Librarians at the old Canal branch preparing materials for the Library's blind patrons. Today, services for the visually handicapped are provided through the Periodicals, Arts and Recreation Division.
Any library that has been in operation for one hundred years has developed a rich and varied collection of materials both for home use and for in-house reference purposes. Many items from NOPL's predecessor institutions--the Fisk Library and the City Library--remain on the shelves, especially in the reference collections on Loyola Avenue. The small sample from the Library's holdings represented on this and the next panel give testimony to the heritage that this institution is preserving and to the wealth of information that it offers to its users.
Margaret Ruckert, left, head of the Louisiana Department, with
the Library's 1962 exhibit of carnival memorabilia. The Louisiana Division's Carnival
Collection today includes thousands of original invitations, dance cards, programs, and krewe
favors produced by and for dozens of carnival organizations over the last 130 or so years.
A generous
gift from Martha Gasquet Westfeldt made possible a circulating collection of art prints at the
New Orleans Public Library. Originally housed at the Milton H. Latter Memorial branch, this
collection moved to the new Central Library in 1958. A segment of the collection is pictured in
this photograph taken at Latter, ca. 1950.
The combination of these two libraries gave to the city a
collection of over thirty thousand books. These books were of a much higher standard and more
scholarly character than those usually found in circulating libraries.... The books of both the Fisk and
the Lyceum were selected by ripe scholars who gathered such material as a studious body of readers
would enjoy and delight in; and the combined libraries provided, for its size, one of the most
complete collections of the classics of all languages and all times that existed in this
country.[Annual
Report, 1907, p. 6]
The Latter branch also housed the LaHache Music Library,
including NOPL's collection of phonograph records, a portion of which is shown in this 1950
photograph. The recordings also moved from Latter to Central in 1958. The Periodicals, Arts
and Recreation Division continues to circulate records along with cassette recordings and
compact discs. The newer recording formats are also available at several of NOPL's
branches.
One of the Library's most extensive photograph collections,
the David Barrow Fischer Collection of steamboat images, was donated by members of the late
Mr. Fischer's family. The Fischer Collection is housed in the Louisiana Division.
The international nature of New Orleans and the
growing number of multilingual citizens in the city, prompted a search for special funds to
increase the foreign language collection. With a grant of $450.00 from the Friends of the New
Orleans Public Library and $1731.00 from the Hernsheim Fund, the library collection in foreign
languages was augmented to 15,000 volumes. Works by outstanding contemporary and classical
authors in fiction, social science, and poetry were purchased. Although major areas of purchase
included works in French, German, and Spanish, books in Greek, Italian, Polish, Hebrew, Serb,
and the Scandinavian tongues were also added. [Annual Report, 1968, p. 2]
Many old and rare
volumes from the Library's past remain in the collection today. The Beauties of Shakspeare,
published in 1780, is an interesting example of a popular collection of excerpts from the Bard's
voluminous works. This photocopy of the title page from volume one is an enlargement from
the original "pocketbook" format.
One of the oldest and rarest volumes in New Orleans Public
Library's book collection is this 17th-century French genealogy. It is shelved in the Louisiana
Division, which has housed NOPL's genealogy collection since the 1970s.
Three Departments of the Main Library were moved the
first part of 1963 in order to help us give better service to the public.... The Louisiana
Department was moved to the third floor and made a closed reference department. Research
work may now be done in the quiet atmosphere necessary for concentration. The Art and Music
Department was moved to the second floor where its collections are now accessible to people
who come to see the many displays of art and related subjects on the bridge. The Fiction
Department was moved to the main floor with the result that many patrons do not have to use
either the elevator or the stairs during their visits to the Library. Our public is enthusiastic about
the changes. [Annual Report, 1963]
In conspicuous
contrast to the ancient du Chesne tome is one of the newest genealogical tools available--CD
ROMs. NOPL offers the Latter Day Saints Family Search collection of CDs along with a
number of discs that index census records, marriage records, and other research materials.
NOPL's
record collection was traditionally strong in the areas of jazz and opera as evidenced by these
two selections.
