Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006 - (Page 11)

The Louisiana State Museum weathers Katrina, begins recovery The eight Louisiana State Museum properties in the French Quarter have sustained varying degrees of minimal to severe damage. Areas surrounding the Presbytere, the Cabildo, the Old U.S. Mint, Madame John's Legacy, the Arsenal, the 1850 House, the Creole House, and the Jackson House received little water from flooding. The majority of the damage consisted of a few missing roof tiles, windows and shutters in the Cabildo complex and at the Presbytere. Hardest hit was the Old U.S. Mint, which lost a large portion of its copper roof. As a result, water came into contact with office areas, and a very small percentage of the jazz collection (approximately 1 percent) was affected. Museum staff has been working closely with State and Federal officials to stabilize buildings and protect the collections housed within them. Contractors engaged by FEMA have secured the Mint roof with tarp, and temporary repairs are underway. Documents retrieved from Mint offices were immediately freeze dried at LSU's Hill Memorial Library, and librarians report that the pieces are progressing well. Despite disruptions from Hurricane Katrina, events and exhibitions at the Cabildo will continue as scheduled as well as for branches in Natchitoches, Patterson, and Thibodaux. Log on to www.lsm.crt.state.la.us/ for additional information, or call 225-342-5414. tension, Teagarden’s membership would cause problems in the South, where laws forbade integrated stage performances. Despite laws against integrated performances, the All Stars played the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans that year with their integrated lineup. A photograph from the State Museum’s Jazz Collection taken by veteran photographer Don Perry (see page 9) shows the band performing on stage during a live WDSU broadcast. The sad irony is that when Armstrong visited the city in February 1949 to reign as King Zulu at Mardi Gras, city officials did not allow Teagarden — as the only white member of the All Stars — to perform at the Municipal Auditorium. According to All Stars bassist Arvell Shaw, the city’s ruling that day hurt Armstrong’s feelings so much that he vowed that he would not be buried in New Orleans. Indeed, he was buried in his adopted home of Corona, Queens, New York. During Armstrong’s 1952 visit to New Orleans, the All Stars performed once more. A photograph shows a club interior (likely the Famous Door at 339 Bourbon Street) with Armstrong and Barney Bigard of the All Stars surrounded by the beaming Basin Street Six band, including clarinetist Pete Fountain with his arm around Bigard. Another photograph from the same visit shows the All Stars paying a visit to white trumpeter and disc jockey Tony Almerico’s radio show at WJMR studios (see page 8). Armstrong and Arvell Shaw are surrounded by musicians and New Orleans Jazz Club members in a scene that displays huge smiles and goodwill all around. Clearly, despite segregation, Armstrong and his All Stars were able to overcome barriers. While Jim Crow ruled the day in the South, Armstrong used the power of his music and celebrity to blur those lines. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the international media’s focus on racial and class injustices in New Orleans, these photographs are reminders that jazz is a powerful tool in uniting and healing people. Witness the reopening of local jazz clubs in the Faubourg Marigny, Irvin Mayfield’s moving performance at the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra’s jazz mass at Christ Church Cathedral uptown, the second lines that honor the dead in Algiers, the Lincoln Center’s fund raising concert in New York, and even France’s assistance in rebuilding the Tremé neighborhood — the geographic heart and soul of New Orleans parade culture. While the city’s task of rebuilding can seem overwhelming, New Orleans can continue to use jazz — the city’s greatest export to the world — as a way to bring hope for the future of the city and the state. As the Louisiana State Museum repairs damage to the Old U.S. Mint, reinstalling the building’s jazz exhibition, and opens a new museum in Baton Rouge with an extensive section on Louis Armstrong in January 2006, we can embrace Armstrong’s message of social tolerance and unity during hard times to heal the city and lead the world back to Louisiana. —Charles Chamberlain, Museum Historian I Cabildo Jackson Square in New Orleans The site of the Louisiana Purchase Transfer and the flagship building of the Louisiana State Museum historical museum complex. I The Old Courthouse Museum 600 Second Street, Natchitoches The Richardsonian Romanesque structure is located in the heart of Natchitoches' historic district. I Louisiana State MuseumPatterson 394 Airport Circle Road, Patterson Louisiana's aviation heritage is chronicled through aircraft, artifacts and memorablia. Also on view: When Money Grew on Trees: The Spanish Moss Industry in Louisiana. I E.D. White Historic Site 2295 LA Highway 1, Thibodaux The family home of Edward Douglas White, the only Louisiana native to serve as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, features exhibits on life along Bayou LaFourche and the role of the White family in Louisiana history. Winter 2005-06/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 11 http://www.lsm.crt.state.la.us/

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005 Contents Letters Editor’s Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Louisiana State Museum After Katrina: “It’s time somebody woke us us up.” Missing New Orleans On Perilous Ground The Buildings of Louisiana (Architectural History by Karen Kingsley) Historic New Orleans Collection Louisiana Association of Museums Back to New Orleans Diary of a Displaced Person Jazz Notes (Music History by Bruce Raeburn) Cradle of the Stars The Terrible and the Brave Bookstand (Book Review by Thomas Uskali) Sound Advice (Music Review by Ben Sandmel) Forum (Commentary by James Lee Burke)

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2005-2006

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