As Louisiana is no longer a member of the federal government, we this day, as orderly citizens, lower the "stars and stripes" from our masthead! It is with heart-felt emotions, better imagined than portrayed, that we fold the saucy looking "star spangled banner" that we have always loved, and place the precious memento under our pillow.

From this description, we understand the notion that many newly seceded Confederates had - that the disagreement over slavery would be quickly resolved and peace negotiated. For currency notes printed by the Confederate States of America, each note was redeemable after the ratification of a treaty of peace between the Confederate States and the United States of America. As the war progressed, it became clear to Confederate leaders that President Lincoln would only negotiate a complete surrender. In his book, The Atlas of the Civil War, James McPherson writes that "to every proposal for an armistice or preliminary terms, Lincoln replied that the Confederates must lay down their arms, give up slavery, and rejoin the Union." Bossier had an enslaved population of 8,000 individuals in 1860, much larger than the free white population of approximately 3,347. The abandonment of slavery was paramount for Lincoln and this was an issue that would directly affect the way of life for the residents in Bossier Parish.

Black History Month Speaker, Saturday 2/28/11

2011-02-14T09:54:00.009-06:00

For Black History Month, we are extremely excited to have a speaker coming to the Historical Center all the way from Phoenix, Arizona who has an amazing life story, some of it right here in Shreveport-Bossier. Col. Richard Toliver, USAF, Ret., author of An Uncaged Eagle – True Freedom, lived his early childhood in Bellevue, Bossier Parish, where his family left in the middle night to move to Shreveport to escape from white citizens who wanted to persecute his father for defending his land. He graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in Shreveport, went on to the Tuskegee Institute where he was trained by some of the original Tuskegee Airmen, and worked to make the Air Force truly integrated while climbing its ranks. Anyone interested in Air Force history, Civil Rights history or a story of faith to overcome odds and to forgive will find something of interest in this book and his talks. Col. Toliver will be speaking at the Historical Center meeting room on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 1 p.m.

The meeting room will open at noon, so get there early to ensure a seat. If you are bringing a group of 10 or more, kindly notify Pam at 746-7717 so we can accommodate you. Here is the Colonel’s schedule of additional programs while he is in town. Barksdale events are for those with Base access:
February 27
Barksdale AFB Chapel Program
Bossier City, LA 71110
12:00 Noon
Capt. Paul P. Loser, 2 BW Protestant Chaplain Barksdale AFB
318-456-6926

February 27
Shreve Memorial Library Hamilton Branch

2111 Bert S. Koons Industrial Loop, Shreveport, LA 71108
3:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Ms. Ivy Woodard-Lattin, Public Relations Coordinator
318-226-5871

February 28
Barksdale African American Month Celebration Luncheon
11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Barksdale Base Exchange book signing
February 28 in afternoon, contact
SSgt Justin R. McMullen Executive Assistant
8th Air Force Command Chief
318-529-1100

Valentine's Day

2011-02-11T15:02:00.010-06:00

Our collection has many scrapbooks containing cherished mementos, photographs, and holiday cards. One of the scrapbooks, saved by a Bossier City woman, holds her memories of the 1940s when her husband was serving in the Army Air Corps. Below are some valentines that she carefully tucked away in her book. Some are loving and sentimental, while others feature jokes and puns.

This watery-eyed onion is now missing his moveable arm, which held a tissue to wipe away his tears.

February is Black History Month

2011-02-10T09:29:00.003-06:00

Photo courtesy of The Shreveport Times

Charlotte Watson Mitchell, Jeanes Teacher

In the early to mid twentieth century, to find the leaders of African-American communities, look in the schools. The most educated and often highly regarded members of the community were there, working as school teachers or administrators. One of these leaders was “Jeanes Supervisor” Charlotte Mitchell who is known today as the namesake of the Charlotte Ann Mitchell Educational Center in Bossier City.

The Anna T. Jeanes Fund was another Southern-wide fund from a Northern benefactor to improve black children’s education like the Rosenwald Fund, which was created by a wealthy Jewish benefactor to build model school buildings for African-American children across the South. Anna T. Jeanes was a wealthy Philadelphia Quaker woman who in 1907 set aside money to provide aid to rural African-American schools in the South. The Jeanes Fund soon developed a model of funding a supervisor for black schools who met any needs both the teachers and the students, as part of a wider community, might have. These were called “Jeanes Teachers” or “Jeanes Supervisors” but in a sense they were more like early Peace Corps volunteers than school teachers. They did community beautification, food production and distribution, public health and sanitation work and teacher training. Their motto was that they always did “the next needed thing”.

Charlotte Watson Mitchell was a Jeanes Supervisor in Bossier Parish after many years as a teacher. As a Jeanes Teacher, Charlotte Mitchell not only affected the educational life of the Parish’s Black community, but home life as well. From July 1, 1932 to February 28, 1933, she made 75 visits to schools, 209 visits with teachers and 60 visits to homes, as reported to the State Agent for Jeanes Teachers. She also assisted Lettie Van Landingham, Bossier Parish Home Demonstration Agent, by leading the Colored Home Demonstration Clubs in the Parish. A Home Demonstration Agent often taught local women homemaking techniques through organized Home Demonstration clubs. According to an April 14, 1932 article in the Plain Dealing Progress, Bossier Parish was one of only a few parishes that had an active Home Demonstration program for African-American women. In 1931 members of these clubs filled 6,000 tin cans of food at canning centers in four of the Parish’s African-American schools, with many of the cans going to the Red Cross to distribute to the hungry.

Jeanes Teachers made significant contributions to community life in Bossier Parish; however, the Jeanes program ended in the 1960’s with school integration. If you know any additional information about Charlotte Mitchell, Carrie Martin (the first Jeanes teacher in Bossier Parish) or any of the other Jeanes Teachers* in Bossier Parish, please contact the Historical Center.

*Including Crecy Ann Hudson Evans, Ella Mae Booker Wiley, Inez Patty, and Gussie Mae Hudson

Genealogy Help

2011-02-01T09:06:00.001-06:00

Genealogy is a very popular topic, as evidenced by the popularity of TV shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Faces of America. If you’re interested in tracing your family tree, we have two free quality resources – Ancestry Library Edition and HeritageQuest. You can access Ancestry from the Bossier Parish Library homepage on a library computer at any branch. HeritageQuest is accessible from your home computer; you just need to enter your library card number. You can also get to both sites from the links in the menu to the right of this post.

Ancestry Library Edition is a fantastic tool for anyone who is researching family history. With Ancestry, you will be able to search US federal censuses, the social security death index, military records, state censuses, immigration records with ship manifests, passport applications, birth and marriage records, and heaps of international sources, which come in handy once you are able to trace your ancestors back to a country of emigration. You can also view and print images of the original records. If you’re lucky, you might locate a forgotten picture – I was surprised to see a high school yearbook photo of my grandfather!

It’s very easy to start searching with Ancestry. You simply type in any known information about the person you are trying to find. If you don’t know the exact birth date or birthplace of an ancestor, take a guess. If you heard family stories that Great Grandpa was born around the turn of the century, add 1900 to your search box. Ancestry will use this information and give results that closely match your search items. At the History Center, we recommend that beginners start by researching family members that they know personally. Backtracking is easier to do; you simply follow the records, linking the people you do know to the mystery branches on your family tree.

