KnowLA is a comprehensive, dynamic online reference guide to the history and culture of Louisiana. The encyclopedia is accessible to anyone with a web-enabled device, free of charge.
Nathan Abshire was a singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter who was a central figure in the mid-twentieth-century evolution of Cajun music. Continue »
Accordion Making
The diatonic button accordion is a prominent and distinguishing feature of Cajun music, first imported to Louisiana from Europe in the late nineteenth century by German Jewish immigrants. Continue »
Adams, Franklin
Franklin Adams was a prolific artist and teacher active in New Orleans for more than fifty years. His cross-media works spanned painting, sculpture, illustration, design, and architecture. Continue »
Adams, Wayman
Painter Wayman Adams was primarily known for his portraits of prominent individuals painted in the “alla prima” style; quickly, often finishing his portraits in one sitting. Continue »
African Americans in the Civil War
Historians have only recently begun to explore the role Louisiana blacks played in the Civil War, despite the fact that African American military service helped shape key legacies of the war. Continue »
Alaux, Alexander
Alexander Alaux, born in France in 1851, came to Louisiana at the age of six. After studying in Europe, Alaux returned to Louisiana where he painted with his children until his death in 1932. Continue »
Albritton, Sarah
Sarah Albritton is an artist and restauranteur and artist in Ruston. Growing up as an African American in rural north Louisiana in the 1930s and 1940s, Albritton learned to express the poverty, abuse, and racism she experienced through a variety of artistic outlets including cooking, prose and poetry, and many types of visual art. Continue »
Albrizio, Conrad
Though born in New York City, artist Conrad Albrizio did much of his work in Louisiana, and his frescos, murals, and paintings ornament Depression-era buildings throughout the region. Continue »
Alférez, Enrique
Sculptor Enrique Alferez's life spanned almost the entire twentieth century, with much of it spent creating art works in Louisiana. Continue »
Allen, David
David Allen is a walking stick carver from Homer, Louisiana. His work often includes the heads of men, animals, and snakes combined with elements of popular culture. Continue »
Allen, Henry Watkins
Inaugurated as governor of Confederate Louisiana on January 25, 1864, Henry Allen presided over the parts of the state controlled by the Confederates until June 2, 1865. Continue »
Allen, Oscar K.
Democrat Oscar “O. K.” Allen served as governor of Louisiana from 1932 to 1936, the first individual elected to this office after Huey P. Long’s resignation to serve in the U.S. Senate. Continue »
Allen, Richard "Dick"
Jazz historian Dick Allen was instrumental in the founding of the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane and was a curator of the archive from 1958 to 1980. Continue »
Amans, Jacques Guillaume Lucien
French artist Jacques Amans was the leading portraitist in New Orleans during the 1840s and 1850s. Continue »
Anderson, Matthew IV
For three decades, photographer Matt Anderson has focused his camera on New Orleans' musicians, cultural events, and the performing arts. Continue »
Anderson, Walter Inglis
Walter Inglis Anderson, born in New Orleans, expressed his unique artistic vision in murals, watercolors, oils, sketches, sculpture, rugs, wallpaper, and furniture, among other art forms. Continue »
Anglo-Americans
While Louisiana began as a French colony and its dominant culture remained Creole French well into the nineteenth century, Anglo-Americans began to form a significant minority in region the late colonial period. Continue »
Antebellum Louisiana
The Antebellum period in Louisiana begins with statehood in 1812 and ends with Louisiana joining the Confederacy in 1860. Continue »
Antrobus, John
Born and raised in England, John Antrobus immigrated to the United States and relocated many times, including a period in Louisiana, where he opened a studio and executed a series of landscape paintings. Continue »
Ardoin, Alphonse "Bois Sec"
Alfonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin was an accomplished Zydeco accordion musician. Continue »
