Acknowledgments and Credits for the Folklife in Louisiana Website and the Creole State Exhibit
Additional acknowledgements and credits are listed in Louisiana Voices Folklife in Education Project.
Folklife in Louisiana Website
Website producer/curator: Maida Owens
Webmaster: Greg Wirth
Photographers and Photo Credits
The Folklife in Louisiana website includes the works of many photographers. All photographers retain photo rights other than DCRT staff photos. All DCRT photos should be credited as: DCRT Staff Photo by [Insert the photographer's name]. Contact the Folklife Program director regarding photo reproduction requests.
About the Contributors—Photographers and Writers
The Folklife in Louisiana website presents the work of many photographers and writers who have documented Louisiana traditional cultures. Below is a list of authors, professional photographers and videographers.
Lisa Abney, Ph.D., is provost and professor of English at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Neil Alexander is a filmmaker formerly based in New Orleans.
Frédéric Allamel is an anthropologist in Indianapolis.
Louis Alvarez and Andrew Kolker are videographers formerly based in New Orleans.
Barry Jean Ancelet, Ph.D., is a folklorist and professor of francophone studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Smiley Anders is a columnist for The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge, La.
Fabienne Ardus is a French Immersion teacher at the Episcopal School of Acadiana in Cade, La., and provided French translations of two units.
Corliss Badeaux is an instructor in the Department of English and Foreign Languages at McNeese State University in Lake Charles.
Harry P. Becnel Jr. taught in the Department of Sociology, Social Welfare and Criminal Justice at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Rebecca Begnaud is a traiteur in South Louisiana.
Shane Bernard, Ph.D., is a historian/archivist for McIhenny Company in Avery Island, La.
Sylvia Bienvenu is a retired educator in New Iberia, La.
Les Blank is a filmmaker with Brazos Films.
Donna Bonner, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist.
Dominic Bordelon is a librarian with the East Baton Rouge Parish Library.
Madelyn Boudreaux received an M.A. in English with a concentration in public folklore from Northwestern State University.
Deborah Boykin, Ph.D., is a folklorist with the Alabama Center for the Traditional Culture. Previously, she was the tribal archivist for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and the folk arts coordinator for the Mississippi Arts Commission.
Greg Bowman was a Mennonite missionary with the Methodist Center who worked with the Houmas Indians in the 1980s.
Paddy Bowman, M.A., is the director of Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education.
C. Ray Brassieur, Ph.D., is an anthropologist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the anthropology department.
Martha Perez Brown, a native of Mexico, has been in the U.S. for over 30 years and was working in the Union Parish school system as a liaison for Hispanic students and their families when folklorist Susan Roach asked her to participate in documenting the Mexican community of north central Louisiana for the New Populations Project.
Diane F. Buckley is an art curator formerly with the Louisiana State Museum.
Charles Bush is a videographer based in Baton Rouge, La.
Syndey Byrd is a folklorist and cultural documentary photographer in New Orleans. She may be contacted at 3470 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119, or by phone at 504.821.3528.
Joshua Clegg Caffery is a folklorist, musician, songwriter and producer living in Breaux Bridge, La., and the chair of the English Department at the Episcopal School of Acadiana.
Madeline Domangue Cagle is a folklorist and English instructor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux.
Norma Elia Cantú, Ph.D., is a professor of English at the University of Texas at San Antonio, where she directs the doctoral program in English.
Norbert Cazabat was a Creole from Davant in Plaquemines Parish, La.
Barbara Chumley is an independent researcher and English instructor at Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, La.
Malcolm Comeaux, Ph.D., is a cultural geographer at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.
Jessica Cohn-Phillips was a student at Metairie Park Country Day School in Metairie, La.
Rebecca T. Cureau is a professor emereta of music and previously served as chair of the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La.
Ellen M. Daigle published in the 1991 Louisiana Folklore Miscellany.
Dana David-Gravot, who received a Ph.D. in francophone studies from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, resides in New Orleans.
Marc David received a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of North Carolina.
Kerry Davis received a M.A. in English from Louisiana Tech University, where she later served as an English Instructor and as Louisiana Regional Folklife Program research associate in charge of the Louisiana Quilt Documentation Database (2003-06).
