Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - (Page 27) opposite page: Portrait of Edmund McIlhenny, inventor of Tabasco sauce. left: 19th-century advertisement. below: The hot red peppers that fire up Tabasco originated in Central America. They were first planted on Avery Island, Louisiana, over 130 years ago by Edmund McIlhenny. There he worked his way up from the post of bookkeeper to that of general agent, a position of enormous trust whose duties consisted of monitoring the bank’s five branches at Baton Rouge, St. Francisville, Donaldsonville, Opelousas, and Alexandria. Through his own thrift and industry, Edmund accrued a small fortune by the late 1850s. He purchased these branches and became an independent banker. During the same period, he acquired a reputation as a bon vivant, joining the elite Louisiana and Orleans clubs, A SELF-MADE MAN Edmund McIlhenny was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on October 15, 1815, to a middle-class family. His father John McIlhenny, a local politician, merchant, and tavern keeper who served on the board of the local bank, died from Asiatic cholera on Edmund’s 17th birthday. As Edmund recalled over a half-century later in an autobiographical sketch (written in third person): “Soon after the death, his second son, Edmund, though only 17, decided to go to work to assist his mother in the care and education of his younger brothers.” What happened to Edmund over the next nine years is unknown, although a modicum of evidence suggests he may have worked in Baltimore’s financial industry. In 1841, at age 26, however, he surfaced in New Orleans, where, armed with letters from his father’s friends, he secured a job at the Bank of Louisiana. 27
Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Contents Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina and Rita Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums New Orleans’ Coffee Connection No Man’s Land Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. ) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 (Page Cover1) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 (Page Cover2) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Contents (Page 1) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Contents (Page 2) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Editor’s Column (Page 3) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (Page 4) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities (Page 5) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana State Museum (Page 6) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana State Museum (Page 7) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana State Museum (Page 8) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana State Museum (Page 9) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 10) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 11) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 12) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 13) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 14) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 15) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 16) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 17) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 18) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 19) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 20) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 21) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 22) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 23) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 24) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 25) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 26) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - After Katrina and Rita (Page 27) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 28) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 29) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 30) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 31) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 32) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 33) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 34) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 35) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 36) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Tabasco: Edmund McIlhenny and the Birth of a Louisiana Pepper Sauce (Page 37) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Historic New Orleans Collection (Page 38) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Historic New Orleans Collection (Page 39) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Historic New Orleans Collection (Page 40) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Historic New Orleans Collection (Page 41) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Association of Museums (Page 42) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Association of Museums (Page 43) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 44) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 45) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 46) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 47) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 48) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 49) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 50) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 51) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 52) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 53) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 54) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - New Orleans’ Coffee Connection (Page 55) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 56) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 57) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 58) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 59) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 60) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 61) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 62) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 63) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 64) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - No Man’s Land (Page 65) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (Page 66) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (Page 67) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) (Page 68) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) (Page 69) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) (Page 70) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) (Page 71) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. ) (Page 72) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. ) (Page Cover3) Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Fall 2005 - Forum (Commentary by Roy Blount, Jr. ) (Page Cover4)
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