Third Thursdays at the Jefferson Parish Library!
In This Issue
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A Little History… – Our feature story
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Notes from the Lakefront – Updates
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Ad of the Week – advertising blasts from the past!
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How you can help NOLA History Guy – Things you can do right now!
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NOLA Six Word Writing Challenge – Exercise your imagination!
A Little History… The French Market in 1871
Sketch of the stalls of the French Market by William Waud, drawn in 1871. Here is the caption from the Historic New Orleans Collection:
Sketch showing Indians and other vendors outside at French Market; used for wood engraving in Every Saturday, July 15, 1871; Vieux Carré. On brown paper.
This sketch is part of an excellent article in Every Saturday. Here’s an excerpt detailing some of the activity in the sketch.
French is the predominant speech of this noisy throng — French in all stages of dialectic decay and compromise. Probably the the most characteristic scenes are furnished by groups outside of the regular stalls. An old negro woman with her head turbaned in a gaudy bandanna, will sit for hours on the border of the sidewalk, — or banquette, as it is universally called here, — and solicit customers for about three pounds and a half of corn meal, which is heaped up before her in an unsteady pyramid, with a sheet of brown paper for its base…
Waud captures a diverse group of people in the French Market stalls. It’s a typical scene, residents of the Vieux Carré. These folks sit and work in the produce and vegetable stalls of the market. These stalls stretched from Dumaine Street out to Barracks Street. The Butchers Market occupied the buildings from Dumaine up to Jackson Square.
Since only one woman uses a parasol/umbrella, we can assume it’s a sunny, warm day, rather than a rainy one.
The illustrator
William Waud, an Englishman, was working as an illustrator and correspondent for publications like Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper and, in this case, Every Saturday. He traveled extensively through the South during the Civil War. After the war, he spent some time in New Orleans.
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Notes from the Lakefront
Creole Heritage Symposium
Your NOLA History Guy will be part of the Creole Heritage Symposium sponsored by the Friends of the Cabildo, next Saturday, October 10th, at 10am.
Vintage Ad of the Week
Ad for Schwegmann’s Supermarkets, 1-October-1969, in the Times-Picayune. Long before Walmart, Target, Sams, and Costco, Schwegmann’s sold so much more than groceries. Look at all these appliances, electronics, and housewares. Along with all that, Schwegmann’s stores had banks, gas stations, and a couple stores even had bars!
How You Can Help NOLA History Guy
Things you can do RIGHT NOW to help us out!
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Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
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Book NOLA History Guy to speak at your event – Edward speaks to groups ranging in size to local groups like Kiwanis and Rotary to major conventions and trade shows.
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Buy me a Coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
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Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
NOLA Six Word Writing Challenge
In six words or less, write a story about this image.
Post your story to NOLAHistoryGuy.com on BlueSky, or to New Orleans Uncovered on Facebook. You can also email yours to nolasixwords@nolahistoryguy.com.
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