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Acadian Bicentennial Celebration Collection

Collection 60

Acadian Bicentennial Celebration. Collection, 1950–1956, 1965, n.d.

1 foot, 3 inches

The Acadiana Bicentennial Celebration Association was formed in January 1954 following a meeting called by the Louisiana Department of Commerce and Industry. The effort was headed by Dr. Thomas J. Arceneaux, Dean of the College of Agriculture at Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now University of Louisiana at Lafayette). The Association had representatives from each Congressional District in the state. Celebrations were held throughout the state in 1955, but were centered in St. Martinville. The events were to commemorate the expulsion of Acadians from their homeland in Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia) by the British in 1755. They were scattered to many of the Atlantic British colonies as well as some Caribbean islands, France, and Britain. Nearly half of them died during this dispersal. Eventually about 4,000 of them immigrated to Louisiana, where today more than 50,000 of their descendants, known as Cajuns, live.

Arceneaux also headed a celebration in 1965 to commemorate the bicentennial of the arrival of the largest shipment of Acadians to Louisiana in 1765.

This collection consists of correspondence, clippings, speeches, minutes, programs, and other materials. Aline Arceneaux donated the scrapbook.

Series:

A. Correspondence 1-01 through 2014
B. Newspaper Clippings 2-15 through 2-34
C. Speeches 3-01 through 3-04
D. Minutes 3-05 through 3-09
E. Programs and Invitations 3-10 through 3-14
F. History 3-15
G. Publications 3-16 through 3-19
H. Report 3-20
I. Other  
  1. Photographs 3-21
  2. Itinerary 3-22
  3. Legal Documents, Act 3-23
  4. Miscellaneous 3-24
  5. Scrapbook Box 4 vol. 1

Inventory:

A. Correspondence
1-01 Correspondence: 10 April 1953 - 15 Feb. 1954
   
1-02 Correspondence: 1954, 16 Feb. - 24 March
1-03 Correspondence: 1954, 26 March - 18 May
1-04 Correspondence: 1954, 19 May - 23 June
1-05 Correspondence: 1954, 24 June - 23 July
1-06 Correspondence: 1954, 24 July - 23 August
1-07 Correspondence: 1954, 24 August - 14 September
1-08 Correspondence: 1954, 16 September - 11 October
1-09 Correspondence: 1954, 12 - 26 October
1-10 Correspondence: 1954, 27 October - 4 November
1-11 Correspondence: 1954, 5 - 12 November
1-12 Correspondence: 1954, 15 - 29 November
1-13 Correspondence: 1954, 30 November - 20 December
1-14 Correspondence: 1954, 21 - 23 December
1-15 Correspondence: 1954, 24 - 31 December
   
1-16 Correspondence: 1955, 3 - 7 January
1-17 Correspondence: 1955, 8 - 19 January
1-18 Correspondence: 1955, 20 - 25 January
1-19 Correspondence: 1955, 26 - 30 January
1-20 Correspondence: 1955, 1 - 9 February
1-21 Correspondence: 1955, 10 - 21 February
1-22 Correspondence: 1955, 23 February - 1 March
1-23 Correspondence: 1955, 4 - 31 March
1-24 Correspondence: 1955, 1- 30 April
1-25 Correspondence: 1955, 2 May - 13 June
1-26 Correspondence: 1955, 14 - 30 June
1-27 Correspondence: 1955, 1 - 19 July
1-28 Correspondence: 1955, 21 July - 26 August
1-29 Correspondence: 1955, 29 August - 29 September
2-01 Correspondence: 1955, 1 - 22 October
2-02 Correspondence: 1955, 24 October - 3 November
2-03 Correspondence: 1955, 4 - 28 November
2-04 Correspondence: 1955, 3 - 22 December
   
2-05 Correspondence: 1956, 6 - 25 January
   
2-06 Correspondence: 1965, 27 January - 20 February
2-07 Correspondence: 1965, 2 March - 22 April
2-08 Correspondence: 1965, 2 - 31 May
2-09 Correspondence: 1965, 8 - 30 June
2-10 Correspondence: 1965, 1 July - 25 August
2-11 Correspondence: 1965, 26 August - 30 September
2-12 Correspondence: 1965, 1 October - 13 December
   