One of the best sources of information on Ancestry is the US Census Collection. US Federal Census records range from 1790 – 1930. The 1940 census will be made public in 2012. The information from each census varies slightly, depending on which questions were asked. You will almost always find name, age, gender, race, marital status, nationality, and relationship to head of household. You may also find occupation, real estate value, age at first marriage, birth month and year, education level, year of immigration, citizenship status, naturalization dates, and place of parents’ birth.

HeritageQuest (HQ) is another genealogy resource that provides census records and allows users to view, print, and download original images. If you can’t get to the library to use Ancestry and want to do some genealogy detective work at home, HQ is your best bet. It provides a collection of material for both genealogical and historical researchers, with coverage dating back to the late 1700s.

In the Books section of HQ, you can search through genealogy and local history books with digitized pages. Use it to find published works on families, as well as historical books that focus on specific regions. Learning about the time and place where your ancestors lived can give you a good sense of their daily life. The Periodical Source Index (PERSI) on HQ is a comprehensive index to genealogy and local history periodicals. For example, you can search through issues of The Genie, the journal of the Ark-la-Tex Genealogical Association.

There isn’t enough space to fully explain all of the resources you will find on both Ancestry and HeritageQuest, but it’s easy and fun to browse through their databases as you begin your genealogy journey. I encourage you to take a peek into your family’s past if you haven’t started to already. If you’d like some assistance, the staff at the History Center is always ready to help!

Abolition sentiments

2011-01-24T10:38:00.002-06:00

2011 marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. Several states, including Louisiana, are planning commemorative events for the sesquicentennial. Here at the History Center, we would like to demonstrate what daily life was like for Bossier Parish residents before, during, and after the Civil War. Our newspaper collection is integral to aiding our understanding of these turbulent times. We have issues of the Bossier Banner from 1859 to the middle of 1860. The Banner ceased publication during the war, as editor William Scanland departed to fight for the Confederacy. Another important source is The Southwestern, a Shreveport newspaper published by L. Dillard and Co., that printed throughout the war. News from Bossier was printed in The Southwestern, so we can get a glimpse of what was happening in the parish.

The January 30, 1861 issue of The Southwestern relates some news from Bossier:

The Bossier Banner states that on Monday, 24th instant, there was a meeting of the citizens of Bellevue and vicinity, of Bossier Parish, appointed a committee of five to wait upon Mr. Jesse McHenry; said committee being instructed by the meeting to invite the said McHenry to leave the town and parish within twenty-four hours, because of his abolition sentiments and proclivities which have been too strongly evinced by his speech and acts to be tolerated in a southern community. The committee discharged their duty, and the said McHenry complied with their request by rolling out on Wednesday's stage, eastward.

The same paper informs us that a company of light infantry was organised in Bellevue on Saturday, the 19th inst. Old and young have alike pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors, to the maintenance of the protection of their homes, their firesides, and their family altars.

I am currently searching through the 1850, 1860, and 1870 census records for the parish and will be on the lookout for Mr. McHenry. Does he return to Bossier by 1870? I don't think it's likely, given his hasty exit from the parish. Do you think he will be living in the North or the South?

Winter newsletter

2010-12-30T10:56:00.002-06:00

Our winter newsletter can be found here. If you would like to be added to the newsletter mailing list, please contact the Historical Center at 318-746-7717.

Kickapoo Restaurant menu

2010-11-24T09:06:00.002-06:00

This menu advertising the Kickapoo Restaurant's Thanksgiving dinner ran in the November 18, 1960 issue of the Bossier Press. Bossier Parish historian Clif Cardin notes in his book, Bossier Parish, that the Kickapoo was "considered by many as the place to eat."

Thanksgiving Planning Tips

2010-11-19T11:20:00.003-06:00

Advertisers made sure readers of the 1949 Plain Dealing Progress knew that their tasty products were available for the Thanksgiving feast. The above ad for Jolly Time Popcorn has a pilgrim encouraging shoppers to remember to pop some Jolly Time for the holiday.

The 1949 Plain Dealing Progress wanted to be sure its readers were ready for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Their November 17th issue presented tips and recipes:

"It won't be long now before one of the biggest of holiday meals will grace your table: golden brown, done to a turn turkey, chicken or other fowl, with the trimmings, topped off with a dessert of glistening pumpkin pie or spicy mincemeat.
The market list will be a long one, the preparations extensive and the planning careful. Start early and make an outline of all ingredients to have, and just what should be done when. Then even a Thanksgiving dinner will be well organized and efficiently executed."
~~~~~~
Sweet Potatoes with Oranges (serves 8)

8 boiled sweet potatoes, sliced thin
2 oranges, peeled, sliced thin
1 lemon, peeled, sliced thin
One-third cup brown sugar
One-third cup butter
Two-thirds cup water

Arrange potatoes and fruit in layers in a buttered casserole. Sprinkle with brown sugar, dot with butter and add water. Cover. Bake in a moderate (350 degree) oven until tender.
~~~~~~
Oyster Soup (serves 8)

2 tablespoons onion, grated
1 tablespoon celery, minced
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 pint bouillon
1 pint oysters

Simmer vegetables lightly in butter. Add flour and brown. Gradually add oyster liquor and bouillon. Season and cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving, add oysters, either cut or whole, and cook only until they curl.

1960 Thanksgiving

2010-11-17T11:42:00.003-06:00

With the holidays approaching, we'll be spending some time looking at our back issues of Bossier and Shreveport newspapers to find recipes, local happenings, advertisements, and other fun tidbits.

We'll start with this post about Thanksgiving 50 years ago - in 1960.

In the November 20, 1960 Bossier Tribune's "Around BC in BC" column, the Roving Reporter found a yummy dessert offered at a local bakery. "Delicious looking cupcakes, decorated with little turkeys, pumpkins, and corn for the Thanksgiving dinner table were on display at Bakery Counter this past week."
~~~~~~
The November 18, 1960 Bossier Press offered readers a tasty grapefruit and cranberry relish recipe. Why not try this for your Thanksgiving meal?
"Grapefruit and cranberries combine to make a tasty and attractive relish for holiday dinner tables. Both the raw and cooked versions of the relish can be stored for several weeks so why not make up some now for your own Thanksgiving and Christmas menus and to give as gifts, too? Although Florida citrus suffered some hurricane damage this year, there is still plenty of quality fruit available in local markets to enjoy often and in a variety of ways. Citrus is one of the richest sources of daily-needed Vitamin C, so Florida oranges and grapefruit area a good investment in health as well as pleasure."
~~~~~~
Raw Relish:
2 cups fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 Florida grapefruit, sectioned

