LSU Libraries Special Collections

We're one week out from Dean Jonathan Earle's book talk and Q&A on his new book, He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860.

Join us Wednesday, September 9, at 4:30 p.m. at Hill Memorial Library on LSU's campus. Free and open to the public.

SPAN 3071 kicked off the fall semester with a trip to the McIlhenny Room. We are so excited for another year of classes!

You're invited! Join LSU Ogden Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle for a talk and audience Q&A on his new book, He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860 (Oxford University Press). Earle, a historian of the antebellum United States, explores how Lincoln built an unlikely coalition to win the pivotal election of 1860.

Hill Memorial Library | Wednesday, September 9 | 4:30p.m.

Book sales & signing to follow. This event is free and open to the public.

Thanks to everyone who joined us on August 13th for the brown-bag presentation featuring Emma Klenke and Amy Delome, recipients of the LSU Libraries T. Harry Williams Center for Oral History's inaugural 2026 Oral History Summer Research Stipend.

Over the summer, Amy and Emma conducted interviews documenting the community history and culture of Hackberry, Louisiana. During the presentation, we heard audio clips from narrators Eddie LeJuene, Kathy Helmer, Anita Trahan, and Chris Brown, who shared their perspectives on life in coastal Louisiana and the Hackberry community. The interviews will be housed at the Williams Center for Oral History as well as other repositories in the local area, helping to preserve and share the experiences of underdocumented communities in our state.

We are grateful to the Special Collections Acquisition and Support Fund for making this project possible! Most of all, we are grateful to the narrators who shared their time and stories and to Emma and Amy for their initiative, thoughtful research, and commitment to preserving Hackberry's unique stories.

Join us on Wednesday, September 9th for a book talk & signing with Dean Jonathan Earle, author of He Has the People: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860!

Cheers to a new school year, Tigers! Whether you are a returning student or brand new, we are so excited to welcome you to campus and invite you to discover all we have to offer. From Quiet Study to primary source research opportunities, Hill Memorial Library is here for you!
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Last week, our team had the privilege of visiting East Baton Rouge Parish Library Special Collections! We loved having the opportunity to learn more about another local repository, and we were particularly impressed with their incredible collection of Clementine Hunter’s abstract paintings. Thank you to archivist Melissa Eastin for showing us around!

Read more here: https://www.225batonrouge.com/our-city/news-features/lsu-hill-memorial-library-special-collections-baton-rouge

With more than 10 million manuscript items, over 200,000 volumes of published works, hundreds of oral histories and other forms of research materials, there’s plenty to explore at LSU’s Hill Memorial Library. But don’t call it a museum.

This century-old building boasts a packed reading room where researchers, students, and professors from other universities are poring through archival scrapbooks, manuscripts and microfilm. And there’s much more for the public to see, too.
📸: Cody Wilhite/Courtesy LSU

Congratulations to Jessie Bourgeois and McKenzie Franklin, our summer undergraduate researchers, for presenting at LSU Discover - Undergraduate Research Program SURF Day! Both of them have spent the last few weeks researching in the Reading Room and had the opportunity to talk about their findings in 2 minute lightning talks today. Great work, Jessie and McKenzie!