Susan Garrett Davis, a native Felicianan, was a writer at Louisiana State University and is now a craftsperson.
Frank de Caro, Ph.D., is a folklorist and professor emeritus at Louisiana State University, Department of English.
Jim Delahoussaye is a retired biologist now living in Butte La Rose, La.
Nicholas Rey Deriso is a journalist who pursues an interest in blues from his base in Monroe, La.
Jerry Devillier is a photographer in Eunice, La.
Sam Dickenson, Ph.D., was an archaeologist and journalist who was an expert on the Indians and French-Spanish colonial periods of Arkansas history.
J.L. Dillard, Ph.D., was a linguist and professor at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.
Jocelyn Hazelwood Donlon, Ph.D., is a folklorist formerly in Baton Rouge, La., who teaches English and folklore at the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in Natchitoches, La.
Jon Donlon, Ph.D., researches leisure and teaches at Tokai University in Tokyo in Japan.
David Doucet is a Cajun musician and guitarist for the band BeauSoleil and publisher of Louisiana Databook.
John L. Doughty Jr. is an independent researcher and writer in Tullos, La.
Sheri Lane Dunbar (Ironwood), Ph.D., is an anthropologist in Atlantic Beach, Fla.
Elaine Eff, Ph.D., is a folklorist based in Baltimore, Md.
David C. Estes, Ph.D, is a folklorist previously at Loyola University in New Orleans.
David Evans, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of music at the University of Memphis.
William F. Fagan is a geographer who taught at Northwestern State University.
Teresa Parker Farris, M.A., is a folklorist who teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans, La.
Marcy Frantom received a M.A. in English with a folklore emphasis and researches cemetery material culture.
Sylvia Franton is a native of Louisiana with a heartfelt interest in Louisiana history and folklore who participated in the Delta Folklife Field School.
Anne Frugé is currently a Ph.D. candidate in comparative politics at the University of Maryland.
Patrica Gaitely teaches folklore and English at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Joel Gardner is an oral historian, now in New Jersey, specializing in oral history and history of corporations.
D'Jalma Garnier is a musician who researches Louisiana Creole music.
Bob Gates, M.A., is a folklorist who served as the Louisiana Folklife Program director from 1986 - 1988.
Marcia Gaudet, Ph.D., is a folklorist and professor emeritus at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Department of English.
Adrian Gauthier is a photographer in Thibodaux, La.
Janice Dee Gilbert was a journalist in St. Tammany Parish, La.
Chris Goertzen, Ph.D., teaches music history and world music at the University of Southern Mississippi.
Tomás Montoya González is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology, specializing in popular culture, at the University of Oriente in Santiago de Cuba.
Al Godoy is a photographer and videographer at Louisiana Public Broadcasting and former photographer for the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
Betsy Gordon, Ph.D., in speech communication, did her dissertation on the shrimp fleet blessing from Louisiana State University and teaches at McKendree College in Lebanon, Ill.
Philip Gould is a cultural documentary photographer based in Grand Coteau, La. He may be contacted at PO Box 4608, Lafayette, LA 70502, or by phone at 337.234.5076.
Carol Gravois graduated from Louisiana State University with a B.A. in anthropology.
Laura Marcus Green, Ph.D., is a folklorist based in Santa Fe, N.M.
H. F. "Pete" Gregory, Ph.D., is an anthropologist who teaches in the Department of Social Sciences at Northwestern State University and directs the Williamson Museum in Natchitoches, La.
T. Ariana Hall is the executive director of the the CubaNOLA Arts Collective, a nonprofit organization in New Orleans focused on the cultural connection between Cuba and New Orleans.
Betty Jo Harris teaches history at River Oaks School in Monroe, La., and received her M.A. from the University of Louisiana at Monroe in 1994.
Sara-Ann Harris is a writer who has specialized in the cultural history of southeast Louisiana for two decades.
C. Renee Harvison, M.A. in English with a concentration in folklore, is in market research in Overland Park, Kan.
Donald W. Hatley, Ph.D., directed the Louisiana Folklife Center and was dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Connie Herndon received a Ph.D. in English with a concentration in folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Cheryl Hogan is an independent historian from Plaquemines Parish, La.