The Martha Gasquet Westfeldt Art Collection, donated
by Mrs. Westfeldt, brought Library patrons Oriental ceramics dating back to 200 B.C., a related
collection of art reference books, and a fund to inaugurate a long-awaited service--a circulating
collection of framed art reproductions. The sixty-nine prints purchased during the year were in
constant demand, with long reserve lists for many of the pictures. [Annual Report,
1952]
NOPL has long maintained a large and important Government
Documents collection comprising tens of thousands of publications issued by agencies of the
U.S. government. These documents cover a seemingly infinite variety of topics. Where else are
you likely to find illustrations of prize specimens of American poultry from the last century?
These are from the Dept. of Agriculture's Yearbook for 1896.
This map of a
portion of the New Orleans harbor, showing details of land structures not likely to be found
elsewhere, is from the Annual Report of the Mississippi River Commission for the Fiscal Year
ending June 30, 1895 published as part of the Report of the Secretary of War (1895). The
volume is part of NOPL's Government Documents collection, housed in the Business and
Science Division.
In compliance with an act of the Louisiana Legislature, all
books in German have been withdrawn from every department. [Annual Report, 1916-1919, p.
11]
One of the special resources in NOPL's genealogical
collection is the 128 volume set of Lineage Books published by the National Society of the
Daughters of the American Revolution. According to this letter, most of the set originally was
on loan from the local Sons of the American Revolution. Mrs. C. Robert Churchill changed the
deposit to a donation in her husband's memory following his death in 1946. [Herbert S.
Livaudais Donation, in memory of Samuel H. Livaudais, Sr.]
The New Orleans
Public Library's periodical collection dates back well into the 19th century. This number of
Scribner's Magazine dates from the month of the Library's establishment.
One of the many
local periodicals represented in the Library's collection is the Mascot, a weekly tabloid that
chronicled the seamy side of New Orleans during the gilded age of the 1880s. The Louisiana
Division has microfilm copies of the Mascot for the period 1882 through 1895.
The United States Library for the Blind has been
established in the New Orleans Public Library. The credit for this outstanding achievement is
due to Dr. Herbert Putnam, Librarian of Congress. The New Orleans Public Library has now
thousands of volumes in Moon and Braille Types, as well as disks for the Talking Book, which
we are circulating to the blind who reside within the territory half way between New Orleans and
Atlanta, Cincinnati, St. Louis and Dallas. [Annual Report, 1932-1934, p. 11]
In addition to the
Government Documents collection housed in the Business and Science Division, the Library's
Louisiana Division holds an excellent collection of state documents. Shown here is the cover of
Governor Murphy J. Foster's 1900 message to the Louisiana Legislature.
This photo of a
Charity Hospital horse-drawn ambulance is from the 1906 Annual Report of the hospital. The
Louisiana State Documents Collection holds copies of these reports from 1880 through
1964.
The Haspel Doll Collection, installed June 9, attracted
numerous persons. This group of 500 dolls from practically every nation is perhaps the finest in
the South. Its value to students of geography and costume has been outstanding. Through the
generosity of the Haspel family the dolls are to be kept in the Library permanently, or until either
of the contracting parties desires a change of plans. [Annual Report, 1941, p. 7]
This reproduction showing a detail from a classic Doric portico was made from one of dozens of
engravings in Peter Nicholson's three volume Principles of Architecture, published in London
during the year 1836.
This finely lithographed invitation to the 1873 ball of the
Knights of Momus is one of thousands in the Library's Carnival Collection, one of several
special collections housed in the Louisiana Division.
Cox Cable New Orleans through the Arts &
Entertainment Network, donated to the library "The A&E Library Theatre." The donation
consists of a 20" TV monitor, a videocassette recorder, a collection of six A&E program
cassettes varying from classic dramas to historical documentaries, comedy, performing arts and
five companion books. [Annual Report, 1990, p. 4]
Although NOPL no longer circulates art prints, its
collections still include many art books filled with fine reproductions of classics representing all
art forms. This reproduction of Edouard Manet's "At the Cafe" is from Samuel Rocheblave's
1941 volume, French Painting XIXth Century.
We have expended much time and energy in the effort
to complete [the United States document] collection and fill in all gaps. We have met with
considerable success in this undertaking and I believe we now have a more complete collection
of United States Government documents than any other library south of Washington. [Annual
report, 1911, p. 11]