La. watchful of Zika virus
February 11, 2016
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
February 11, 2016
Clifton Theriot lives in an amazing world of books with heavy, soft-topped leather covers and ochre manuscript papers that sometimes emit just a hint of old cigar smell like you catch still in old law offices. Soft-spoken and deliberate in his speech and movements, he glides between the collections of books and papers at the Ellender Memorial Library of Nicholls State University like some bibliotequian wraith, eyes always scanning, fingers on the ready for careful excursions through stacks of precious papers that contain the past, so that they can be more easily shared with somebody’s future.
His title is archivist and head of special collections at Nicholls. A native of Gheens, he is descended from Acadians. There are not enough acknowledgements from scholars and other authors in the world that can truly gauge Cliff’s value to the past and the future.
His own roots go back to the Acadians and Islenos who settled the Lafourche country in the 18th Century, which maybe helps account for his zeal. He was able to take time from his regular work to put together a volume well worth reading, “Lafourche Parish,” one of the books in the Arcadia Press series called Images of America. He is not the only local author to publish one of these. Rachel Cherry, the director of the Southdown Museum in Houma, released a title for the series entitled “Forgotten Houma,” which – like Cliff’s book – provides a stunning pictorial history of local people, places and things. In Clifton Theriot’s world there are always new stacks of old things to go through, to catalogue, to study, and one of his recent finds at Nicholls exemplifies this.
He recently came across a booklet specially prepared for a 1917 commemoration of the statue of Gen. G.T. Beauregard that stands at City Park in New Orleans, a work of art lately maligned and the subject of fierce litigation. Ironically, Clifton’s sharing of this recent find with me last week occurred during the same moment a news alert came over my mobile phone, which told me that a state judge ruled against a plea to keep Beauregard’s statue standing, condemned as it has been by the New Orleans City Council. Its fate remains to be seen.
The virtues and vices of Beauregard have already been discussed in this space. But the booklet Cliff found gave a new dimension to the debate, which occurred because of concerns that New Orleans has long honored Confederate heroes more than it should, so much so that, in the wake of recent tragedy in South Carolina, a decision has been made to take Beauregard down, along with Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and the Battle of Liberty Place monument. The pamphlet tells the story of how concerned parties got together in 1893, the year Beauregard died, to raise money for the memorial, and how the accounts shaped up over ensuing years as New York sculptor Alexander Doyle labored over the bronze.
While perusing the booklet, Cliff noticeds a photo of folks at the cornerstone placement one man, William H. McLellan, holds a box, which appears to be a time capsule of some sort. The statue project’s steering committee includes a name well-known in these parts, Gov. Francis T. Nicholls. If indeed the statue comes down it will be interesting to see what may become of this box, and more interesting to see what it contains. Whatever the case, one thing is for certain. It will no doubt, in one way or another, be a part of the history that all of us in Louisiana share, for better or for worse. And whatever the case, there will be someone like Cliff, whose driving force is aiding people in need of better understanding the past. Bronze statues may be stored, relocated or melted into keepsakes. Scraps of paper, so long as there are people willing to archive them, can remain safe forever.
‘… the statue project’s steering committee includes a name well-known in these parts, Gov. Francis T. Nicholls. If the statue indeed comes down, it will be interesting to see what may become of this box…’
Statue of Gen. G.T. Beauregard at City Park in New Orleans.