Put cranberries through food chopper. Add sugar; mix well. Dice Florida grapefruit sections; stir into cranberry mixture. Chill. Yield: 3 and one third cups.
~~~~~~
Cooked relish:
2 cups fresh cranberries
Half cup water
Half cup sugar
1 Florida grapefruit, sectioned

Combine cranberries, water and sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil; boil until berries pop. Remove from heat. Dice Florida grapefruit sections; stir into cranberry mixture. Chill. Yield: 2 and one third cups.

Check back soon for more posts about Thanksgiving's history in Bossier!

Louisiana State Fair

2010-10-28T16:41:00.003-05:00

Have you been to the State Fair yet? It's running until November 7th at the state fairgrounds in Shreveport.

The first Louisiana State Fair was held in 1906, making this year the 104th fair! Come over to the history center to see photos and memorabilia of fairs past. We have many photos on exhibit that were taken at the fair in the 1910s. You can also see an original 1909 complimentary ticket and a 1915 parish exhibit blue ribbon.

This is a circa 1915 photo (1997.054.062) of the wild animal sideshow booth. Several miniature ponies stand on the platform.

Fall Festival

2010-10-22T16:05:00.002-05:00

Join us on Friday afternoon, October 29th, for Bossier Central Library's Fall Festival! The library will have crafts for children, candy tours, a "Boo-ling" game, a spider toss, pumpkin painting, face painting, and special guests Gorilla Joe and Miss Bossier City, Kimberly Rusley.

The Historical Center is decorated for the Festival, too! Stop by to see our haunted Bossier exhibit and participate in a scavenger hunt!

October events

2010-10-11T13:07:00.002-05:00

October is a busy time of year for the Historical Center. Since the weather is finally starting to cool, it's the perfect time to find us at some special events in the area. With this month being Louisiana Archaeology Month, representatives from the Historical Center are taking our reproduction Native American tools to several local events. All of these reproductions were made for the Historical Center by Louis Baker, a Bossier Parish resident. These beautiful Osage Orange (also known as Bois D'Arc) wood tools are great examples of items that members of the Caddo Nation and other Native Americans were using in their daily lives. Some of the tools that we have include a wood-splitting wedge, an atlatl, a bow and arrow, a mortar and pestle, a pump drill, several spear points, and a celt. We also have a bone needle, necklace, and fishhook.

This past Saturday, Marisa Diedrich joined Northwest Regional Archaeologist Jeff Girard at LSUS's Pioneer Heritage Day. The reproduction tools were on display for the many visitors to the Pioneer Heritage Center. Vistors could hold the items to feel the weight of the wood and they were impressed by the efficiency of the pump drill. We enjoyed the event and look forward to next year!

If you missed the Caddo tools at LSUS, there is another opportunity to see them this Saturday, the 16th, at the Red River National Wildlife Refuge Celebration. This free event runs from 8:30 - 3:30 at the Red River National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters Unit on 555 Sunflower Road in Bossier City. Pam Carlisle and Jeff Girard will provide demonstrations of the tools. There will be plenty of things to do and see, including animals (hawks, owls, alligators!), hayrides, face painting, and children's activities. Stop by to support the Refuge and the Historical Center!

Fall 2010 newsletter

2010-09-28T16:27:00.004-05:00

Our Fall newsletter is available for viewing as a PDF file here

Let us know if you recognize the mystery photo of a school in Bossier Parish. It was designed by Bossier City architect Thomas Merideth.

We have one guess so far of Curtis Elementary School. Does anyone agree?

RELIC Program "Where is North Louisiana?" Concludes

2010-09-27T15:47:00.002-05:00

The "Where is North Louisiana" RELIC Program concluded Thursday 23 September with a discussion of Louisiana Power and Light, by John Dufresne. Overall, this book was the least favorite of the four titles that we read for the program. The other books we read were Shreveport Sounds in Black and White; Swaggart, The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist and On My Way, The Arts of Sarah Albritton. Dr. Cheryl White from LSUS led our discussions. She was knowledgeable about the subjects and often presented them with humor. While North Louisiana may often be ignored as being a viable part of our state, with her direction, we re-established our remarkable history and our position of importance in Louisiana's history. Attendance at all 6 meetings was very good and we look forward to the possibility of another Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities RELIC program in the Spring of 2011.

RELIC program - My North Louisiana: Race, Gender and Art in the Life of a North Louisiana Artist

2010-09-10T16:47:00.004-05:00

For the 9/16 RELIC session, we will be discussing Sarah Albritton, Ruston native and acclaimed folk artist, who has been described by some as the next Clementine Hunter. Like Hunter, Albritton is an African American artist, a noteworthy painter and cook without formal art or culinary training, born into North Louisiana at a time of racial prejudice and social limitations. Using portions of Susan Roach's On My Way: The Arts of Sarah Albritton, this session examines the special role played by artists in defining what it means to live in North Louisiana.

RELIC program - Faith and Religion in North Louisiana

2010-09-07T08:35:00.002-05:00

This Thursday's session will build upon the previous one by continuing to explore the religiosity of North Louisiana. The region is sociologically distinct from other areas of Louisiana, bearing the designation as part of the "Bible Belt," geographically and culturally remote from the heavily Roman Catholic regions to the south. There are numerous denominations evident throughout the region, with church attendance and religious participation playing an active and vibrant role in the life of North Louisiana. Is this unique to the region?

RELIC program - Perspectives on Rural Life in North Louisiana

2010-08-30T10:53:00.002-05:00

For this Thursday's (September 2nd) RELIC meeting, we will be discussing Ann Rowe Seaman's Swaggart: The Unauthorized Biography of an American Evangelist, which offers opportunities to understand the relationship of religion and society in the region. The first half of the book examines class, race and religious fervor and posits an important question with regard to the extent that Swaggart's life story can be generalized to people with similar backgrounds. An examination of his life in the context of the rural North Louisiana framework can provide some insights into the culture of the region.

RELIC program - The Sounds of North Louisiana

2010-08-24T15:52:00.002-05:00

For our August 26th RELIC program meeting (6 p.m. - 8 p.m.), we will be discussing the Sounds of North Louisiana. Sections of Kip Lornell's and Tracey Laird's Shreveport Sounds in Black and White will be read.

In a state with unique musical traditions, Shreveport became a center for the breakthrough musical sounds of the 1950s, including the rise of such greats as Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Elvis Presley.

In this way, the region of North Louisiana contributed to the development of rockabilly, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll. Shreveport's unique contributions to music history are not as well-known as that of other cities such as New Orleans or Memphis, but are nevertheless formative and significant.

Spots are still available, so please call the Historical Center at 318-746-7717 to reserve your place for our discussion. Refreshments will be served.

A Spoonful of Snake-Oil

2010-08-17T13:56:00.007-05:00

Our new exhibit about the patent medicine industry is available for viewing in two of the Historical Center's display cases. Stop in to learn about the questionable ingredients and advertising tricks used by patent medicine manufacturers. All of the advertisements on display were taken from the Bossier Banner newspaper. Also on display are antique medicine bottles.

There were numerous ads for medicines in the newspaper, so we weren't able to include them all in the exhibit. Below are two ads for Pe-ru-na from 1900. Pe-ru-na was a very popular remedy, chiefly because of its high alcohol content. Why did so many medicines contain so much alcohol? Manufacturers said it was necessary to preserve herbs, but this wasn't the whole truth. Stores didn't need a liquor license to sell medication and any liquor taxes did not apply to the patent remedies. The alcohol found in patent medication provided the public with an economical way to drink.

