Labat: A Creole Legacy Project Records
Object Details
- Scope and Contents note
- The Labat: A Creole Legacy project records, 2001-2004, contain material related to the creation of the Labat: A Creole Legacy quilt. The quilt, based on the life and family history of Celestine Labat, was created by the artist Lori K. Gordon and acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 2004. Series 1: Writings contains correspondence, writings, notes, and speeches by Gordon her life, work, and research on Labat family history, and friendship with Labat. Series 2: Interview Transcripts consist of transcripts of Gordon's interviews of Labat. Series 3: Printed Materials consists of newspaper clippings and artwork related to Labat, Gordon, and the quilt. Series 4: Audiovisual Materials consists of 21 audiocassettes and 4 videocassettes containing interview material. Series 5: Digital Materials consists of 1 floppy disk and 3 CDs containing images and documents related to creation of the quilt.
- Biographical/Historical note
- Biography of Celestine Labat -- Celestine Labat (1898-2002), educator and traveler, was born and raised in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, in a large Creole family. Her mother Leonora Fayard was a homemaker, and her father Joseph Labat, known as "Papa Joe," was a builder and engineer. Celestine Labat's education would have been limited to eighth grade due to racial discrimination, but she moved to Indianapolis and did domestic work in order to finish high school. Upon graduation, she returned to Mississippi and became a secondary school teacher. After a decade of teaching, her desire for higher education prompted a move to Washington, DC, where she attained a bachelor's degree in science during the years of WWII. She continued teaching, moving to San Antonio, Texas, then Los Angeles, California, where she got her master's degree in education at the University of Southern California. She again returned to Mississippi and taught at St. Augustine Seminary for twenty years before retiring at age 72. She remained active until the last years of her life, and at age 102 was the featured speaker at a Hancock County Historical Society luncheon where she met artist Lori K. Gordon. Their collaboration lasted until her death in 2002. Biography of Lori K. Gordon -- Lori K. Gordon (1958-), visual artist, is originally from eastern South Dakota but now makes her home in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Her work reflects her interest in social issues and her environment, such as the "Katrina Collection," in which Gordon made art from found objects after her studio and community were devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Her meeting with Celestine Labat in 2000 was the start of a friendship and collaboration that resulted in the art quilt, "Labat: A Creole Legacy," acquired in 2004 by the Smithsonian institution. Gordon's work spans arts forms including sculpture, collage, and painting, and is in public and private collections around the world. She is also the founder and president of Six Degrees Consortium, a nonprofit organization created to "enable the creation and dissemination of works of art that are socially relevant, timely, build bridges across cultures and that address the issues faced by humans in an ever-shrinking world."
- Date
- 2001-2004
- Extent
- 1.31 Linear feet (2 boxes; audiocassettes, videocassettes, floppy disk, CDs)
- Provenance
- The Labat: A Creole Legacy project records were donated to the Anacostia Community Museum in 2004 by Lori K. Gordon.
- Rights
- The Labat: A Creole Legacy project records are the physical property of the Anacostia Community Museum. Literary and copyright belong to Lori K. Gordon or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information contact the Museum Archives.
- Citation
- Labat: A Creole Legacy Project records, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, gift of Lori K. Gordon.
- Type
- Collection descriptions
- Archival materials
- Transcripts
- Clippings
- Postcards
- Videocassettes
- Audiocassettes
- Oral histories (document genres)
- Floppy disks
- Cd-roms
- Articles
- Vhs (videotape format)
- Topic
- African American families
- African American women educators
- African American women
- African Americans -- Race identity
- Creoles
- Place
- Mississippi
- Identifier
- ACMA.06-082
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- Letter to Norman Francis from Lori K. Gordon re: Barthe bust of Inez Labat
- "Local Ice Man Shoots Negro Employee of Scharff's Grocery," Sea Coast Echo
- Photocopied portions of quilt with numbered images
- C. Labat oral interview 24 Feb
- Labat images for Anacostia II, copyright Lori Gordon 2003
- Printed Materials
- VHS tapes
- Pack of six notecards with painting of Celestine Labat, her father, and St. Rose de Lima church
- C. Labat oral interview 9 May 2002
- "The Life of Miss Celestine Labat," Sea Coast Echo
- Gordon's remarks on "Labat: A Creole Legacy" quilt and friendship with Labat
- Notes on the editing of the oral interviews with Celestine Labat
- "Patchwork of family history," Sun Herald
- C. Labat oral interview 5 Feb '02
- Digital Materials
- Labat history
- Compact discs
- Gordon photos of Celestine Labat 2001-2003
- Lori K. Gordon artist biography
- Clippings
- Two postcards of "Labat: A Creole Legacy" quilt detail
- C. Labat oral interview 22 Dec '01 2nd tape
- "Hancock Quilt Going to Smithsonian," Sun Herald
- C. Labat oral interview 19 April 2002