Posts - Page 5 of 17 - From the Deep

New Orleans’s Triennial: Prospect.6 Review
Prospect.6: The Future is Present. The Harbinger is Home.

After Katrina, the city earned our very own large scale art exhibit like the great cities of the world who prioritize art. Originally advertised as a biennial, it is now a triennial on its sixth iteration, Prospect.6: The future is present. The harbinger is home.

The Saginaw News, Sun, Oct 19, 2008 ·Page 31

Another thing popped up after Katrina — the slogan, “Be a New Orleanian, Wherever you Are.” Many people were still flung to the corners of the country, if they ever returned. Others had the experience of coming home after life “elsewhere” for a while. The refrain, slightly scoldy, reminded us that we still have strong roots, limitless cultural essence, and a name to uphold even if we had to leave our home. The easy, slow confidence of the well-fed, partying people who live in the cypress swamps fanning out from the bend in the Mississippi has left the world with colorful, friendly expectations. We proudly abide by being a New Orleanian, wherever we are.

Ignatius captured a sometimes sentiment of New Orleanians, “Leaving the city limits frightened me considerably. Outside of the city limits the heart of darkness, the true wasteland begins.” (A Confederacy of Dunces) I don’t think many realize how sarcastic John Kennedy Toole was being, even if Ignatius is earnest in his declaration. This insular attitude helps preserve a certain culture and helps us believe that we’d rather live here than anywhere else. But if we can’t…we’ll still be a New Orleanian.

Prospect.6 is entitled “The Future is Present. The Harbinger is Home.” Art exhibits that skip a year are two are dramatic and semi-political like this. When I visited the Venice biennial, the theme was “May you Live in Interesting Times,” which is starting to feel like a curse. I got to see that viral hydraulic sculpture there; the piece that couldn’t save itself from bleeding to death.

This recent opinion piece about climate change coincides nicely with the theme of Prospect.6:

“A few years ago, when a Tulane University study found that the disintegration of the coastal marsh had already crossed an irreversible tipping point, and its lead author predicted that New Orleans, in the best-case scenario, would one day be an island in the Gulf of Mexico, some 30 miles off the coast, the headline in The Times-Picayune read, “We’re Screwed.” Other major American cities don’t talk like this. Other cities don’t live like this. But one morning, not very long from now, they will. On that morning, everyone will be a New Orleanian.” Nathaniel Rich, New Orleans’ Striking Advantage in the Age of Climate Change, November 30, 2024 [emphasis mine]

Be a New Orleanian, Wherever You Are has a new meaning. Look to the Crescent City to see how to behave in these interesting times, like so many before you. The future we’ve all been awaiting is lapping at our shores. The harbinger is, unfortunately, my home.

I’ve visited the Prospect exhibits since the beginning, even covering the first one for a now-defunct online magazine. The themes repeatedly bang up against the nature of the future, and this year states it frankly. I’ve visited a few of the Prospect.6 exhibits. Here are my impressions.

The Historic New Orleans Collection Gesture to Home by Didier William

The exhibit in the Historic New Orleans Collection starts before you enter the room. The ambiance changes, the lighting is intentionally dramatic. The artist used the whole room, sprawling like the swamp, a manmade swamp. A swamp becoming man. A man becoming swamp? The swamp is decay, stinky mucky polluted decay. The artist gave some insight into their thoughts in the description:

“Acknowledging that these trees can live over one thousand years, William regards them as witnesses to the past, having lived through European colonialization (sic), the transatlantic slave trade, the Haitian Revolution, and the Louisiana Purchase. Blending human and botanical elements, William explains, ‘All my paintings are about looking for home, looking for ground.’”

Witnesses to the the past that are becoming the past…

Press St.

One of the many cultures that made New Orleans but we have forgotten is the Filipinx community. I know almost nothing about this community outside of its existence, but the artist responsible for this wheat paste and several other pieces in the Prospect.6 exhibit is hosting a lecture on St. Malo. This wheat paste takes up the entire wall of the building and depicts the small water bound community, the first Filipinx settlement in the United States.