Pe-ru-na's widespread usage was also thanks to its claims to cure catarrh - and any pain or discomfort could be pinned on catarrh by the Pe-ru-na salesmen. Catarrh was the cause of stomach troubles, runny noses, earaches, and fevers. No matter where the catarrh was in your body, Pe-ru-na could cure it, ads boasted. These two ads for Pe-ru-na used "celebrity endorsements." Whether these men and women actually gave permission for the companies to use their likeness or received any compensation is unlikely.

Belva Ann Lockwood was a noted attorney in Washington D.C., and was apparently the "best known woman in America" thanks to her run for president of the United States in 1884 and 1888. Here, Pe-ru-na uses her face to appeal to women across the country. In a letter supposedly from Lockwood, we learn that it is an "invaluable remedy for cold, catarrh, hay fever, and kindred diseases."

This ad doesn't show a famous face, but rather a famous ship from the Spanish-American War. Ann Gridley touts the wonders of catarrh-curing Pe-ru-na, calling it a "grand tonic and a woman's friend." Ann was the mother of Captain Charles Gridley, the commander of the USS Olympia during the American victory at the Battle of Manila Bay. Gridley received the well-known order, "You may fire when you are ready, Gridley," from Admiral George Dewey. This ad mentions Dewey three times, implying an endorsement from the heroic admiral himself.

Come to the Historical Center to see more ads in this exhibit or ask to look through our back issues of the Bossier Banner newspaper.

Hurricane Katrina Five-Year Anniversary

2010-08-06T12:15:00.004-05:00

Cartoon by David Wright, courtesy of The Shreveport Times

It’s been five years, on August 29, since our neighbors on the Gulf Coast had to face the devastation of Hurricane Katrina (and soon after that, Hurricane Rita). Their lives were transformed and for a while, life here at the Bossier Parish Library was transformed, too. It never occurred to us the critical role a public library might play in disaster response, several hours away from the disaster, but we learned on our feet. Hundreds of evacuees poured into the Bossier Parish Library so they could use the computers to look at satellite photos of their homes, to try to contact friends and relatives whose whereabouts were unknown, to watch a New Orleans news channel via the Internet (we projected the streaming video onto a screen in the Historical Center meeting room) and to fill out their FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) applications. They also were here as a place to spend time outside of a crowded shelter or relative’s house and as a place to let their kids be kids in our cheerful Children’s Department. Our librarians did what librarians do – they provided lots of information, from local bus schedules to how to get food assistance - but they expanded their role well beyond that. They provided sympathetic ears and hugs and friendship, while hosting or trying to keep tabs on their own family members in affected areas.

Historical Center staff noticed that history was in the making under our very own noses, so we did a small oral history project, interviewing evacuees who visited the library and staff members who were on the front lines helping patrons and dealing with their own families’ situations. History and Outreach Specialist Pam Carlisle recently burned a CD of the transcripts of these interviews and sent them to the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans at the request of Greg Lambousie, Director of Collections. He will be adding them to the State Museum’s archive, where they can be accessed by researchers and they may be useful for exhibits. We are honored our stories will be preserved by the people so directly affected by the tragedy of five years ago.

“I learned a lot about myself during that period of time, how important it is to think that you are connected to about just anybody that walks in that door in some way. And, don’t let them ever go away empty handed…If you can’t give them what they need, send them some place where they can find it.”
-Reference Librarian Martha Matlock (now retired), Bossier Parish Library

Newspaper advertisements

2010-07-01T11:04:00.006-05:00

In preparation for an upcoming exhibit about patent medicines, we have been looking through past issues of the Bossier Banner newspaper. Here are a few examples of the fun advertisements we've been finding.

Bile Beans claimed to cure just about any ache, pain, or general discomfort. This ad is from the January 26, 1885 Bossier Banner.

Oxidine placed many ads in the Banner during the early 1920s. The product was meant to cure malaria, but it claimed to fix other ills, too.

It's hard to focus just on medicinal advertisements when there are so many other eye-catching ones in the paper. Above is a good ad for safe deposit boxes at the Bank of Benton from the January 14, 1954 issue.

Stop by the Historical Center to look through our collection of historic newspapers. Don't forget that you may also find marriage and birth announcements, obituaries, and town "gossip" to help in your genealogy searches! You can also look at the Bossier Banner index, accessible through the link in the menu to your right.

Summer vacations

2010-06-15T09:14:00.004-05:00

Next Monday will be the official start of summer! With the heat and humidity, it's been feeling like summer for a while in Bossier Parish. A beach vacation is in order when temperatures are too high. The beaches of Galveston Island in Texas have been, and still are, a favorite summer vacation spot. The Walker family of Bossier vacationed on the island in the 1910s. This photo (0000.003.013) shows Sayde Walker and Emma Walker Pattillo on Galveston beach in their bathing dresses.

What's hiding in your attic?

2010-05-28T14:58:00.007-05:00

In June, we will be unveiling (pun intended) our Bossier weddings exhibit! Do you have anything to add to the display? We're looking for photos, marriage licenses, fancy invitations, clothing, jewelry, and any other mementos from those special days in Bossier Parish. Please consider donating items to the historical center so future generations can share in the memories. If you can't bear to part with treasured originals, we'd love to have the chance to scan your photos and paper documents. We can add the copies to our collection.

This photo (1997.054.088) is from a Plain Dealing wedding in the 1910s. We can't identify the happy couple. Can you?

Here's What We're Doing At the Spring Festival Tomorrow...

2010-05-21T15:45:00.007-05:00

Also, try cleaning seed cotton - by hand! It's easier said than done.

Here's a REAL bale of cotton, at Frogmore Cotton Plantation & Gins near Ferriday, LA in Concordia Parish.

Spring Festival 2010

2010-05-18T09:18:00.002-05:00

This Saturday, May 22, join the Bossier Parish Library at the Louisiana Boardwalk from 10 am - 3 pm for our Spring Festival!

The Historical Center will have a booth with games and photos.

For more information, please view our flyer.

Preservation Pointers

2010-05-11T08:59:00.002-05:00

To celebrate Preservation Week, we'll be listing some quick steps you can take to protect your collection.

Many people have old photo albums and scrapbooks in their collection. The vast majority of these are not photo-friendly and will permanently damage your family photos. Scrapbooks were frequently made with an acidic black paper that deteriorates quickly. You'll notice that the edges of this black paper start to break and flake away, often leaving fragments behind on shelving and in boxes. Glue and tape were commonly used to adhere photos and other items to scrapbook pages. These adhesives can cause yellowing and may also embrittle the photos. Generally, you will want to keep a scrapbook intact, especially if the creator has handwritten labels on the pages. It can be helpful to place acid-free tissue paper between the pages. This will prevent items from pressing directly against one another and causing discoloration.

Magnetic photo albums have pages lined with thin strips of glue and covered with a clear plastic covering. The glue will discolor photos - sometimes after only a decade of storage. If you are able, slowly and cautiously peel your photos away from the glue backing for proper storage. Unfortunately, this glue can be very sticky and you need to be sure that your photos will not tear. If you can't remove them from the pages without rips, then it is better to leave them in the album. Scan the photos while they are in the album so you can make copies. Keep these copies in polyethylene photo sleeves.

Acid-free tissue paper and polyethylene photo sleeves can be found at most archival suppliers. Check with local craft stores, too. Always read the product specifications, as some products may be called "archival" when they really are not preservation-quality.

