Accessing the Archive

Public accessibility to our archival holdings is one of the Center's primary goals. Our collections are not only historically significant on a national level, but they also often document important vestiges of our own local Cajun and Creole heritage.

A large number of researchers have used our archives to gain a wealth of insight into Cajun and Creole folklore.  Just as importantly, a host of professional musicians have benefited from hearing Cajun and Creole field recordings from the 1930s to the present.  The archives have been used by musicians such as Grammy-nominated fiddler David Greely and Grammy-winner Michael Doucet of Beausoleil, both of whom have made the archival materials a source of inspiration for new music and revitalization for traditional compositions.

While collections are being digitized, they are cataloged extensively. Our catalog includes fields such as artist, date, description (which includes song titles) and location of the recording, and all fields are searchable. Patrons can browse the catalog and access compressed mp3/mp4 listening copies. Listening copies are also available by request for a nominal processing fee.

We are adding new material to the archive catalogs daily.

For more information on accessing the archive's holdings, contact Assistant Director for Research John Sharp (johnsharp@louisiana.edu) or Archivist Chris Segura (c.segura@louisiana.edu).