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Director of Publications Jessica Dorman Head of Photography Keely Merritt Design
Theresa Norris
The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly is published by The Historic New Orleans Collection, which is operated by the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, a Louisiana nonprofit corporation. Housed in a complex of historic buildings in the French Quarter, facilities are open to the public, Tuesday through Saturday, from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., and Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Tours of the History Galleries, Williams Residence, and Courtyards and Architecture are available for a nominal fee.
Board of Directors
Mrs. William K. Christovich, Chair
Fred M. Smith, President
Drew Jardine, Vice President
John E. Walker, Past President
John Kallenborn
E. Alexandra Stafford
Hilton S. Bell
Executive Director Priscilla Lawrence
The Historic New Orleans
Collection
533 Royal Street
New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
(504) 523-4662
wrc@hnoc.org
www.hnoc.org
ISSN 0886-2109
© 2012 The Historic New Orleans
Collection
STAFF
In the Community Sarah Doerries has been named to the editorial board of the Cincinnati Review.
Publications
John H. Lawrence contributed the Foreword to New Orleans Observed by Errol Barron.
New Staff
Bobby Ticknor, data entry, Vieux Carre Survey
Volunteers
Durban Clarke, Sara Gothard, Jean Paul Perrilliat, Elizabeth Reade, Susan Williams, and Lisa Wilson,
docent department
Changes
Mary Mees Garsaud, editor of the Quarterly, has left The Collection to spend more time with her growing family: husband Marcel, daughter Amelia, and baby son Marcel.
The French government entrusted Fulton to poll the Louisiana population concerning Anglo-American relations in the aftermath of Jay’s Treaty. In a letter of March 5, 1795, Fulton requested French soldiers to lead an expedition against Spanish forces in Louisiana and the Floridas. In order to fulfill his mission, Fulton voluntarily surrendered his military rank but, in a letter of December 28, 1795, asked to be reinstated as a squadron leader. By the end of 1796, Fulton had furnished French officials with information about troop loyalty and the best system to occupy Louisiana.
The Samuel Fulton letters complement Memoire historique et politique sur la Louisiane (Paris: 1802), in which Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes (1717-1784), French minister of foreign affairs during the American Revolution, contended that Louisiana should remain French. The Collection is fortunate to have copies of the original manuscript as well as the published book.
H The Historic New Orleans Collection has recently obtained the William Williamson letters, a collection of three items relating to the December 17, 1850, fire aboard the steamboat South America. Laden with a cargo of whiskey, iron, and flour, the side-wheel packet steamboat blew up nine miles above New Orleans. Among the casualties were 16 soldiers bound for military service in Texas and New Mexico. Writing from Springfield, Ohio, on December 30, 1852, Andrew J. Williamson, who had survived the accident, asked the Washington, DC, firm of Bryon and Cochrane to petition Congress to authorize payment for losses sustained in the South America disaster. According to a notarized deposition from his brother William, Andrew J. Williamson had served as first lieutenant of the 3rd Infantry, US Army. After having been ordered to report to Newport Barracks in Kentucky, Lieut. Williamson outfitted himself and his unit for what was to be an extended military campaign in Texas and New Mexico. William Williamson, who had helped his brother
pack for the campaign, estimated the value of his brothers lost clothing, personal possessions, and military equipment at $1000. (2011.0234)
I	A gift of Ms. Margaret Cowand Schonberg, Mr. George Dicks Cowand, Ms. Louise Cowand Daniels, and Mr. Elliott Karlson Cowand Jr. in memory of Elliott and Emmy Lou Dicks Cowand, the Cowand and Dicks Family Business Collection consists of materials concerning family-operated local businesses. This diverse collection documents the growth of a New Orleans family’s business interests beginning with a French Quarter cooperage established in 1819 by Charles T. Cowand. A ledger for the years 1819 to 1825 is included in the collection, along with correspondence, minutes, advertisements, illustrations, patents, product catalogs, photographs, and ephemera related to the La Valliere Company; Finlay, Dicks and Company; and the Specialty Products Company.
Established in 1914 and located at 518 Bienville Street, the La Valliere Company marketed perfume and (dated products worldwide. The Cowand and Dicks Family Business Collection includes Chinese trademarks required to protect the La Valliere brand. The loss of the French Opera House to fire in December 1919 was a blow to the dtys cultural life—but a promotional opportunity for the perfumery. Noting that its Sweet Olive line had been popular among opera goers, the company promoted the scent in the early 1920s with testimonials from former opera house staff and performers. After the La Valliere Company was dissolved in 1932, some of its product lines—including the first-aid liniment MUL-EN-OL and the floral-scented cream deodorant Sub Rosa—were taken over by the family-run Specialty Products Company. The Cowand and Dicks Family Business Collection complements the La Valliere Perfume Co. Records (2001-32-L), an earlier THNOC acquisition.
—Mary Lou Eichhom
18 Volume XXIX, Number 1 — Winter 2012