Louisiana State Archives

09/04/2026

🏈 In 1988, just before the start of the college football season, WBRZ-TV Channel 2 News reporter, Kim Hunter, interviewed LSU's oldest living football player. Myrle "The Bull" Hammond played in the 1910-1911 seasons as a halfback for the Fighting Tigers.
Hammond was a WWI veteran, and a retiree from Exxon Co. He passed away in the same year on December 4, 1988.

For more historical footage, visit www.ladigitalmedia.org

09/04/2026

LET'S GEAUX! 🏈

As we head into the opening weekend of college football, we think this 1939 action portrait of Robert “Bob" Fife, a halfback for the LSU Tigers, fully embodies the passion and spirit of the game. Photo from the Leon Trice Photographic Negative Collection at the Louisiana State Archives.

09/01/2026

08/24/2026

On August 12th, the Archives welcomed the Friends & Family Bowlers group for an engaging visit. During their time with us, the group explored our Research Library and viewed our exhibit, "Captured Moments". They had the opportunity to see original documents, including Act No. 42, which established Mardi Gras as a state holiday in 1875. They also learned about dolls created during the Works Progress Administration and observed how our conservators carefully straighten historical documents using the humidification process. Additionally, they had the chance to meet everyone's favorite mascot, Records Services' "Chris Stapleton." Thank you for spending your morning with us!

08/21/2026

We are incredibly grateful to the Onebane Law Firm for their generous donation of these historic law papers and books to the Louisiana State Archives. These materials are a wonderful historical resource for Louisiana and we are so excited that they will be preserved for generations to come.

08/19/2026

08/07/2026

We’re celebrating America’s 250th anniversary with the Society of American Archivists! 🇺🇸

We have joined other archives around the country in making a submission to the ‘250 for the 250th’ online repository, a project that tells the story of the United States through records preserved in our nation’s archives. The collection highlights the full range of America’s documentary heritage and the role archives have played in preserving and understanding our collective history.

Our contribution to their ‘Unfinished Revolutions’ category is footage from the WWL-TV Channel 4 Collection, showing Ruby Bridges being escorted into William Frantz Elementary School by U.S. Marshals on November 14, 1960. It was originally filmed in black and white on 16mm film and was recently scanned in 4K to ensure its preservation for the future. The footage documents the historic day in New Orleans when six year old Ruby Bridges became the first African American student to attend the previously all-white school. It depicts the vulnerability and bravery of a child in the face of a school system and a segregationist society vehemently opposed to her access to a fair and equal education, based purely on her race.

Watch and learn more about the footage at https://td52e01bc4f4b6253.starter1ua.preservica.com/portal/en-US/asset/sdb%3AIO%7C7dd4eb51-e44f-4894-bbdc-d9b7d148ce53

07/29/2026

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