From the description: “Manilamen” or Filipino sailors and escapees from Spanish ships, established the community on a site previously settled by Indigenous people and formerly enslaved Africans. Stephanie Syjuco sourced engravings of St. Malo from an 1883 Harper’s Weekly essay, inverting the original black-and-white images so that structures, figures, and shadows stand out in ghostly white. The enlarged images are then adhered to outdoor facades using wheat paste— a type of glue made from starch and water. Over time, Syjuco’s outdoor murals will disintegrate, just as St. Malo’s former site on the Louisiana coastline erodes due to climate change.

Nearby on Press Street, Abigail DeVille’s installation called Carbon is part of a sound sculpture in the shape of a carbon cluster meteorites and the chambers of the human heart. From the description, “The sound in this artwork will evolve over the exhibition’s run. Beginning with abstract sound, eventually visitors will hear the names, ages, and descriptions of enslaved persons, read aloud by New Orleanians of corresponding ages.”

Harmony Circle

I love that the city is finally repurposing this prominent space for inclusive exhibits. The Sacred Heart of Hours and the Trees of Yesterdays, Today, and Tomorrow by Raúl de Nieves sit atop all the pedestal and urns available. de Nieves explained in the description, “The crowned heart evokes the Catholic Sacred Heart of Jesus, which carries significant spiritual resonances in Mexico and beyond. For de Nieves, whose work often explores Catholicism and Mexican folklore, its placement serves as a loving reset for a site once dedicated to memorializing the Confederacy and signals the relevance of Latinx immigrants in New Orleans. In the four urns surrounding the granite pedestal, de Nieves has installed brightly colored trees fashioned from thousands of recycled Mardi Gras beads.”

The Batture

The exhibit on the Batture provides a great opportunity to experience the world outside of the protection of the levees. It is a small walking trail along the banks of the Mississippi River with three very different exhibits along the way by Christopher Cozier, Marcel Pinas, and Andrea Carlson. All three deal with change, erasure, colonialism.

Exhibit at HNOC

The Trees of Yesterdays (Faith), the Trees of Today (Justice), the Trees of Tomorrow (Strength), the Trees of Now (Diligence) by Raúl de Nieves

Exhibit at the Batture

Exhibit at the Batture

Exhibit at the Batture

Overall impressions

I love the idea of chasing art and ideas around the city every few years, inviting strangers and friends from around the world to indulge in the luxury of release through creativity. But then I worry about the emissions I’m creating by zipping back and forth to soak it in.

The themes for the Prospect exhibits seems to get more and more depressing each time, and I wonder if it’s my changing perspective. Or is it another luxury that a certain set who can zip around the world to look at art have to ponder the horrible future humans are facing without any real effect on their lifestyle.

Previous Prospect Exhibits

Prospect.1 — November 1, 2008-January 18 2009
Prospect.2 — October 2, 2011-January 29, 2012
Prospect.3 Notes for Now — October 25, 2014-January 25, 2015
Prospect.4 The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp — Nov 18, 2017-Feb 25, 2018
Prospect.5 Yesterday We Said Tomorrow — Nov 6, 2021-Jan 23, 2022
Prospect.6 The Future is Present. The Harbinger is Home. — Nov 2, 2024-Feb 2, 2025

The Times-Picayune September 12, 2010 – page 42

Prospect.2 New Orleans The Times Picayune, October 21, 2011, p. 104.

The Daily Review, Mon, Apr 23, 2012 ·Page 4

The Times Picayune, October 26, 2012, p.

Prospect.4 New Orleans The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp
St. Mary and Franklin Banner-Tribune
Franklin, Louisiana, Mon, Dec 4, 2017 , Page 3
Lea Pearl
The Tomb: Part I
There is a tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 that attracts attention on tours. On the map it is labeled Hebert, 30 Ste. Philomene Aisle¹. It is very near Florville Foy’s tomb, which I always visit on tours.

It is falling apart in a beautiful way and provides and opportunity to see inside the tomb. Visitors are often drawn to the dust we return to, sinfully curious about what they may see inside. I leave space for respectful observation. Although I have unfortunately witnessed a child, without reprimand, jump on the fallen marble. I have found a rosary left behind and broken wine glasses scattered around the tomb…remnants of rituals?

