Pen and ink drawing of three adult egrets hovering over a nest of young egrets. The nest and adults are standing on a bed of broken limbs and branches. The word "Egrets" is formed from broken branches.

Louisiana Alphabet

Lexical illustrations from the godfather of the Historic New Orleans Collection

1956

by Boyd Cruise

L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection, 1956.21

This pen-and-ink set of A-B-Cs was drawn by artist and curator Boyd Cruise, who served as the first director of the Historic New Orleans Collection. Prior to the official 1966 formation of HNOC, Cruise helped founders Kemper and Leila Williams curate their collection; aptly, Cruise’s alphabet starts with Antiques. Other drawings in the series pull from a range of local references, from Oil and Jazz to Water Hyacinth and Napoleonic Code. Working in the tradition of illuminated letters—ornately decorated initials found in medieval manuscripts—Cruise incorporated clever imagery into the design of the letters themselves.

HNOC, L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection, 1956.21

The drawings originally appeared in 1956 as illustrations for the Index to the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, which Cruise also compiled. In 1984, “Louisiana Alphabet” provided a springboard and name for an entire HNOC exhibition. Curators playfully grouped collections items according to Cruise’s letters: “Gumbo” was grouped with items related to the French Market, and “Lafcadio Hearn” featured objects related to newspaper and literary history. The display was anchored by large alphabet-block signage and structures, recalling a child’s toys scattered across a playroom floor.