National Preservation Week

2010-05-04T10:59:00.004-05:00

Mark your calendars!

The first national collections Preservation Week, themed "Pass it On!" takes place May 9-15. Preservation Week will inspire actions to preserve personal, family and community collections of all kinds, as well as library, museum and archive collections. It will raise awareness of the role libraries and other cultural institutions play in providing ongoing preservation information.

The Historical Center is celebrating Preservation Week with an exhibit, "Practical Preservation", that will suggest simple steps to help you make sure your treasures and memories last a lifetime and are passed on to future generations.

Pam Carlisle, Local History and Outreach Specialist at the Historical Center, will be presenting a FREE workshop, Practical Preservation - Making Family Memories Last, at 5:30 on Tuesday, May 11 at the Bossier Central Library meeting room at 2206 Beckett Street in Bossier City. Registration is not required.

For questions, call us at (318)746-7717 or email pcarter@state.lib.la.us

You are invited to bring documents, photographs, and objects to the Historical Center to receive tips on storage and handling. Please consider allowing us to scan any Bossier-related photographs and documents so that we may have copies for our collection. With your help, we can pass Bossier Parish history on!

Visit the American Library Association's website for more information on Preservation Week.

Happy Mothers Day!

2010-04-30T15:54:00.002-05:00

"GOLD STAR MOTHERS"

Photo of “Grandma Dalrymple” with Harry Gray and Della Gray Cavells. Grandma Dalrymple went to France as a Gold Star Mother to visit the grave of her son, Henry H., who perished in World War I. Gold Star Mothers are mothers whose sons or daughters died in the line of duty in the Armed Forces of the United States or its Allies, starting with World War I. A gold star replaced the blue star families displayed to show they had a soldier overseas. In the late 1920’s, the War Department of the United States compiled a list of mothers and widows of WWI soldiers killed and buried in Europe and offered to take them to their loved ones’ graves. Between 1930 and 1933, 6,000 women traveled on these “Gold Star Mother Pilgrimages”. A rare act of public support for private grief, they were entirely paid for and planned by the U.S. Army.

2002.004.055

Johnette Dalrymple Parham Collection

Kirklin family wheelchair

2010-04-28T09:11:00.004-05:00

In April of 2006, a wheelchair more than a century old was donated to the Historical Center. In keeping with our mission of collecting Bossier Parish historical material, staff learned that the wheelchair had been used by several members of the Kirklin Family of Bossier Parish. The donor included a note saying, “The wheelchair was for James Albert Kirklin (b. 18 Oct 1903 d. 2 Nov 1915). I don’t know if anyone used it before him or not. He suffered from a high fever (age 3 or 6) and [was] thought to have inflammatory rheumatism — maybe polio? Never walked again. In 1936 James Robert Kirklin - father of James Albert was feeding the stallion he had and the stallion kicked him and broke his leg. He used the wheelchair until he died of thrombosis — a clot went from his leg to his heart."

The wheelchair had been stored in the attic of a house that was being used by hunters. When the hunters discovered it, they pulled it from the attic onto the second floor of the house where it remained until April of 2006 when the donor learned of its whereabouts and brought it to the Historical Center. The wheelchair was in bad condition, with the cane backing and seating badly cracked, the third wheel (a small wheel behind the chair) broken and with numerous other preservation issues. The donor and two other family members paid for the wheelchair's restoration, which was completed by a local company.

To see the wheelchair in its newly restored state, visit the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center.

The wheelchair as it appeared in 2006, having been stored in an attic for decades.

The wheelchair as it appears now, after restoration.

Curating birds

2010-04-20T11:54:00.006-05:00

Things have been mostly quiet around here, history-wise. The reorganization of our vertical file is nearing completion and we will soon begin to inventory our map and aerial photo collection. Our aerial photo collection is quite large, with approximately 270 photos of Bossier Parish from 1939 and another 150 from 1955. We have an index available in our research area, so patrons can easily find the photos they need.

While everything is under control inside the historical center, it's been a challenging week outside for the birds that built their nest under our awning. We think they are house finches. Their nest fell down on a windy day last week, dumping the 3 little baby birds onto the grass. We quickly put the nestlings into a cardboard box and attached their new nest-box back to the awning with the power of duct tape. Mama and Papa Bird approved of the renovations and have resumed their care of the babies. Hopefully we'll see the babies testing out their wings soon.

2010-04-09T14:50:00.003-05:00

Did you get our new quarterly newsletter?

We're excited to share the happenings at the historical center with our patrons. In addition to this blog, we are now mailing a newsletter full of articles and assorted historical tidbits. You'll be able to stay informed of new collections, exhibits, and genealogy news. If you would like to be added to our mailing list, please call us at 318-746-7717 and provide us with your address.

Genealogy presentation

2010-03-19T12:37:00.003-05:00

Join Pam Carlisle of the History Center at the East 80 Library Branch for "Genealogy and Preserving Contemporary History." Learn about preserving your family's history for the genealogists of the future and other descendants.

Wednesday March 24, 10-11 a.m. at the East 80 Library in Haughton - 1050 Bellevue Road.

March is American Red Cross Month and Women's History Month

2010-03-10T10:18:00.003-06:00

Mary Rose Sciarra Bradford, Red Cross volunteer and wife of author Roark Bradford, with son Richard Roark Jr.

In honor of American Red Cross Month and Women's History Month, a new display is in the Historical Center, The American Red Cross and Hometown Women through 1950.
The American Red Cross was founded by a woman, Clara Barton in 1881 and continued to have much of its work and inspiration accomplished by women. American Red Cross nurses went to foreign war fronts or worked domestically as public health and blood drive nurses. “Gray Ladies” provided non-medical services at military, then civilian hospitals. Locally Gray Ladies volunteered the Veterans Hospital and the Defense Blood Center in Shreveport. Some women, such as Kate Carter Edwards of Haughton in 1948 (during decades of Red Cross service) organized in their neighborhoods raising funds for Red Cross disaster relief and a whole host of programs.

Homicide in Haughton

2010-03-09T15:26:00.003-06:00

In its Feb. 14, 1887 issue, The Shreveport Times recounted the particulars of a deplorable altercation that had a fatal ending. William M. Mercer was killed by Haughton mayor Henry Bodenheimer.

Both men were described as well known through North Louisiana. Friendly and cordial feelings existed between them and they had even been in a prosperous business together. Bodenheimer was described as a married gentleman possessing a quiet and genial disposition. Mercer was "a kind-hearted man, aged about 37 years, and was married. His death was regretted by all who knew him."

The newspaper account relates that William Mercer came to Haughton heavily intoxicated and threatening to kill someone. He had two pistols with him and threatened the life of Bodenheimer several times during the day. One of Mercer's pistols was taken from him by a friend. On the evening of the shooting, Mercer called Bodenheimer to Griffin's Saloon where he grabbed Bodenheimer by the collar and, using abusive language, demanded the return of the pistol that had been taken from him.