April Clark Honaker received a Technical Writing Certificate and M.A. in English from Louisiana Tech University, where she is an English instructor.
Glynn Ingram taught history at Louisiana Tech University.
Joy J. Jackson, Ph.D., was an oral historian at the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies at Southeastern Louisiana University.
Joyce Marie Jackson, Ph.D., is an ethnomusicologist and folklorist and associate professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.
David Jones is a videographer in New Orleans, La.
Peter Jones, M.F.A., is a visual artist and professor emeritus who taught art at Louisiana Tech University.
Hardy "Chip" Jones, Jr., Ph.D., is an associate professor of English and the director of creative writing at Cameron University.
Terry Jones, Ph.D., is a historian at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Rosan Augusta Jordan, Ph.D., is a folklorist and retired from the Department of English at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Kathy Kilbourne/Kathleen Carlin, Ph.D., is an educator and an independent anthropologist in New Orleans.
Amelia Kish was a student at Metairie Park Country Day School in Metairie, La.
Tracey E. W. Laird, Ph.D., researched the country music traditions of Shreveport and Louisiana Hayride. She is a professor of music and chair of the Department of Music at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga.
Laura Landry, M.A., is an archaeologist in Houston, Texas.
John Laudun, Ph.D., is a folklorist in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Department of English.
Elaine J. Lawless, Ph.D., is a folklorist in the University of Missouri, Department of English.
Dayna Bowker Lee, Ph.D., is an anthropologist and was the regional folklorist for the Red River Valley and Neutral Strip at the Louisiana Folklife Center at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Keagan LeJeune, Ph.D., is a folklorist who teaches at McNeese State University.
Cherry Levin, Ph.D., researched wedding traditions while getting her Ph.D. in English at Louisiana State University.
Susan Levitas, a folklorist and filmmaker in New Orleans was producer for the film, "Shalom Y'all."
Lisa Holzenthal Lewis is an archivist with the Diocese of Baton Rouge.
Carl Lindahl, Ph.D,. is a folklorist and narrative scholar in the Department of English at the University of Houston.
Alan Lomax was a folklorist, filmmaker, and collector of American folk music.
Michael Luster, Ph.D., is a folklorist and was director of the Louisiana Folklife Festival in Monroe, La., from 1996 – 2005 and is the state folklorist of Arkansas.
Clare Manes is a researcher in Lafayette who published "Out of the Shadow of Leprosy: The Carville Letters and Stories of the Landry Family" in 2013.
William Manger, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of geography in the School of Social Sciences at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Marion P. Martin was a graduate student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Gail Matthews-Denatale, Ph.D., is a folklorist in the graduate education program at Northeastern University in Boston.
Mandy McCain was a graduate student at Louisiana Tech University.
Andrew McClean is an ethnomusicologist and professional musician who specializes in Indian classical music. He is based in New Orleans, where he performs and teaches the guitar and Indian tabla (drums).
Claude Medford was a basketmaker who researched Native American basketry.
Shari Miller is a graduate of Goshen College in Goshen, Ind. From 1980 - 82 she lived and worked in the Clifton community as a volunteer supported by the Mennonite Church.
Pat Mire is an independent filmmaker in Lafayette, La.
Elemore Morgan was an artist and photographer at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Rick Olivier is a Louisiana native and an award-winning New Orleans photographer.
Adeem Nachabe was a student at Metairie Park Country Day School in Metairie, La.
Stella Nesanovich is a poet and retired professor of English from McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La.
Denise Neu, Ph.D., has a doctorate in urban studies from the University of New Orleans. She runs a consulting practice specializing in heritage, health and sustainability issues; conducts independent research; and is an adjunct professor in Chicago, Ill.
Milton B. Newton, Jr., Ph.D., was a geographer at Louisiana State University in the Department of Geography and Anthropology.
Lisa Noland is a writer and has worked for the Louisiana Conservationist magazine and now for the Louisiana House of Representatives.
Donna McGee Onebane received a Ph.D. in English with a major in folklore at the University of Louisiana. She is a south Louisiana cultural researcher and writer.
Rachel Ornelas coordinates the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Folklife Village.
Kelby Ouchley of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosts "Bayou Diversity," a weekly radio feature on public radio station KEDM in Monroe, La.
