This paper examines the production of my thesis film, “The Horse and The Castle.” I will explore the choices taken in each step of the production, from the writing process to post-production and finishing. Each area — writing, directing, production design, cinematography, editing, and sound — contained a multitude of decisions that helped to achieve my final vision for the film.

The proposed public history project, La Fièvre Jaune, will be one component of a larger exhibit sponsored by the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Office of Archives and Records entitled Song of Farewell: Catholic Cemeteries of New Orleans, focusing on New Orleans’s historic Catholic cemeteries, funeral chapels, relics, and burial rights. Using cemetery and death records, La Fièvre Jaune documents many of the Catholic, largely Irish immigrants struck by yellow fever in 1853 and the role of St. Patrick’s cemetery as the burial site for this population. The epidemic took the lives of some 8,000 people. This project will provide insight into the ways that the Catholic Church in New Orleans responded to the 1853 yellow fever epidemic using photographs, official correspondence, as well as cemetery and death records. The entire exhibit will be housed at the Old Ursuline Convent Museum in the French Quarter.

The influx of immigrant Sicilians into southeastern Louisiana in the nineteenth century resulted in a parallel rise of the French Quarter as a culinary destination. Through an analysis of menus, recipe books, city directories, newspapers and census rolls, this work maps the growing influence of Sicilian farmers, vendors, and restaurateurs on New Orleans foodways. The often-overlooked community of Sicilians already living in the city in the early nineteenth century set the stage for the mass migration from Sicily to New Orleans later in the century, when Sicilians gained control of the produce food market in southeast Louisiana. A comparison of local cookbooks and recipes from before the mass arrival of the Sicilians with those created after Sicilians began to dominate agricultural production in Louisiana reveals a subtle shift in the use of ingredients, as local cooks incorporated into local dishes the produce made available by Sicilian farmers and vendors.

The transit shelter, the space where riders make the transition from open space to more controlled buses and trains, is in many cases the site of a public-private transaction. Here, government agencies contract private companies to build and maintain shelters in exchange for governmental allowance of advertising in these locations. This dual purpose—the shelter serves concurrently as protection for transit users and as a moneymaker—means the space is contested, with economic and social needs often at odds. Bus shelter advertising contracts (BSACs), increasingly operated by large corporations, have resulted in widespread networks of bus shelters; observing these renders processes of globalization—generally not visible at the street level—more legible. Drawing from case studies of Lyon, France, and Los Angeles and New Orleans, United States, this thesis describes successes and failures both in the implementation of bus shelter contracts and in the provision of public amenities via shelters.

No description available.

This thesis examines the issue of Texas annexation from the viewpoints of two southern cities: Richmond, Virginia, and New Orleans, Louisiana. It looks primarily at four major newspapers, two in each city: the Richmond Enquirer and the Richmond Whig; and the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the New Orleans Whig. These four newspapers were examined thoroughly from January 1844 to July 1845. In addition to the above newspapers, the Congressional Globe and national voting patterns on Texas annexation were examined. Analysis of the editorial articles in the above newspapers offers the best possibility of understanding public sentiment toward Texas annexation and the presidential election of 1844. The evidence examined in this study indicates that Texas annexation became a decisive issue in the presidential election of 1844. It also shows that, although the press and elements within both Democratic and Whig parties were aware that the slavery question was intricately linked to the Texas annexation issue, slavery and sectional politics were not the primary factors influencing annexation. Ultimately, fundamental concerns regarding western expansion in general, especially for the Whigs, and political party loyalty proved the decisive factors in the presidential election of 1844 and Texas annexation. The evidence gathered in this study indicates that Texas annexation deliberately became an issue in the presidential election by the Democratic party. It also shows that although consideration was given to the slavery question by elements of both the Whig and Democratic parties, sectional politics did not enter into play concerning the annexation of Texas.