The unfolding of the shooting is further described 4 days later when the preliminary trial took place. The trial was originally to be held in Bellevue, the parish seat at the time, but was changed to Haughton for the convenience of the witnesses and parties interested in the trial. Of the ten or twelve witnesses present, only L.E. McDade was called to testify. Mr. McDade was employed as barkeeper in Griffin's Saloon where the killing took place. He testified that Mr. Mercer insisted that Mr. Bodenheimer come in to the saloon and have a drink with him. Mr. Bodenheimer attempted to dissuade Mr. Mercer form drinking any more, advising him to go home and go to bed. Mercer became angry and broke a glass on the bar. Mercer told the bartender to take one of his pistols. McDade took the pistol and handed it to a Dr. Moody. Mercer then asked the doctor to give him the pistol. When the doctor refused, Mercer reportedly drew a knife and threatened to cut Dr. Moody's throat. When Mercer was given his pistol, he pulled off his coat, stating that he wanted to fight. After being assisted in putting his coat back on, Mercer continued to make a commotion, waving his pistol about. He then grabbed Bodenheimer and threated to throw Bodenheimer down and stomp him to death. As Mercer reached for the pistol he had put in the hip pocket of his pants, Bodenheimer pulled out his own pistol and fired four shots, all four shots taking effect and killing Mercer. (The February 17, 1887 issue of the Bossier Banner reported that only two took effect.) Accounts differ here as to how long Mercer may have lived after being shot, but he died shortly after in the saloon. According to McDade's testimony, Bodenheimer was not drinking and had several times tried to kindly persuade Mercer to go home.

Based on McDade's testimony, the verdict was that "Under the circumstances there is not a particle of doubt as to the nature of the homicide. It was one of those regrettable occurrences which could not be avoided and it was done in self-defense." Nonetheless, because of a dispute in town over the fact that it was "the first time a Jew had ever killed anybody in those parts," a lynch mob was organized. When the mob approached Bodenheimer's store, a boyhood friend of his, Ford Edwards, came to the door and announced to the mob that if they got Henry they would have to get him also, and the first man that stepped on the gallery would be fired upon. The mob dissolved and the next day Edwards rode with Henry Bodenheimer to Bellevue for the hearing.

Henry Bodenheimer and his wife moved to Shreveport in 1889 where Henry had several different businesses, the most successful of which was an insurance company. Today the Bodenheimer family still has interests in the insurance and security fields in both Shreveport and New Orleans.

Photos from the Scanland collection

2010-03-08T13:30:00.005-06:00

The History Center has a wonderful collection of early 1900s photographs taken by Mabel Abney Scanland Jones. Mabel is the daughter of William Henry Scanland, Sr., the editor of the Bossier Banner newspaper. She used her Kodak Brownie camera to snap photos of her family and friends around Benton and Bellevue. Frequently, when people think of older photos, they expect to see the subjects with serious faces and stiff poses. This is not the case with Mabel's photos; rather, she captures candid images of laughing couples, her joking brothers, children playing with pets, and scenes of everyday life in Bossier.

In the above photo (0000.004.150) we see one of the Ogden sisters staging a hold-up of Mabel's older brother, William Henry Scanland, Jr., and another Ogden girl.

Above (0000.004.042), Mabel and her friends, Bess Wheless, Susan "Pearl" Dortch Colbert, and Octavia Hunter all pose with their hands on their chins. One girl is unidentified.

In this photo (0000.004.190), Mabel's younger sister, Mattie Belle (right), smiles with her friend Irma Stinson.

Mabel's oldest brother, Dr. John Milton Scanland, moved to Montana and became a physician and superintendant for the Montana State Hospital. The family traveled by train to see him and Mabel brought her camera along for the trip. She took pictures of several depots along the way and some snowy scenes - perhaps it was her first time seeing snow! John Milton married a doctor's daughter and was a frequent traveler, making transatlantic crossings aboard the Mauretania (sister ship to the Lusitania) and the Olympic (sister ship to the Titanic).

After researching census records, it seems like Mattie Belle stayed in Montana with her brother for a time around 1920. She met her husband, Ewing Montgomery, in Montana and the couple had moved to Los Angeles by 1930.

Mabel stayed close to home, marrying Dallas Jones.

It's Black History Month!

2010-02-08T10:48:00.002-06:00

Get a Black History Button at the Bossier Parish Library’s Historical
Center:

Just bring in photos of African Americans in Bossier Parish to the Historical Center. Staff will scan up to 5 photos and make copies for the patron and possibly the Center’s collection.

Through February, Mon-Fri 9-4 or by appointment
Call 746-7717 for more information

Mardi Gras

2010-02-01T15:35:00.004-06:00

The Shreveport-Bossier City area only recently started to hold large Mardi Gras celebrations with parades and Krewe activities. The cities of New Orleans and Mobile have long been popular Mardi Gras destinations with both cities having traditions dating back to the 1700s. In the late 1800s, newspapers were filled with advertisements for steamboat and railroad tickets to the coastal cities. The ad above is from the February 4th, 1877 issue of The Shreveport Times.

For those choosing to stay in Northwestern Louisiana, there were also a few festivities to enjoy. In 1877, Tally's Opera House on Milam Street hosted an exclusive masquerade soiree. Revelers wishing to dance had to wear masks until midnight, at which time they could show their faces.

To see these travel ads and other Mardi Gras memorabilia, check out the exhibit "Take Me to the Mardi Gras", located in the entrance of the History Center.

Frozen Bossier

2010-01-07T13:40:00.005-06:00

The recent cold weather prompted us to search through our collection to find other instances of chilly temperatures in Bossier Parish. Below is an unidentified girl bundled up for warmth on a snowy day. This photo (1997.054.081) is from the Plain Dealing area and was taken by John Allen in the 1910s. If she looks familiar, please let us know!

Next we have a photo (2002.032.001) from a snowfall in 1948. George Louis Johnson is standing next to his snow-covered automobile.

Bossier Banner Name and Place Index

2009-12-31T09:36:00.003-06:00

The History Center is happy to announce the return of its name and place index to the Bossier Banner newspaper. The index includes the years 1859-1985. You can now browse through the alphabetical listing of people, places, and organizations to find the corresponding citation for the Bossier Banner article you wish to view. To get a copy of the article, either call or email the history center, tell us the citation, and we will send you a copy or scan.

Letters to Santa

2009-12-17T11:08:00.004-06:00

This 1967 photo shows the first-graders at Princeton School ready to write their letters to Santa Claus. Their teacher has written "Dear Santa Claus, I would like some toys and clothing for Christmas" on the chalkboard. This photo (2004.003.009) is from our Walter H. Martin collection. Mr. Martin was the principal at Princeton High School.

“EXTRACT FROM THE RECONSTRUCTED CONSTITUTION OF THE STATE OF LOUISIANA”

2009-12-09T09:42:00.003-06:00

“Extract from the Reconstructed Constitution of the State of Louisiana. With Portraits of the Distinguished Members of the Convention & Assembly. A.D. 1868” is a rare lithograph poster in our collection that once hung in thousands of homes of black Louisianans. Thumbnail portraits of the black delegates to the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1868 surround a portrait of Louisiana’s first black Lieutenant Governor, O.J. Dunn. (Not pictured is John Pierce, representative of Bossier Parish.)

Delegates to this convention rewrote Louisiana’s Constitution during the period following the Civil War called Reconstruction. Black Louisianans were given the right to vote for delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1868. They enthusiastically voted for almost 60 percent black delegates. The resulting Constitution gave black males the right to vote. It took away the right to vote from those who had preached or published articles against the United States or who had voted for or signed an ordinance of secession. It integrated free schools and (on paper at least) any other public places.

In the election following ratification, many of the black delegates to the constitutional convention were elected to the legislature. It was the first time blacks held public office in Louisiana. These changes did not persist. Reconstruction was over by 1877. But black leaders of the Reconstruction period, who tended to be as educated as their white counterparts, had laid down a framework for black political, economic and educational gains. Reconstruction was Louisiana’s first civil rights campaign, and of course not its last.

Collections database feedback

2009-12-02T14:56:00.002-06:00

We have some new features available on our PastPerfect online collections database (accessible here or through the link in the menu to the right). When you view an image in our database, you'll now be able to email the link to share your find with others and you'll also have the chance to provide us with feedback.