2-13 Correspondence; speech notes, 1954-55
   
2-14 Information about Acadian Folk Festival: 1955
 
B. Newspaper Clippings
2-15 Newspaper Clippings: 18 February 1954 - 9 January 1955
2-16 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 10 - 13 January
2-17 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 14 - 16 January
2-18 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 17 - 24 January
2-19 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 25 - 31 January
2-20 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 1 - 3 February
2-21 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 16 February - 31 March
2-22 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 22 April - 1 July
2-23 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 4 July - 10 August
2-24 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 11 - 14 August
2-25 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 16 - 24 August
2-26 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 26 August
2-27 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 11 September- 26 October
2-28 Newspaper Clippings: 1955, 27 October - 4 November, 15 December
2-29 Newspaper Clippings: 1965, 10 February - 5 May
2-30 Newspaper Clippings: 1965, 23 May - 8 August
2-21 Newspaper Clippings: 1965, 21 September - 25 October
2-32 Newspaper Clippings: 1965, 26 October - 25 November; 26 May 1966
2-33 Newspaper Clippings: pre 1954 and n.d. [mainly 1954-55]
   
C. Speeches
3-01 Speeches: 1955, 24 March - 2 December
3-02 Speeches: n.d.
3-03 Speeches: n.d.
3-04 Speeches: n.d.
   
D. Minutes
3-05 Minutes: Acadian Bicentennial Committee: 1954, 28 January
3-06 Minutes: Acadian Bicentennial Committee: 1954, 30 June - 12 October
3-07 Minutes: Acadian Bicentennial Committee: 28 October 1954 - 8 December 1955
3-08 Minutes: Acadian Bicentennial Committee: n.d.
3-09 Minutes: Acadian Bicentennial Committee: n.d.
   
E. Programs and Invitations
3-10 Programs and Invitations: n.d.
3-11 Programs and Invitations: n.d.
3-12 Programs and Invitations: n.d.
3-13 Programs and Invitations: n.d.
3-14 Programs and Invitations: n.d.
 
F. History
3-15 History: The Acadian Bicentennial Celebration historical information: n.d.
 
G. Publications
3-16 Publications: article, “1755 Background for Tragedy, New Magazine for Spring, 1955, p. 10-12 [1 item]
3-17 Publications: books
    Segura, Peral Mary. Acadians in fact and fiction. 1 March 1955
    Album Souvenir, de fetes du bi-centenaire chez les Acadiens, 1755-1955
    Annales de la Bonne Sainte Anne de Beaupre, v.83 #5, May 1955
    Beau, Henri. La Dispersion Des Acadiens. June 1950
    Elvec la Liaison francaise en Louisiane, January 1955
    LeBlanc, J. Emile. En Louisiane. January 1955
3-18 Publications: books
    Allaine, Maurice. La Liaison Francaise en Acadie. August, 1955
    Calhoun, Ruth Fenton. Little Brown Cajun Boy and other poems, 1955
    Lyrie Louisiana, 1955
    L’Odyssee D’un Acadien Dans Les Marines Americaine et Francaise, 1954
    Our Acadian Heritage, Let’s Keep It, 1755-1955
    See all of Louisiana all year round, n.d.
    Boudreau, Amy. The Story of the Acadians, 1955
3-19 Publications: magazines, newsletters, etc.
    The Advertiser, Blossom Edition, Kentville, Nova Scotia, May 1955
    The Celotexer, Nov. 1948
    Congressional Record, v.102, #11, 24 January 1956
    Foreign Language Newsletter, v. 5, # 1, (20 November 1955)
    Rural Power Magazine, v. 5, # 8, (August, 1955)
    Vie Francais, Quebec, v. 9, # 5-6 (Jan./Feb. 1955); v. 9, # 9-10 (May/June 1955)
   
H. Report
3-20 Report: Acadian Handicraft Museum, Inc., President Historical Report, 1951-53
   
I. Other
  1. Photographs
3-21 Photographs, 1955
     
  2. Itinerary
3-22 Tentative Itinerary: 1955: July 27
     
  3. Legal Documents, Act
3-23 Legal documents:
    Act establishing Acadian Bicentennial Celebration Association
    Articles of Incorporation, 5 March 1954
     
  4. Miscellaneous
3-24 Miscellaneous materials, “I am a Louisiana Acadian” bumper sticker; Acadian Bicentennial Celebration Aluminum Coins; miscellaneous materials, n.d.
     
  5. Scrapbook
Box 4 vol. 1