Louisiana Creole Research Association Advances Family Research, Provides Education, and Celebrates Creole History and Culture

LA Creole's 20th Anniversary weekend includes a Gala, its Conference, and a service at the historic Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic Church, all in New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS, LA, UNITED STATES, October 17, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- "Research & Remember" is the theme of the Louisiana Creole Research Association's (LA Creole's) 20th Annual Conference weekend, November 8-10, 2024. It is filled with a dinner and dance Gala, a full Saturday of noted Conference speakers and genealogical exercises, and a commemorative Sunday Mass and reception at the historic Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic Church. All events are in New Orleans, Louisiana. Registrations for on-line streaming and in-person attendance are available through the LA Creole website, www.lacreole.org.

Pat Schexnayder and Ingrid Stanley founded LA Creole in 2004, after having repeatedly and coincidentally met at various archives as they researched their families' genealogical histories. They organized their first annual conference, which has been held each year since its founding. Schexnayder and Stanley, both part of the Conference Committee, will have their presence felt as they have worked to ensure an educational and exciting learning experience.

The heart of the weekend's activity rests in its day-long Conference program, on Saturday, November 9, 2024, at the University of New Orleans’ Ethel & Herman L. Midlo Center in the Earl K. Long Library. Expert panels and interactive workshops will be presented by leading specialists and scholars of genealogy, history, art, and antiques.

The morning sessions include Christophe Landry, Ph.D., noted language and genealogy specialist, who will offer best practices for online research. Amistad Research Center's Executive Director, Kathe Hambrick and Head of its Research Services, Lisa Moore, "How Family and Court Documents Interface with Genealogy," plans to engage Conference participants and help them to solve atypical problems in Louisiana Research.

The presentation by Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson, scholar of Louisiana's African-descended peoples of the French and Spanish colonial and associate professor of history at Johns Hopkins University, shall showcase her project "Kinship and Longing: Keywords for Black Louisiana". The project with its development of a digital open-source, searchable edition of some 200,000 French and colonial records documenting enslaved and free people draws the particular attention the genealogical work of LA Creole's membership and Conference participants.

Rounding up the morning sessions is historian and genealogist Ja'el "Ya Ya" Gordon, Ph.D. candidate, who will discuss her research under the title "Unsilencing the Voices of Alienated Creole Enslaved Ancestors and Descendants." Her work focuses on enslaved Creole ancestors and descendants that don’t fit into common perceptions of “who” is Creole and who are often left out of conversations relating to Creole identity.

The afternoon sessions cover art and artifacts and intends to aid collectors in understanding and determining differences and similarities between heirlooms (something of family value) and icons (auction-worthy items). Art collector Jeremy Simien's "Finding Financial and Historic Value in Louisiana Creole Artifacts," will describe his personal journey from creating value for underappreciated work to placing a hidden Black figure into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which was covered by the New York Times. He plans to suggest ways to find and value work from the African diaspora.

Ending the day's presentations is Alan Rosenberg, curator and instructor in the Master of Arts program in Fine and Decorative Art and Design at Sotheby's Institute of Art (New York). Rosenberg will aid participants in ways to view their precious keepsakes. He will discuss his work as a curator and make use of his academic work to engage participants in interactive exercises with items they brought to the Conference. No professional valuations of items will be made at the Conference. However, Conference attendees should learn more about family heirlooms than may have previously been availed to them.

The 20th Anniversary weekend ends with a commemorative mass at the historic Corpus Christi-Epiphany Catholic Church located in New Orleans' 7th Ward. The Church's 108-year history encompasses a core of the New Orleans' Creole community and serves as a fitting location to round out the 20th Anniversary Conference and Celebration weekend. Parishioners, Conference attendees, and visitors are welcomed to fellowship after the Mass at a reception in the Church Hall.

The Louisiana Creole Research Association (LA Creole) is a New Orleans-based, non-profit that advances family research, provides education and celebrates Creole history and culture.

Eva S Baham
Louisiana Creole Research Association (nonprofit)
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