Maida Owens, M.A., is an anthropologist and has been Louisiana Folklife Program director since 1988.
Stephanie Pierrotti participated in the Delta Folklife Field School in 1993 as a graduate student at Northwestern State University and works as a special education teacher in Elton, La.
Glenn Pitre is a filmmaker based in New Orleans and LaRose, La.
Rhett Powell is a photographer based in Ferriday, La.
J. Nash Porter was a photographer based in Baton Rouge, La.
Gene B. Preuss, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of history in the Department of Social Sciences at University of Houston-Downtown.
Nalini Raghavan, M.A., is an anthropologist, graphic designer and editor who was the former Louisiana Voices outreach & development coordinator.
Courtney Ramsay is a folklorist and creative writer as well as a teacher of high school English.
Tom Rankin, M.F.A., is a photographer, folklorist and professor of the practice of art and documentary studies at Duke University.
George F. Reinecke, Ph.D., was a professor of English at the University of New Orleans.
Miriam Rich is a graduate of Goshen College in Goshen, Ind. from 1980 - 82 she lived and worked in the Clifton community as a volunteer supported by the Mennonite Church.
Ulysse S. Ricard was a linguist and folklife researcher in New Orleans, La.
Lisa Richardson, M.A., is an ethnomusicologist in Los Angeles.
Sheila Richmond, M.A., works at the Creole Heritage Center at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La. and teaches classes for Bossier Parish Community College at NSU. She was the regional folklorist at Northwestern State University 2009 - 2010.
Susan Roach, Ph.D., is a folklorist and chair of the Department of Languages at Louisiana Tech University. She served as regional folklorist for Northeast and North Central Louisiana in the Department of English at Louisiana Tech University 1997 - 2010.
Devon Robbie is an independent researcher in New Orleans.
Katherine Roberts, Ph.D., is a folklorist with the American Studies Program at the University of North Carolina.
Earl Robicheaux, Ph.D., a Louisiana swamp native, is owner and field recordist for Louisiana Soundscapes, LLC., based in Morgan City, La.
Virginia Romero taught at Albany High School in the 1970s and researched the Hungarian community.
Ronnie E. Roshto teaches at Poland Junior High School in Alexandria, La.
Janet Ryland, M.A., is a folklorist formerly of Lafayette, La.
Yvonne Nassar Saloom is a Lafayette resident of Lebanese heritage.
Mona Lisa Saloy, Ph.D., is a poet and assistant professor of English and director of creative writing at Dillard University in New Orleans.
Ben Sandmel, B.A. in folklore, is a journalist, music writer and musician in New Orleans.
Jason Saul is a Hurricane Katrina survivor in New Orleans and on staff with the American Roots radio program.
Ann Savoy is a writer and musician specializing in documenting Cajun music who is based in Eunice, La.
Terry A. Seelinger worked for the Louisiana Office of State Parks and helped design the Louisiana Country Music Museum at Rebel State Historic Site in Marthaville, La.
Memory Seymour was the education director at the Louisiana State Museum.
Amy Serrano is an award-winning filmmaker and poet living in New Orleans and working on a book on sugar and modern day slavery based on the findings presented in her film, "The Sugar Babies."
Rocky Sexton, Ph.D., is an anthropologist at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.
Charles E. "Chuck" Siler is an artist, writer and journalist who was a program coordinator at the Louisiana State Museum.
Janet Shoemaker lived and worked in northwest Louisiana as a volunteer supported by the Mennonite Church.
Mark F. Sindler is a photographer and videographer for the Louisiana State Museum.
Michael P. Smith was a cultural documentary photographer, folklife researcher and author in New Orleans specializing in New Orleans culture and Mardi Gras Indians.
Nicholas R. Spitzer, Ph.D., is a folklorist, professor of folklore and cultural conservation at Tulane University and host/producer of "American Routes" on Public Radio International. He was the first Louisiana Folklife Program director from 1979 - 1985.
Annie Staten is an elementary school librarian in Monroe, La., who participated in the Louisiana Delta Folklife Project Field School.
Alan H. Stein is associate director of the Consortium of Oral History Educators.
George A. Stokes, Ph.D., was a geographer and vice president of university affairs at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Janet L. Sturman, Ph.D., is an ethnomusicologist and professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Ariz.
