Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 - (Page 7)

KnowLA continues to gather encyclopedic entries KnowLA, the LEH's on-line encyclopedia of Louisiana history and culture, continues to make progress. Staff members are now actively contacting writers and soliciting entries for the encyclopedia, and Dr. Janet Allured (McNeese State University), section editor for Women in Louisiana History, has energized an exciting roster of contributors. Their topics range from Storyville and its notorious Blue Books, to the Sisters of the Holy Family, Cammie Henry, and Native-American women in 20thcentury Louisiana. KnowLA editors Cathy Corder and Joyce Miller attended the 2008 Southern Historical Association conference in New Orleans and met with several potential writers, as well as with Charles Reagan Wilson, co-editor of the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture and director of the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi. For more information about KnowLA, contact Cathy Corder at corder@leh.org or at 504-620-2637. An LEH-funded book receives national recognition Robert D. Leighninger, Jr., faculty associate in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University, recently received the American Public Works Association (APWA) Abel Wolman Award for his book Building Louisiana: The Legacy of the Public Works Administration, funded in part by an LEH Louisiana Publishing Initiative grant. Established in 1987, the Abel Wolman Award is presented annually by APWA’s Public Works Historical Society to recognize the best new book published in the field of public works history. The award provides encouragement and recognition to historians whose research and publications contribute generously to the body of public works history. Leighninger was selected for the award by a committee of public works professionals and scholars. Building Louisiana: The Legacy of the Public Works Administration (University Press of Mississippi, 2007), documents the ambitious and artful structures erected in Louisiana by the Public Works Administration of the 1930s. Through extensive research in the National Archives and field work within the state, Leighninger places the edifices in social and political context. “It is nice to have one’s work recognized by fellow academics, but recognition by public works practitioners — the people who actually do the work — is a whole other thing,” said Leighninger. “They are my heroes, and to know they find the work useful is an honor.” Leighninger’s book covers Louisiana state projects of interest including “Big Charity” hospital and the Carville leprosy center among others, and draws lessons from the Public Works Administration’s history that can be applied to current political concerns. A former resident of Baton Rouge, Leighninger is also the author of Long Range Public Investment: The Forgotten Legacy of the New Deal. A chapter from Building Louisiana, specifically about New Orleans’ Charity Hospital, was excerpted and featured as the cover story in the Fall 2007 edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas. PRIME TIME expands bilingual outreach With funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities to expand bilingual PRIME TIME sites nationally, the Pioneer Public Library System in Oklahoma has implemented successful programs in three of their libraries. PRIME TIME and bilingual PRIME TIME provide a unique sixto eight-week program of reading, discussion, and storytelling at public libraries and other venues. A discussion leader and storyteller conduct weekly book discussion and storytelling programs for children ages 6 to 10 and their parents. PRIME TIME Senior Consultant Dianne Brady conducted a site visit on October 21 to the Moore, Oklahoma Public Library where some 50 enthusiastic Spanish-speaking participants gathered for their third session. Community building was in evidence with the Rotary Club of Moore providing and serving the meals each week. Churches, schools, TV and radio stations serving the Latino communities assisted in recruiting families and the local newspaper is donating copies for each session. Anne Masters, director of the Pioneer Library System, confirmed that PRIME TIME is effectively reaching this segment of their population and changing their attitudes and behaviors toward reading and the library. One participant approached Brady and library staff to express appreciation for the library offering a program that has changed the way she and her husband read and talk with their children about books. She also thanked them for the library resources and services she and her family now use on a regular basis. The Pioneer Public Library System is in the process of securing funding to sustain PRIME TIME in these and other communities in the library system. Since is inception in 1991, PRIME TIME programs have taken place at 468 sites in Louisiana and 887 sites in 36 states. For more information, log on to: www.leh.org/html/primetime.html Winter 2008-09/LOUISIANA CULTURAL VISTAS 7 New Orleans’ French Market was renovated by the Public Works Administration. http://www.leh.org/html/primetime.html

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008 Contents Friends Editor's Column Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Prospect.1 New Orleans The Historic New Orleans Collection The Enduring Performance of Michael P. Smith Jazz Notes Louisiana Foodways Birds of a Feather: Windfowl Carvings in Southeast Louisiana Louisiana Association of Museums Louisiana Architecture O. Winston Link in Louisiana The Ogden Museum of Southern Art The Colfax Massacre Louisiana State Museum Unlocking the History of Greek Key Architecture Bookstand Sound Advice Forum

Louisiana Cultural Vistas - Winter 2008

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