There are no first names on the broken marble, but there are several last names: Hebert, Martin, and Heilbron, along with a pedestal with the name Dreuil. On a recent tour, a guest asked if I knew the story. Since I didn’t, I’ve been trying to find it. The website for Catholic Cemeteries in New Orleans says that their burial search feature will be fixed November 2024, so I’ve been hoping to uncover more there².

In the meantime, here’s what I’ve learned about the Jesus Saves tomb. It is connected to two of the most prominent plantations in south Louisiana, Colombian dignitaries, and the newspaper printing industry in New Orleans. Most amazingly, the last burial seems to have occurred in 2015. What could cause so much destruction in less than a decade?

Hebert

Edna Hebert graduates from the Hebert Institute. The Times Picayune July 19, 1896.

Sanborn’s Insurance Maps, 1896, Courtesy of: Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries. Provenance: Howard-Tilton Library (Tulane University) The Historic New Orleans Collection

Edna Ellen Hebert Heilbron (1880-1931)³ is the lynchpin connecting the names. She was born in New Orleans. Her mother was Mary Ann Martin and her father was Dorville Hebert. Edna eventually married Oscar D. Heilbron.

Edna and her sister Alma attended the Hebert Institute on the corner of St. Peter and Burgundy streets. The principal, Miss H. Hebert, was Edna and Alma’s aunt Hortense. Hortense purchased the property at 701-703 Burgundy (old address 159 Burgundy) in 1884 from Emile Angaud, father-in-law to Berthe Camors. She sold it in 1905.

Hortense Hebert dies at 78. New Orleans Item, May 15, 1919, p. 7.

Victor Hebert (1838-1881), who was Edna’s uncle, was possibly a printer for newspapers in New Orleans. There were at least three people named Victor Hebert in New Orleans during this time, a bookseller, a drygoods seller, and a newspaper printer.

Victor-the-printer died in 1881. His wife Augusta was also a teacher at the Young Ladies’ Institute in 1893 with the same residential address as Victor, 356 St. Peter, and the same business address as Hortense, 159 Burgundy. She was also a teacher in 1890, 1895, 1901. This is the only connection I could find to link Victor Hebert, a printer of the New Orleans newspapers, to this Hebert family.

The Daily Picayune, Wed, Aug 24, 1881, Page 4

In the censuses, his occupation changes. In 1860, he was a painter. In 1870, he was a gardener while his son, August, was a printer. In 1880, he was a printer. However, Victor is listed in the directory as a journeyman printer in 1868. He is listed as a printer for newspapers (New Orleans Times and New Orleans Republican) in 1869-1879, that I’ve found so far. His obituary leaves his family and burial details a mystery but invites both the Hall of Orleans Steam Fire Engine Company No. 21 and the New Orleans Typographical Union No. 17 to his residence for his funeral. The only Victor Hebert buried in New Orleans, according to Find A Grave, was born in 1928 and died in 1977.

Edna’s niece Anna (her brother Alfred’s daughter) married Ernest Haydel, whose ancestors founded what is now the Whitney Plantation. His great great great great grandfather was Ambroise Haydel (Heidel).

Martin

Edna’s mother was Mary Ann Martin (1854-1904). Mary’s mother, Ellen McLaughlin (1838-1923), immigrated from Ireland.

Joseph Martin (1836-1917) arrived in New Orleans in 1838 from France, when he was two years old. He married Ellen McLaughlin in 1858. His father was Nicolas Martin and his mother was Maria (last name unknown).

Joseph was originally buried in Vault #1 of the family tomb. He was transfered from this tomb to the Resurrection Mausoleum Crypt 139, Tier D, Christ the Savior Patio. Resurrection Mausoleum was built in 1975, but the reason he was moved is unknown. Joseph’s Find A Grave⁴ entry led me to find the vault, which has the same three last names engraved. No other information is inscribed providing no further clues.

Edna’s grandparents outlived Edna’s mother Mary (who died at 50 years old) and her father Dorville (who died at 39 years old). Perhaps this is how Edna, the eldest daughter, became responsible for the burials.