So if you recognize a person or location that we haven't identified yet - or maybe you notice that we mixed up your ancestors in a photo - please let us know!

Merry Messages and Memories

2009-12-01T13:37:00.003-06:00

Visit the History Center during the month of December to see our holiday themed exhibit, "Merry Messages and Memories," located in two of our front display cases. You'll see photos of snowy Bossier Parish, handmade Christmas ornaments, and a selection of 1940s-era Christmas cards. We'll also be decorating our large tree, so be sure to drop by for the holidays!

Photographs from the 1870s

2009-11-20T09:49:00.007-06:00

This week we've been cataloging a large collection of carte-de-viste and cabinet card images. These photographs are mostly from the 1870s and were shot at local Shreveport studios like the Star Gallery and Olsen's Photograph Gallery on Texas Street. Unfortunately, we don't know the identities of many people in the photos, such as the brothers seen above (2002.035.393). They are likely relatives or friends of the Arnold, Tidwell, and Brownlee families of Bossier Parish.

The photos are valuable research tools even without names, since they allow us to see excellent examples of clothing and hairstyles from the later half of the 1800s. This carte-de-viste photograph (2002.035.364) was sent by 20-year-old Alcie Smisson to her brother Bernie in 1870. Her dress is relatively simple with an apron-like overskirt and a neckline embellishment of ribbon. Alcie wears her hair in a popular style of waves pulled back from her face in a center part.

Two new exhibits!

2009-11-13T09:14:00.006-06:00

The History Center has a new exhibit on display - "The Great Depression Era in Bossier Parish: A Collection of Images, Words, and Possessions from the Past." The exhibit focuses on Senator Huey P. Long's connections to Northwestern Louisiana, the early days of Barksdale Field, the 1933 Plain Dealing bank robbery, and the importance of family and community. You'll also see the lighter side of the 1930s in photos that capture moments of fun, like the Lions Club donkey baseball game played in Plain Dealing. Excerpts from oral histories are sprinkled throughout the display to highlight the experience of living through the Depression.

This exhibit was created in support of "Triumph Over Tragedy: The Great Depression/New Deal Era in North Louisiana,” the inaugural collaboration of the EYE-20 CREATIVE CORRIDOR, a unified effort to provide a long-term Regional Cultural Economy Initiative among Interstate-20 communities ensuring access to the highest quality programs and services offered by artists and arts organizations in North Louisiana.

The first group effort commemorates the 80th Anniversary of the Great Depression/New Deal Era in North Louisiana from October 2009 to the Spring of 2010. For a list of events in Triumph Over Tragedy go to www.shreveportbossierfunguide.com

Another new exhibit is ready for viewing at the Plain Dealing Branch Library. "Bossier Parish Food 1910s - 1960s" can be seen as you enter the library, immediately to your right. This exhibit emphasizes how central food is to culture and celebrates our shared memories of food and family.

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish

2009-11-06T14:15:00.004-06:00

World War II food rationing booklet from the Mary Wheeler Corley Collection, 2003.026.047B
Come see our exhibit on food in Bossier Parish, 1910's - 1960's at the Plain Dealing branch library

Bread - Mrs. Lillie Rose Roberson Matlock of the Plain Dealing area went through about three 50 lb. sacks of flour a week, making biscuits and bread for her large family. It seems all local food memories involve biscuits – biscuits and syrup for breakfast, biscuits and a slice of meat for lunch and giant “cat head” biscuits made an impression, too. Corn bread was also common. “Light bread” (typically store-bought bread such as Wonder Bread) was not. It was a treat, saved in Martha Southerland Humphrey’s household for company only. Coffee, sugar and flour were the universal staples you bought at the store, but maybe you could trade some eggs for some light bread, like the James F. Strayhan family did.

Fall Festival

2009-10-27T09:06:00.002-05:00

This Thursday, October 29th, come to the library to celebrate the fall season at our Fall Festival! Children can take a candy tour through the library departments, read scary stories with Nigel, the therapy dog, play pumpkin guessing games, and make balloon animals. Don't forget to stop by the history center to see the Haunted Bossier exhibit!

Haunted Bossier

2009-10-19T09:54:00.003-05:00

The history center is ready for Halloween! Come see our Haunted Bossier exhibit to discover whether there is any truth to ghost stories about frightening sites around the parish and to learn about fortune-telling games played in the 1890's on Halloween.

Be careful when you visit, though, because you never know what's lurking around the building... Beware of menacing black cats, spooky owls, glowing skulls, and creepy cobwebs!

Louisiana Archaeology Month

2009-10-08T14:42:00.003-05:00

October is Louisiana Archaeology Month. The History Center will be setting up archaeology stations in the Children's Department of the central library. These stations will feature activities and displays for children ages 5 and up.

Stop by on Thursday afternoons (October 8, 15, and 22) from 3-5 pm to participate! For more information, please contact Pam Carlisle at 318-746-7717.

This little archaeologist-in-training uses her magnifying glass to find clues about projectile points.

Images from Our Archives

2009-09-28T09:01:00.002-05:00

High water ahead in Plain Dealing! In this photograph from 1957, cars attempt to navigate a flooded Palmetto Street. You can see more images from this collection (1999.062) by looking through our online database.

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish

2009-09-16T11:55:00.003-05:00

Dairy - Food that you could get at the source, such as your own milking cow, didn’t just afford the luxury of a fresher taste, it also meant having to store food for as short a time as possible in the days prior to modern refrigerators. Milk, often served as buttermilk, not “sweet milk” like we drink now, might be kept in a well. The first electric service came to Bossier Parish (Bossier City) in 1912, but some rural families were still without it in the 1940’s. They had ice box refrigerators, kept cold by the blocks of ice an “ice man” would deliver, sometimes with ‘kool aid’ for the children.

Photo: Unidentified children, most likely in Plain Dealing, enjoying ice cream cones. Do you you know these children? Please respond if you do! Photo by Dr. Scott Coyle, who was a Plain Dealing resident and physician, courtesy of Kitty Coyle.

Rosenwald Schools

2009-09-08T11:39:00.006-05:00

Rosenwald Schools are buildings across 14 South and Southwestern states that represent a cooperative, large-scale effort to educate black children from 1917 to the 1930’s, a time when there was no consistently available education for these students to speak of.

Julius Rosenwald was the son of Jewish immigrants in Chicago. He was a high school dropout who worked as an apprentice in his uncles’ clothing business. In 5 years he had his own business, and then earned enough capital that Richard Sears asked him to be a partner in the legendary Sears, Roebuck mail order company. In 1909 he became president/CEO. He also became one of the new ‘professional givers,’ or philanthropists (think Rockefeller or Carnegie).

Inspired by black educator and leader Booker T. Washington writing to him about schools as bad as stables (some in floorless shacks), he established the Julius Rosenwald fund in 1917 to improve education for black students by improving the physical plant in which it took place. To do so, he introduced the concept of matching funds. Black communities had to raise approximately a third of the money for their new school, local school boards, a third, and the Rosenwald Fund, a third.

Rosenwald Schools were named to the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list in 2002. Bossier Parish had at least 13 Rosenwald buildings by 1932, according to a map from the Rosenwald Fund. There are a few possible Rosenwald Schools still standing in the Parish, most in very poor shape. One building that is holding
its own houses the North Bossier Civic Club on Highway 2 in Plain Dealing, pictured above. It follows the Rosenwald floor plan and is known locally as “The Rosenwald School”. However, we have not found any documentation to prove that it is one for historic preservation purposes, and the building may have been moved. If you have any information about this building, please contact us at the Historical Center. You could be saving a local treasure!

