Spooky NOLA

We hear a lot of ghost stories in the Southeastern Architectural Archive -- from building managers, homeowners, genealogists, electricians, facilities staff, general contractors and shorers. In past years, I presented a Halloween lecture to former Tulane University faculty member Milton Scheuermann, Jr.'s "Architecture and Mysticism" class. Since he retired in June, I decided to post the presentation online.

View the images here.



& if you want to know my favorite SEAA Ghost Story:

Two electricians came into the archive one day to suss out some issues pertaining to a building they were hired to rewire. They needed to examine the SEAA's blueprints.

As they were consulting the drawings, they conveyed that about twenty-five years ago they were working on a CBD skyscraper building (they didn't want to say which one) because the manager was reporting frequent electrical problems.

They ultimately examined a ceiling crawl space.  As they shimmied across the floor, they started to discover artifacts. A shoe.... another shoe.... some pants.... a hat ... the BONES.

Startled, they backed out immediately and called authorities.  They said they never heard a convincing outcome.

The only report that they could find in the local paper described two workmen coming across horse bones in a building.

One electrician remarked, "Horses don't wear pants!"

Tulane Library (1966)

In June 1966, The Times-Picayune reported on the construction of the new $6.2 million Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. Anticipating an August 1968 completion, library director Robert L. Talmadge emphasized that the library would provide easy access to books and be re-organized according to a subject-based divisional system:

"'Traditionally, libraries were considered primarily storehouses for books, and librarians chiefly their guardians. This concept led to the core bookstack where most of a library's collections were locked up, creating barriers between books and the general reader.

'By sharp contrast, the importance of wide and intensive use of library resources argues for the readiest possible reader access to books. Thus, in the new Tulane library all of the regular collections will be on open shelves, freely available to every reader. Special resources such as rare books and manuscripts will of course be located in a separate section under the supervision of librarians.'"

As the construction was underway, Talmadge defined a structural and administrative reorganization according to three divisions: science-engineering, humanities-fine arts, and the social sciences, the latter including government and policy documents. With this scheme, it was felt that researchers could go to a singular place for books, journals, microfilm, pamphlets and reference materials.

Funds for the new library came from two sources: the Tulane Forward Fund and a federal grant made under the Academic Facilities Act of 1965. New Orleans architects Nolan, Norman and Nolan designed the four-story structure with foundations to support an expansion of four additional stories. They  devised the library's plan according to recommendations from Harvard librarian Keyes Metcalf (1889-1983), who authored the 1965 book, Planning Academic and Research Libraries.

If you want to read about the NEW Howard-Tilton Memorial Library building project currently underway, click here.

Quoted matter above:  "Tulane Library Gets Under Way." The Times-Picayune 30 June 1966.

Image above: B. Samuels, photographer. Howard-Tilton Memorial Library. 7001 Freret Street, New Orleans, LA.  Progress photograph. 1 December 1966. Nolan, Norman and Nolan, architects. William T. Nolan Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Architects' Libraries

Tulane University Libraries have benefited from donations made by the region's architects and their estates. Many of these historic gifts bear the signatures of their owners or their personally designed bookplates.

Architect Frank G. Churchill (Natchez, MS 1876- New Orleans, LA 1924) created his own ex libris (shown above). After attending Tulane University during the mid-1890s, Churchill studied painting in Cincinnati, Ohio.(1) He was briefly a principal in the DeBuys, Churchill & Labouisse firm before entering private practice.

His library included a copy of George Louis Adams' L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne (Paris, 1847). The book is incredibly scarce, and Churchill's copy bears the stamp of the Mayor of Saint-Quentin (Aisne, Picardy, France).

James Gallier, Sr. (1798-1866) also owned a copy of L'architecture moderne. He pasted the plates from both volumes into a large scrapbook that he had purchased from H.G. Stetson & Company, 54 Camp Street.


(1)"Orleans Artist, Architect, Dies in Life's Prime." The Times-Picayune 7 March 1924.

Images above:  Frank G. Churchill. Ex Libris, Undated. As it appears in George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 2 (Paris, 1847). Rare Books Unit, Tulane University Libraries.  Jones Hall Rare Books (large) NA7346 .C5

James Gallier, Sr. Scrapbook.  Plate from George Louis Adams. L'architecture moderne; élécations, coupe plans d'ensembles, et de détails de maisons de ville et de campagne, Vol. 1 (Paris, 1847). Sylvester Labrot Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Tulane & Bellocq

We have posted a number of entries about New Orleans photographer E.J. Bellocq (1873-1949) because his business largely centered on architectural and industrial photography. It's worth mentioning that he also supplied photographs to the Tulane University of Louisiana and Newcomb College. For example, his images appeared in the institutional yearbook, Jambalaya.

Tulane's  University Archives recently digitized the yearbooks, which are available via the Tulane University Digital Library (TUDL) and the Internet Archive.

Images above: E.J. Bellocq, photographer. "Faculty of Newcomb College;" "Law Department" Jambalaya. New Orleans: The Tulane University of Louisiana, 1902.

Howard-Tilton Memorial Library Construction

In December 1968, Library Journal featured an article about Tulane University's new Howard-Tilton Memorial Library (construction progress photographs shown above). Designed by the New Orleans firm Nolan, Norman and Nolan with consulting assistance of Harvard University Librarian Keyes D. Metcalf (1889-1983), the building was the largest new library to be reported that year. Tulane received nearly $2 million in federal grants to support the $6.2 million project.(1)

LJ reported:

"BIG AS IT IS, Tulane's Howard-Tilton Memorial Library is only about one-half of its ultimate size. Part of its construction cost represents an investment in future expansion: foundations capable of bearing another four floors atop the first floor, plus an elevator shaft which is to be unused until the building grows.

Built on a 25-foot module, the building presents a massive and simply designed exterior, with both the ground and fourth floors completely walled in glass, and the rest of the building with concrete aggregate.

The new library is across the street from the old one, and already holds some 700,000 volumes, or 75 percent of the university's total collections. It took a wooden ramp and 11,271 book truck trips to make the move across the street."

Today, visitors to the library will have noticed that its entrance has been moved to the Freret Street facade in preparation for the construction of two additional floors. Keep abreast of the progress here.

(1) "Local Affairs." The Times-Picayune (11 June 1965): p. 1; "U.S. Fund Totaling $2,039,833 Approved for Three N.O. Universities." The Times-Picayune (22  June 1965): p. 20. Building cost was $5.5 million; equipment cost was $655,000.

Images above:  B. Samuels, photographer. Pile Driving. 2 September 1966; Form Setting. 1 February 1967; Concrete Pour. 8 May 1967. Nolan, Norman and Nolan Office Records, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Progressive New Orleans 1940

Metro Goldwyn Mayer's "A Brief New Orleans History Lesson" (1940) includes mention of modern construction methods and also Tulane University.