Governor Edwards tours new exhibit at Southeastern

During his visit to Southeastern Louisiana University as a participant in the symposium “Louisiana in Continuity and Change: Challenges Past and Present Confronting the Bayou State,” Governor John Bel Edwards toured the newly created student exhibit in the Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies. The exhibit is designed to highlight themes of the symposium, which focused on historical problems that prove acute in the Bayou State.

Center Director and Leon Ford Endowed Chair Professor Sam Hyde said, “We basically told our student workers to create an exhibit that conforms to the mission of the symposium and cut them loose. With the exception of a little editing, they did it all themselves.”

The exhibit includes rare documents, artifacts, and photos that highlight critical issues confronting Louisiana from the colonial period to the present.

“The most rewarding part of constructing the exhibit was witnessing our ideas come to life,” said Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies Graduate Research Assistant Brooklyn Sherrod. “Yet it was not a simple task.”

“One of the biggest challenges was narrowing our focus,” added student worker Max Hopcraft. “There are so many colorful stories included in the holdings of the center, that we struggled to select which were the most crucial to our state.”

The exhibit, along with a forthcoming book highlighting the proceedings, reveal the purpose of the symposium, which was designed to draw attention to issues that have diminished the quality of life in Louisiana, while also suggesting means to overcome such challenges, Hyde explained.

The exhibit will remain open for public viewing through March 2023.

For more information on the symposium and exhibit, contact the center at 985-549-2151 or email [email protected].