Latter Day Saints Affiliate Library Program

2009-08-20T16:08:00.002-05:00

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

2009-08-20T14:15:00.006-05:00

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.

Homemade and Homeraised in Bossier Parish

2009-08-17T10:28:00.006-05:00

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

Pioneer School

2009-08-07T10:31:00.004-05:00

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.

Back to School

2009-08-06T16:46:00.005-05:00

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!

Louisiana in Slices

2009-07-31T09:51:00.002-05:00

In the spring and summer of 1860, J. W. Dorr, an editorial correspondent for the New Orleans Crescent, made a horse-and-buggy tour of a considerable part of Louisiana. The tour was an effort to acquire new subscribers to the paper and to secure advertisements from merchants in the country towns that he visited. Dorr recorded information about crops, weather, scenery, towns and villages, planters and merchants, hotel accommodations, politics, schools, churches, newspapers and much, much more. His observations were published in a series of twenty-seven letters in the Crescent under the heading “Louisiana in Slices” between April 30 and September 10, 1860. Each letter dealt with a particular parish or part of a parish. They were labeled “From Our Special Traveling Correspondent” and were signed “Tourist.”

Dorr was in Bossier Parish on July 14, 1860. From Bellevue, then the parish seat of Bossier, he wrote of Bellevue’s mayor, its one store, two bar-rooms and a church. He described the town as a “scrougin little corporation of about a hundred fifteen or sixteen inhabitants.”

His description went on to say “Those who visit the capital of Bossier should come prepared to ‘camp out’, for while this correspondent was partaking of his bacon and bread in the [dining room] of the ‘hotel’, he had to keep his feet in continual motion to defend himself against the pigs under the dining table. These cleanly and agreeable household pets run round the house more sociably than cats and dogs, and, conjointly with the bipeds, make a rush for the victualing apartment whenever the bell announces meal time. The fare at the hotel is bacon and bread for breakfast, bread and bacon for dinner, and some bacon and bread for supper. We have bacon on the table and bacon under the table—the latter very much alive and uncured, the former very salty and rusty.”

Dorr was critical in his remarks that “It is a great pity that the rural Anglo-American of Louisiana does not understand the mere rudiments of the science of living. In this climate and with this soil he might live in luxury. At few country stopping-places do I find milk, eggs, butter, fresh meat or vegetables. Occasionally one of the above articles may be had, seldom more than one at the same place, and ordinarily not any of them. The Creole population in their part of the State, invariably live well. Our Americans, generally, had rather raise fifty dollars’ worth of cotton than five hundred dollars’ worth of anything else.”

Less critical were Dorr’s observations that Bossier Parish is extensive, having many acres of fine cotton and corn lands. He pointed out that while some of the uplands did make good crops, the bottomlands were much richer. “Bossier is the most broken and uneven country I have yet visited in Louisiana, and some of the highlands look barren enough, but in the bottoms may be found bodies of lands of unsurpassed fertility.”

Dorr’s Bossier letter ends with his remarks about the weather, a scorching drought which had rendered the corn crop almost a total failure and the cotton crop badly injured.

The weather was “unprecedentedly hot and dry.” That certainly sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

New Photo Display!

2009-07-23T13:08:00.005-05:00

We have just installed a new photo display, "Summertime in Bossier Parish," at the History Center. The display features images of picnics, swimming holes, summer camps, and family vacations. We have also located several wonderful photos of men and women in stylish bathing suits and dresses, like the one seen here on Fannie Swindle Gatlin. Even though she's covered from head to toe, Fannie is ready for a swim during her honeymoon in this image from 1916.

So as you sweat through another Bossier summer, stop by and see how your ancestors enjoyed summers past.

Images from our Archives

2009-07-17T09:43:00.003-05:00

Following the gardening theme, here is a photo from 1954 of Joe Knowles with Terry Joe Skaggs working hard in their backyard garden.

Old Gardens and Gardening

2009-07-17T09:18:00.008-05:00

The rich soils of Bossier Parish have always produced memorable abundances of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Many letters archived at the Historical Center contain references to foods and flowers grown in local gardens.

In September of 1900 a letter from Mary Peabody to friends in this area related the following:

"The wind blew cool this morning, but it is hot now. It is so very dusty. We have some sweet potatoes in the garden but it is so dry that it is hard work to get any. We had a nice garden this year, more vegetables than we could use. Mamma gave some away nearly everyday. She put up some kraut and made some chili sauce and chow-chow. We put up some peaches and pears. We haven't had any turnip greens yet, nor I haven't seen any. Yes, I will give you some violets. Will send them when I have a chance ... We had some very pretty morning glories and some roses."

A wide variety of flowers grew in Bossier gardens. In a May 1934 issue of The Bossier Banner, a local poet known as "Ladye Bird" recalled an old-fashioned garden containing boxwood hedges, beautiful pure-white lilies, violets, bridal wreath, yellow jasmine, heartsease, pansies, and thyme.

In Bossier's early days, as now, gardens were a great source of pride. Gardener's efforts might be rewarded at the Bossier Parish Fair with prizes for the best pecans, peanuts, pears, apples, pomegranates, figs, pumpkins, cushaws, beets, or radishes. Prizes in the floral division might be awarded to those who grew the finest chrysanthemums, roses, cacti, or ferns.

The Amazing Travels of Archival Boxes

2009-07-15T10:20:00.008-05:00

We have recently embarked on a full inventory of our archives. This is the first inventory of the Historical Center’s collections since our opening ten years ago.

So what is an inventory and why is it important?

Every item in our collection has its own unique number that is tied to our records and our database. This number corresponds to the year in which we received the item and groups items from a particular collection together. Initially, each box and folder was assigned to a specific location in our archives, but things have traveled over the past decade.

Some boxes have made intrepid building-wide journeys, while others have seemingly leapt across aisles, and a few simply shuffled over to the next shelf. Finding a photo or letter in our collection can be a challenge. This is why we need to complete a thorough inventory. We need to pinpoint where everything is right now, so we can find items quickly when patrons request them or when we are creating a new exhibit.

During our inventory process, we are basically going through every photo, map, and document in our collection and checking its number and location. Moving shelf by shelf, we open every box and record the items that we find. Then this list is compared to our collections database and we note changes in location and fix any discrepancies. When we finish the inventory process, our archives will be well-organized and we will be able to locate individual items with ease.

Welcome to our blog!

2009-06-22T15:34:00.005-05:00

For decades, many people in Bossier Parish dreamed of having a repository in which to preserve and exhibit documents and artifacts relating to the history of the parish. This dream became a reality on November 18, 1995, when citizens approved the renewal of the library tax. The Historical Center opened on January 24, 1999.

Here are some ways in which we fulfill our mission:

We participate with other area cultural organizations to present interesting programs and exhibits to the community.

We provide research and reference services.

Archaeology Week is celebrated annually with a public program.

Our collection includes genealogical and historical information, thousands of photographs and objects, all with ties to Bossier Parish.

I am Ann Middleton. As director of the Bossier Parish Library Historical Center, I extend to you a special invitation to visit the center, enjoy the exhibits, peruse the archives, search our database and take pride in what is uniquely Bossier.