Julia Swett continues to study illness, healing and religious ritual at the Franciscan School of Theology at Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif.
Rolanda Teal is a Ph.D. candidate in anthropology at Stephen F. Austin State University who previously worked with the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program at Northwestern State University.
Emma Tomingas-Hatch was an independent researcher in Lafayette, La., who received a master's degree in folklore from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Cam-Thanh Tran is an educator who moved to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and worked with Mary Queen of Vietnam Community Development Corporation.
Allison Truitt, Ph.D., is an anthropologist who teaches at Tulane University in New Orleans.
Lori Tucker is a journalist and was a staff writer for The News-Star in Monroe, La.
Stephen R. Tucker, Ph.D., is a historian who teaches at Brother Martin High School in New Orleans.
I. Bruce Turner is an archivist at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Dupre Library.
Mary Van Rheenan, M.A., is an anthropologist who did fieldwork in the Ebarb community and served as an intern at the Louisiana Folklife Program.
Jane Vidrine, M.Ed., was director of the Louisiana Folklife Festival in 1984 and 1985 and teaches music in Lafayette public schools.
Cecelia Vo was a landscape architecture student at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.
Calvin Voisin is an Atchafalaya Basin fisherman and photographer.
Leslie A. Wade was the Billy J. Harbin Professor of Theatre at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.
Rose A. Walker, Ph.D., documented the Louisiana Czech community for her dissertation in education.
Shana Walton, PhD., is a linguistic anthropologist at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La.
Guiyan Wang, M.A., is a cultural anthropologist and archaeologist with Coastal Environments Inc. in Baton Rouge, La.
Carolyn E. Ware, Ph.D., is a folklorist in the Louisiana State University English Department. She directed the Louisiana Folklife Festival from 1989 to 1991.
Laura Westbrook, Ph.D., is a folklorist and was regional folklorist for greater New Orleans at the University of New Orleans.
John Corey Whaley was an English major at Louisiana Tech University and student worker for the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program in Spring 2005.
Wendy Whelan-Stewart teaches creative writing at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La.
Karen Williams teaches in the English department at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La.
Thomas Wintz of Wintz Photography is a photographer in Baton Rouge, La.
Greg Wirth is webmaster for the Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
Thom Wolf was a video producer for Louisiana Public Broadcasting.
Daria Woodside is an independent researcher and college educator in Baton Rouge, La.
Janery Wylie Barnes was a student at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, La.
Kalamu ya Salaam is a prolific performance poet, dramatist, fiction writer and music critic in New Orleans.
Ron Yule of DeRidder, La., is a former Louisiana State Fiddle Champion and author of ""When Fiddle Was King": Early Country Music From The North And West Regions of Louisiana."
Jun Zou teaches interior design at Louisiana State University and specializes in the Chinese aesthetic of interior design.
The Creole State Exhibit
The exhibit was in the Louisiana State Capitol from 1985 to 2002 and managed by the Louisiana Folklife Program within the Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism.
Originally curated by Nicholas R. Spitzer for installation at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition's Louisiana Folklife Pavilion, the exhibit was moved to the State Capitol in 1985. In 1994, current folklife program director Maida Owens renovated the exhibit and added over 100 folk artifacts. Exhibit designers Jill Jeskin and Gordon Linge designed and installed both the original exhibit and the renovation. In 2002, the exhibit was removed. Some artifacts became part of the Louisiana State Museum's exhibits at the Louisiana State History Museum in Baton Rouge. In 2013, part of the exhibit was reinstalled in the State Capitol.
The following people contributed to efforts to keep the exhibit current by assisting the Louisiana Folklife Program in identifying and interpreting Louisiana's folk traditions: Pam Breaux, H. F. Gregory, Joyce Jackson, Maida Owens, Susan Roach, Nicholas R. Spitzer, Gregory Stone, Melissa Green, and Douglas Raymond
These individuals and organizations contributed their support and expertise to this exhibition: Office of the Governor, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Louisiana Senate Louisiana, House of Representatives, House Arts Committee, Senator and Mrs. Russell Long, Pat Pickens, Louisiana Office of State Buildings, Charles Schwing & Associates and Anne Price.
