In 1973 and ’74, two Chicago photographers spent more than six months documenting the southern Louisiana region known as Acadiana, as well as its coastal outposts to the east. The exhibition Cajun Document: Acadiana 1973–74, featuring images by Douglas Baz and Charles H. Traub never before gathered as a comprehensive exhibition, visits Louisiana towns from Welsh to Erath, Mamou to Golden Meadow, capturing everyday life in living rooms and dance halls, on fishing boats, and at rural Mardi Gras festivities, as well as a sweeping view of the region’s industries and geography. The scenes Baz and Traub preserved comprise a relic of a time and place integral to the Louisiana story.

With a foreword by John H. Lawrence and an introductory essay by the photographers, a large-format companion book of the same title, available for purchase at The Shop at The Collection, collects the images on view in the exhibition. (Learn how THNOC and The Shop at The Collection are supporting hurricane relief efforts in southwest Louisiana through sales of Cajun Document.)

This gallery exhibition closed on January 8, 2021, but Cajun Document is still avalable as a virtual exhibition and book-length catalog.

Purchase the catalog              Visit the virtual exhibition

Support hurricane relief efforts by purchasing Cajun Document

The 2020 hurricane season was particularly devastating the communities featured in Cajun Document. Southwest Louisiana was hit by Hurricane Laura on August 27, and then Hurricane Delta struck six weeks later on October 9. On October 28, Hurricane Zeta hit Louisiana's central and southeast coasts. These storms left extensive damage to a region that was also heavily impacted by the pandemic and coastal landloss.

With the support of photographers Douglas Baz and Charles H. Traub, The Historic New Orleans Collection is working with the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana to provide aid during this difficult time. For every copy of Cajun Document sold at The Shop at The Collection (THNOC's museum shop), a $10 donation will be made to the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana's Hurricane Relief and Recovery Fund. CFSL's disaster grants address both immediate needs and long-term recovery. 

To learn more about CFSL, visit www.foundationswla.org. To purchase a copy of Cajun Document, which retails for $45, use the link below. Thank you for your generous support. 

Purchase Cajun Document