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welcome—it’s one of my favorite moments in the whole festival. Mornings are peaceful, especially when there’s still a little mist over the fairgrounds, and there are always a few sneak peeks of the day to come: last spring we listened to Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga’s sound check as we prepared our booth. The Louisiana Folklife Village, where we set up, is like a family, and last year Curtis Hendon, of the United Houma Nation, brought us delicious corn maque choux and fry bread for breakfast.
All vendors are loaned tents and flaps, but everything else is up to us:
I designed and built from scratch the display panels, and we also bring our own tables and tablecloths in addition to the 1,500 prints, made from 25 to 30 of Smith’s images. Choosing which images to reproduce is a little like curating a photography exhibition. The selection is different every year, though we’ll always feature some of Smith’s most popular subjects: Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Harry Connick Jr., Trombone Shorty as a kid with Bo Diddley, and others. The festival is huge but feels intimate: we meet people from all over the world, listen to music from nearby stages while we work, and indulge our addiction to fried green tomatoes. I have terrific and hardworking colleagues who help every step of the way, not only with the booth but also by holding down the fort at The Shop back in the Quarter, where a bare-bones staff cheerfully assists the influx of tourists during the festival.
At the end of the day, we carefully tidy up and inventory everything before heading home. Then 1 go to bed, exhausted, and get ready to do it all again the next dav. —MICHELLE GAYNOR
Danny Barker and the Onward Brass Band
1974
photograph by Michael P. Smith © The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2007.0103.3.56
Michelle Gaynor and Amanda McFillen, assistant director of museum programs, pose with Curtis Hendon of the United Houma Nation at the 2015 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
STAFF NEWS New Staff
Jenifer Biniek, sales assistant. Alvin Lee, maintenance associate. Eli A. Haddow, marketing assistant. Barry Cazoubon, Katrina Kiapos, Michael Mae, Lillie Marlin, Treina Muse, Erin Royal, volunteers.
Publications
Pamela D. Arceneaux wrote an article, “A Unique Collaboration of Poem, Illustration, and Bookbinding: The Fever Dream,” for the fall 2015 issue of the journal Manuscripts.
Honors
Collections Processor Susan Eberle received a graduate certificate in museum collections management and care from George Washington University.
Spring 2016	17