Call for Gay Ball Program Covers
Do you have old Gay Carnival Ball programs? If so, please take a picture of the cover and send them to us so we can include them in a new section of our website’s Gay Carnival photo gallery. We recently added the gallery and currently have pics of program covers from the following krewes: Olympus, Celestial Knights, Armeinius, Polyphemus, Satyricon, and Petronius. We are missing program covers from Amon Ra, Mwindo, Lords of Leather, Apollo, Narcissus, Ganymede, Memphis, Ishtar, and other lesser known krewes. Please send pictures to [email protected]
Black History Month Highlight
One of the most colorful figures in New Orleans queer history was Jazz pioneer Tony Jackson, a seminal figure in the city’s music scene at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Born in 1876 in Uptown New Orleans, Jackson demonstrated musical ability at an early age. By the time he was thirteen, he was playing the piano in neighborhood bars during the day and quickly earned a reputation as one of the best piano players in town. When Jackson turned twenty-one, Storyville was created, and the brothels / clubs of the infamous red-light district launched his career. Jackson, who lived openly as a gay man, was one of the district’s most popular musicians. Jackson’s piano playing style was dynamic and mesmerizing. One of his signature moves was to do a high stepping “cake-walk” while pounding the keys. He also dressed to the nines, usually wearing an ascot tie and a diamond pin. Jackson’s impeccable sartorial style set the standard for other performers. (Photo Credit: Tony Jackson. The William Russell Jazz Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, Acc. No. 92-48-L.241.)
Save the Date!
Our annual membership meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 5, 7:00p.m. at the Dodwell House (1519 Esplanade Ave.). The meeting will serve as the official launch of our 2025 programming focus—Louisiana Queer Arts. After a summary of the Archives Project’s accomplishments over the last year, the AP will present its annual Stewart Butler / Alfred Doolittle Award for Contributions to Queer History to pioneering lesbian and working artist, Barbara Scott. An exhibition of Scott’s work will be featured at the meeting. After the award presentation, we will have a panel discussion on the life, work, and art of the late artist John Burton Harter (1940 – 2002). An exhibit of original Harter works, on loan from The Faerie Playhouse, will accompany the panel discussion. This program is made possible with the generous support of the John Burton Harter Foundation.
Call for Artists
The Louisiana Queer Arts program will feature an artist’s fair on Saturday, June 7 at the Marigny Opera House. This event will celebrate queer art being created in Louisiana by featuring 40 queer artists from all over the state. By focusing on emerging artists as well as more established artists from all backgrounds, we will highlight the diversity of the queer community and its creative talents. Artists interested in participating are invited to apply here. The application window is open until March 15. Please help us spread the word.
Service Learning Students
For several years, the Archives Project has had a collaborative relationship with Tulane University’s Service Learning program. Each semester a handful of students volunteer with us. This semester, the students are working on two projects. The first is assessing The Historic New Orleans Collection’s LGBT+ holdings and creating a pathfinder to those collections. This will eventually be posted on our website. The second project has to do with the mural pictured above. This mural was in Dixie’s Bar of Music for years and is now on display at the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The 35-foot-wide mural was done by artist Xavier Gonzalez and interior designer Charlie Gresham in the late 1940s. It features dozens of images of prominent national and local musicians and entertainers. Our Service Learning students are assisting curators at the Louisiana State Museum to identify the people depicted in the mural and compile short biographical sketches of them. Dixie’s Bar of Music was a popular gay bar on Bourbon Street from 1949 to 1964. Dixie and Irma Fasnacht donated the painting to the Louisiana State Museum in 1978.