In Part II, I’ll dive into the Colombia connection, the other plantation family, and what mysteries remain.

Sources

St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 Map https://files.ecatholic.com/16998/documents/2020/10/ST%20LOUIS%203%20SQUARE%201-6%20redone.jpg?t=1603750799000 ↩︎
New Orleans Catholic Cemeteries Burial Search. https://nolacatholiccemeteries.org/burial-search ↩︎
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/219644015/edna-ellen-heilbron ↩︎
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62770649/joseph-martin ↩︎
Lea Pearl
Cast Iron Victorian Hinges
When you’re seeking your next deep New Orleans experience, look for the cast iron Victorian hinges. You can still find them on shutters on every block of the French Quarter and in many neighborhoods beyond.¹ I learned about these special historic details at the New Canal Museum tour in the Lighthouse.

Note: This is part of my series on atypical things to do in New Orleans, the deep experiences. Click the button to see the rest!

Deep New Orleans Experiences

The design allows one to open or close the shutters and lock them in place without tools. You lift the shutter up and then replace it to change its position. These cast iron hinges are so functional in their purpose that there are images of the Lighthouse blown completely over from Hurricane Katrina, but the shutters remain locked in place.

New Canal Lighthouse following 2005 hurricanes via https://www.historic-structures.com/la/new_orleans/new-canal-lighthouse/

Listings for the hinges often include a history explaining that Harvey Lull invented them in 1854. They are referred to as the Lull and Porter Hinges sometimes and commonly the Acme Lull and Porter, or ALP, hinges today.

But the image on the patent for these hinges is similar but clearly not the same. Indeed, a repeated complaint about the 1854 design was that they did not stay closed in wind.

Many designs for hinges appear in the patent records as improvements on the Lull and Porter hinge design. The design that seems most similar to the hinges you can still find in New Orleans to my inexperienced eyes is the 1867 design by Pascal Child.

Lull filed and received extensions for his patent in 1867 and 1876. He claimed poverty. By 1874, he earned only $14,500 — about $427,768.97 in 2024 money or $21,388.40 for each of the 20 years of his patent. Others agreed that his invention should have been worth a lot more, as it was now in common use.

“No opposition to the extension has appeared, but, on the other hand, some eighty prominent hardware dealers and manufacturers (not interested in the patent) residing in the cities of New York, Hoboken, Philadelphia, Reading, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Washington, &c, have petitioned Congress for its extension, on the grounds that the invention is of great value to the public; that the said Lull has not received adequate compensation; that the public will be better protected by the extension, in having good and substantial castings made; and that the cost to the public will not be increased,” William Windom wrote in a report submitted to the 44th Congress on March 20, 1876.²

This wasn’t exactly true. Two years before, in 1874, the report issued by the Committee on Patents did not recommend extending the patent. Henry B. Sayler outlines how much Lull has made from his invention and ends with, “It is but reasonable to conclude that this sum would have been substantially increased had it not been for certain sales of interests in said inventions which were unfortunate in failing to bring to the applicant any returns whatever. No considerable time or money by the applicant in perfecting his invention is shown. Your committee are of the opinion that the equities in this case are not of such a character as to entitle the applicant the relief asked for, and would therefore report adversely thereto.”³

Nevertheless, Congress granted his extension in 1876 for seven additional years.

Patent Case

In 1882, the year before his second extension ended, Harvey Lull sued Charles Clark and several others for patent infringement.⁴⁵ His claim was that the other hinges were not substantially different than his original invention, which was the mechanism by which the shutters closed and locked and not the specific pieces constructed. The invention was the mechanism, and the court agreed. “Where the mechanism used by defendant’s shutter hinge is a mere formal variation from that of plaintiffs’ invention, having the same mode of operation, it is an infringement of the patent,” the Federal Reporter concluded in 1882.

However, Clark appealed to the Northern District of New York in 1884. The decision resulted in a precedential ruling.⁶ The defendants objected to the initial ruling because the court found that none of the similar hinges except the Clark hinge were similar enough to infringe on Lull’s patent. They argued that this was an uneven application done without any authority of the court. In other words, the judge couldn’t have been expert in hinges enough to know that the only similar one was the Clark hinge. The court said that it was done to the best of his ability and without substantial confusion or delays. “It would create intolerable delays and confusion, besides putting an unnecessary burden upon the court to hold, that each time the master makes a ruling, the aggrieved party may, by special motion, have it reviewed,” J. Coxe wrote in his decision to deny the motion.

