Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Public Information Office
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 2/13/98
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  18

Editors: Photo accompanies release -- Please note local interest
CENTER FOR REGIONAL STUDIES SPOTLIGHTS UNIQUE FLORIDA PARISHES
     HAMMOND -- When people think "Louisiana," they usually picture the charm and
flavors of New Orleans or the bayous and alligators of Acadiana. But the diverse regions of
Louisiana's Florida parishes, says the staff at Southeastern Louisiana University's Center for
Regional Studies, should command greater interest.
     "Few regions of the South remain as understudied as the Florida parishes," said Samuel
Hyde, an associate professor of history at Southeastern and the Center's director. "More
significantly, few areas command the level of historical significance or the colorful pattern of
development found in the Florida parishes." 
     Hyde, a northern Tangipahoa Parish native who has extensively studied Florida Parishes
history and is the author of "Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's
Florida Parishes, 1810-1899," took over the reigns of the Center last year. Housed on the second
floor of the university's Sims Memorial Library, the Center, a division of the College of Arts and
Sciences, was founded in 1980. 
     Under the long-time direction of the late Dr. Joy Jackson, the Center conducted an oral
history project designed to preserve Florida Parishes folklore and compiled an impressive
regional photographic collection. The university archives were attached to the Center in
1982.     
     "It is our intention to build upon the established operations of the Center while adding a
new scholarly emphasis that seeks to record and interpret the peculiar pattern of development
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SLU CENTER FOR REGIONAL STUDIES -- Add One
found in eastern Louisiana and make the product of our  findings accessible to the public," Hyde
said. 
     Hyde cites a number of qualities that make the Florida parishes historically and culturally
distinct. 
     The Florida parishes, he points out, has a diverse cultural makeup that includes not only
the African, Acadian and Scotch-Irish influences common to other portions of the state, but also
large numbers of English, and especially Tories, who are typically more common to New
England. 
     The parishes also had a distinctive pattern of development under multiple ethnic
overlords who created conflicting loyalties among the people. The frontier mentality endured in
the region long after stability had arrived in neighboring areas and contributed to some of the
highest rates of violence in the nation during the late 19th century, including an armed
insurrection that led to the overthrow of the existing government, Hyde said.
     Among the Center's nearly 200 archival collections are the Carter Plantation Collection,
which emphasizes development in Livingston Parish; the Daunton Gibbs Collection and the
Hebert Civil Rights Collection, which outline events in Washington Parish, and the Congressman
James H. Morrison Collection of regional political history. The Center's staff, which added Baton
Rouge resident Charles Elliot as acting associated director, are currently compiling a series of
archival finding guides to assist interested persons in their research. Elliot is assisting the
Center's secretary of 17 years, Lois Wagner, with special projects.
      In addition to the continuing process of collecting and preserving archival material
highlighting the history and cultures of the region, the Center will host numerous events of
historical significance in 1998. 
     An exhibit highlighting the history of scouting in eastern Louisiana remains on display 
throughout the month of February, and in March the Center will host a series of lectures by
University of North Carolina Professor Don Higginbotham concerning the significance of the
American Revolution to the region.
     In April the Center will sponsor the annual Congressman James H. Morrison Lectures on 
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SLU  CENTER FOR REGIONAL STUDIES -- Add Two
Politics and Government and in June the Twelfth Annual Deep Delta Civil War Symposium  will
focus on the question, "Did the South Have a Chance to Win?" The year's events will conclude
with the Gulf South Historical Association Conference in October.
     The Center's closed stacks security room provides an environmentally controlled location
to store valuable material. 
     For more information on upcoming events at the Center or to discuss the research and
preservation of material focusing on regional history, contact the Center for Regional Studies at
504-549-2151.
                                 - SLU -
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