Through photographs, field recordings, journals, correspondence, printed ephemera, and other documents, Michael P. Smith’s (1937–2008) professional and personal interests offer an extended gaze into the world of spiritual churches, Mardi Gras Indians, and traditional jazz funerals, as well as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, which Smith photographed without interruption from 1970 to 2004. In the Spirit features essays by Jason Berry, Dan Cameron, John H. Lawrence, and Jude Solomon and includes a selection of nearly one hundred of Smith’s photographs. The Historic New Orleans Collection is home to the photographer’s archive, which is available to the public at the Williams Research Center.