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COMMUNITY
RECENTLY RETIRED
John T. Magill
For the past 30 years, “Ask John Magill” has been the default response among THNOC staff members to queries about New Orleans history. “John’s vast knowledge and instant recall of much of the city’s history is matched only by the wide range of his interests: urban history, population movements and census counts, city infrastructure (both above and below ground), the growth of retailing, neighborhood development, Mardi Gras, plagues, and disasters, to cite just a few,” said John H. Lawrence, director of museum programs. So, when the staff bid a happy retirement to Magill in June, it was with gratitude for his many years as an invaluable resource to both the public and his colleagues.
Born in New Orleans, Magill was raised in California. When his father retired from the United States Navy, the family moved back to New Orleans in the early 1960s, and Magill entered business school at the University of New Orleans (then LSUNO).
“1 wanted to go into advertising, but I struggled in my business courses,” Magill recalled. “My advisor pointed out, ‘You do really well in these history courses, of which you’re taking too many.’ So, I dropped out of business and went into history.” After receiving
a bachelor’s degree in 1969, he pursued a master’s degree, also at UNO. Magill credits Professor Joseph Tregle for encouraging him to study New Orleans history.
“I’ve always loved the histories of cities,” he said. “From the time I was a kid, I loved the history of San Francisco and other major cities like London and New York, as well as Honolulu, where my great-aunt lived, and Auckland, New Zealand, where my mother was from. What interested me about New Orleans was not its overall history but how it grew and developed.” Magill’s longtime colleague and friend Pamela D. Arceneaux, senior librarian/ rare-books curator, elaborated on Magill’s fascination with the development of urban infrastructure: “John has a real interest in sewerage, paving, drainage—you know, the yucky, unglamorous stuff—how buildings are built, how they are serviced, the development of electricity, the transferral from kerosene lamps to gas to electric power.* Magill was hired as a curatorial cataloger by The Historic New Orleans Collection in 1982, specializing in the cataloging of photographs. Because of his familiarity with the urban development of the city, as well as a burgeoning interest in fashion history, he became adept at identifying the dam of photographs by sight. At his retirement party, Judith H. Bonner, senior curator, reminisced about this distinctive skill: *If I showed a photo to John and said. ‘This street scene is dated 1916,’ he would say.
‘No, that can’t be 1916; the air-conditioning unit didn’t go on top of that building until 1917.”
From his first days at THNOC. Mag* immersed himself in The Collections holdings. “There was no such thing as a computer when I arrived here; we h—iir had a card catalog,” he said. “I’d ptay guessing games with the photography holdings: could I identify the picmtc without looking at the back? And ptjyuwdr I became more knowledgeable ibot oar curatorial holdings *
Magill’s colleagues and the Utper community quickly came to apprecaK this knowledge. “Sharing what he knowi is one of John’s most admirable qmlm,* Lawrence said. “His sharing has occurred
throughout his THNOC career, in gallery talks; television, radio, and internet appearances; book clubs; professional meetings; and almost every other type of gathering that brings people together for the appreciation of Louisiana’s history.”
As Magill rose through the ranks—from cataloger, to head of the Williams Research Center’s Reading Room, to senior curator/ historian—he built lasting friendships wkh his colleagues. “I don't know jm«K who doesn’t like John,” said Arceneaui_ Madvn Le Bourgeois Hickey, cunssnal cccar-vation coordinator. rur-Jiihai her lira encounter with Magiil iondhr *TW day I met John Magill. July 21. HI*, at dr day he became my friend, and •• le om* MagUl's inumM	hW
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12 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly