Louisiana State Rice Milling Company Records/Godchaux Family Papers
Collection 157
Louisiana State Rice Milling Company Records/Godchaux Family Papers. 1911–1985, n.d.
200 feet
Frank Area Godchaux, Sr.; businessman. Born, Abbeville, Louisiana, November 29, 1879, son of Gustave Godchaux and Katherine Area Godchaux. Married Agnes Putnam, March 20, 1901; one child: Frank A. Godchaux, Jr. Education: college preparatory training at Centenary College and Chamberlain-Hunt Academy; Vanderbilt University, where he was quarterback of the football team. Career: managed two rice mills in Abbeville, La., 1911; combined with others in Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, and California to form Louisiana State Rice Milling Company, which became largest rice milling company in the United States. Godchaux was a pioneer in marketing and packaging rice for home consumers. He was a major influence in the Southern Rice Council and the Rice Millers Association, which served as the lobbying organizations of the rice milling industry. Owned several farms in Vermilion Parish; active in developing purebred Aberdeen Angus herds; promoted tick eradication campaign. Community activities: strongly supported Episcopal Church; Boy Scouts of America (received Silver Beaver Award in 1948); and Vermilion Parish Library. Served on Vanderbilt Board of Trustees, after 1932; president, Vanderbilt Alumni Association. Director, Public Affairs Research Council; Louisiana chairman, National Conference of Christian and Jews. President, Louisiana State Board of Education, eight years during the 1940s. Under Godchaux’s leadership, the state board of education extended the length of a public school education from eleven to twelve years. Died July 3, 1965; interred, Graceland Cemetery, Abbeville, Louisiana.
[Biography taken from "A Dictionary of Louisiana Biography" Ten Year Supplement, 1988-1998]
Louisiana State Rice Milling Company Records/Godchaux Family Papers includes the company records dating from about 1911; ancillary components of this collection include USL produced microfilm of the company minutes and other record books and an oral history collection.
Series:
| A. | Company Records |
Inventory:
See Special Collections staff member.