I found at least one case that cites Lull v. Clark (1884). In Pathe Laboratories, Inc. v. Du Pont Film Mfg. Corporation, 3 F.R.D. 11 (S.D.N.Y. 1943), the “motion to quash subpoena duces tecum issued under Rule 45 to produce records before a hearing master authorized to determine the issue of plaintiff’s damages” was denied, and the Lull decision of maintaining the authority of the court to determine what was relevant evidence was cited as a precedent.⁷

Lull v. Clark is also cited in Modern Pleading and Practice in Equity in the Federal and State Courts of the United States, with Particular Reference to the Federal Practice, including Numerous Forms and Precedents Volume II by Charles Fisk Beach, Jr. from 1900.⁸

Conclusion

In 1874, Harvey Lull had spent $1,500 on litigation, or about $40,000 in 2024. However, he hadn’t made any substantial improvements on his invention, either via time or money. He invented another totally different hinge in 1874 for blinds.⁹ He also had patents in 1837 (Improvement in machines for breaking and dressing hemp and flax), 1856 (Improvement in feathering paddle wheels), 1871 (Improvement in auxiliary springs for treadles), 1871 (Improvement in shade racks), and 1873 (Improvement in curtain cord fasteners). I didn’t find any indications that he sued anyone over those inventions.

Perhaps he was right to fight so hard to protect his intellectual property at the time. We are still using a variety of it today, 170 years later. I found a comment on an article explaining that the Acme version of the hinges was patented in 1906. I have struggled to find this patent. Please let me know if you know where to find it!

Timeline

1854: H. Lull Shutter Hinge
1867: Improvement in Hinges for Window Shutters
1867: Lull filed first patent extension
1874: Lock Hinges
1874: Design for Blind Hinges
1874: Patent No. 156,277 to Charles B. Clark October 27, 1874
1874: Lull filed second patent extension
1882: Lull v. Clark and others
1906: ACME Lull and Porter hinge patented

Sources

House of Antique Hardware “Acme” Cast Iron Mortise Shutter Hinges – 3 3/4” x 2 1/2” https://www.houseofantiquehardware.com/shutter-hardware-3-3-4-inch-acme-mortise-hinges ↩︎
Windom, William. Report No. 160 to Senate, 44th Congress, 1st Session, March 20, 1876. ↩︎
Sayler, Henry B. (Committee on Patents), Report No. 601 to the House of Representatives, 43rd Congress, 1st Session, May 22, 1874. ↩︎
Lull v. Clark patent and case info, https://oldhouseguy.com/images/shutters/HingePatentInfo.pdf ↩︎
“Lull v. Clark and others,” Circuit Court, N. D. New York 1882, Federal Reporter, p. 456. https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F/0013/0013.f1.0456.pdf ↩︎
Lull v. Clark, Court Listener, 20 F. 454, 22 Blatchf. 207, 1884 U.S. App. LEXIS 2233, https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8162499/lull-v-clark/ ↩︎
PATHE LABORATORIES, Inc., v. DU PONT FILM MFG. CORPORATION, Case Text, Pathe Laboratories, Inc. v. Du Pont Film Mfg. Corporation, 3 F.R.D. 11 (S.D.N.Y. 1943), https://casetext.com/case/pathe-laboratories-inc-v-du-pont-film-mfg-corporation ↩︎
Beach, Jr. Charles Fisk. Modern Pleading and Practice in Equity in the Federal and State Courts of the United States, with Particular Reference to the Federal Practice, including Numerous Forms and Precedents Volume II, W. H. Anderson and Co., Cincinnati, OH. © 1900, p. 681. ↩︎
H. Lull Patent for Lock-Hinges for Blinds No. 148,315, March 10, 1874, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/1b/39/c0/982aa30904e5da/US148315.pdf ↩︎
Lea Pearl