Pictures and detailed information about our exhibits are in the works and we hope to
get this online soon. In the meantime, let me just TELL you about what we have:
During the 1998 Natchitoches-NSU Folk Festival many of our Creole communities
participated by providing various exhibits regarding their communities. These
exhibits were then donated to the Creole Center, currently on display are:
| An exhibit from the "Bayou Talk", a California Creole newspaper which contains
copies from that publication since its inception. |
| A pictorial depiction of the Creole families associated with the tri-parish area of
Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge and West Baton Rouge. |
| Information and photos of the Creole architecture of New Orleans covering the period of
1790-1840. |
| The Mardi Gras corner containing an actual costume and accessories created by Wilda
Boutte and photos of the annual parade held in the Creole community of Grand Marais. |
| A March, 1954 newspaper article featuring a Creole social club located in Los Angeles,
California. |
Other items of interest on display in the Center include the following:
| Various proclamations received over the years recognizing the annual Creole Heritage Day
celebration. |
| Copies of account books from 1859 covering the day-to-day dealings of many of the Creole
families of Cane River. These copies are presented in both the original French and
English transcriptions. - private collection - |
| Copies of letters written in French to the Jean Conant family from Sister Marie Theresa.
- private collection - |
| Typed listing of family records of John Conant copied from old books in which births,
marriages and deaths were written. Dates included are 1768 - 1874 - Names included
are Conant, Metoyer, Anty, Christophe, Morin, Sarpy, Balthazar, Roque, Chevalier, Llorens,
Delphin, Jones, Colson, Rachal, Mulon, Lacase, and Freedman. - private
collection - |
| Pictures from the first Creole Heritage Day celebration, the Badin Roque House (the
house with dirt floors), scenes of downtown Natchitoches on the riverbank, a host of
family photos from the Delphin, Conant, Colson, Louviere and Metoyer families. |
| The actual cancellation stamp issued by the United States Post Office in 1996
commemorating Creole Heritage Day. |
| Other artifacts include t-shirts and posters created by St. Augustine Historical
Society, "flour sack" dolls, one of the official Creole Maman Doll created by
Ms. Lair LaCour, photo of the "rope cross" once displayed at St. Augustine's
church on Cane River, a framed copy of "Creole Sunset" (poem by Tracey Colson),
and a sugar cane knife. |
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