Historic Books and Bullet Holes

Charlene Bonnette oversees historic documents and just plain curiosities at the State Library

When Charlene Bonnette was a girl, her family moved all over the country; her father was an Air Force pilot. But they never lost their ties with Louisiana.

“My dad inherited my great-grandfather’s farm in Elmer, fourteen miles outside of Alexandria,” said Bonnette, who now lives in New Roads, where her mother’s family is from. “When I was growing up, we spent summers there. My grandmother would take us to the Louisiana bookmobile every week. That’s one of my fondest memories.

“I remember getting picture books and, later, Little Women and Anne of Green Gables. One book I would check out constantly was a horse book. After I grew up, I checked online sources, but I could never remember the title or author. Then one year I found a copy of the book at the LSU Book Bazaar.”

Bonnette, now head of the Louisiana Department of the State Library, grew up in a family of readers and especially loves biography and history. Among her favorite holdings in the library are two first editions of Twelve Years a Slave from 1853. The much-reprinted book by Solomon Northup is getting renewed attention since the film version won the Oscar for Best Picture last month.

But the library houses much more than books. Touring her domain on the fifth floor, Bonnette led the way to the Capitol View room, whose glass wall overlooks the State Capitol. The other walls display works of art by such luminaries as Caroline Durieux, Margaret Stones, and Alberta Kinsey and a painting of ballerinas by Edward Schoenberger, done under the aegis of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

On a table, Bonnette had laid out other examples of the department’s treasures—a framed letter from Huey Long stating his approval of the Louisiana Library Commission; photos of old Baton Rouge; and a collection of dolls made by WPA artists—including an Ursuline nun, a “plantation lady,” and a casket girl. Each was carefully stored in an archival box.

Author Lyle Saxon’s collection of Mardi Gras ephemera, also housed at the library, includes elaborately designed invitations and dance cards, some with the pencils still attached by a string. Born in Baton Rouge, but more often associated with New Orleans, Saxon died unexpectedly in 1946 at the age of fifty-four. His two aunts donated many of his possessions to the State Library, where he often did research and where he had cultivated a friendship with then state librarian Essae Culver.

Saxon had given Culver a Clementine Hunter painting that experts claim is the artist’s earliest documented work. Culver hung it in her office at the library and, upon her retirement, donated it to the Louisiana collection. It depicts a woman tending to a man who is ill; its wooden frame is decorated with flowers painted by Hunter. On the backing paper is pasted a label stating that Saxon called the painting “Socialized Medicine.”

Many items in the collection were donated by “regular people” who mailed in stamps, postcards, sheet music, and similar materials found in attics or picked up in second-hand stores. “I don’t know what libraries and archives would do without donors,” said Bonnette, who has asked Louisiana authors to donate copies of their books that the budget doesn’t cover.

One of her favorite donated items is a French art book dating to the Union occupation of Baton Rouge during the Civil War. “There were Union tents set up on the grounds of the Old State Capitol,” said Bonnette. “One man was outside reading; he looked up to answer a question and held the book to his chest. Just then a Confederate sniper shot at him; the book stopped the bullet and saved his life. His family lived up north, but they wanted to get the book back to Louisiana.”

Bonnette’s reference collection is home to thirty-two file cabinets that hold vertical files, including information on the persons who have held the position of state librarian—only four in nearly a century. Additional cabinets hold maps, art, posters, and historic photos.

Essae Culver came to Louisiana from California in 1925 and, with help from a Carnegie Foundation grant, established libraries in nearly every parish in the state. When she retired in 1962, her assistant Sallie Farrell took over, serving until 1975. Farrell was replaced by Tom Jacques, who served until 2005, when Rebecca Hamilton was appointed. At age thirty-four, Hamilton was the youngest state librarian in the country.

When Culver arrived in Baton Rouge, she operated out of the Old State Capitol. In 1932, the library’s collection was moved to the eighteenth floor of the new State Capitol. In 1940, the holdings were relocated to the Hill Library on the grounds of the new Capitol. The present-day library was built in the late 1950s and renovated in the late 1990s.

Hamilton is effusive in her praise of her predecessors, with a special fondness for Farrell.

“She’s been my hero for a long time,” said Hamilton, sitting in her office on the second floor. “She always wore red lipstick and high heels, and she got things done.”

She also praised Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne, who oversees the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, which includes the library. “One of the first things he did after taking office was to bring back the Louisiana Book Festival,” she said. The festival began in 2002, was canceled in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina, and was canceled again in 2010 owing to budget cuts. It resumed in 2011.

Budget cuts have hit the library hard. Bonnette is sometimes frustrated that she can’t acquire the books she needs.

“Our budget was $425,000 for the 2012–13 fiscal year,” she said. “In 2013–14, it dropped to $25,000. For the 2014–15 fiscal year, the budget will be zero.”

In the 2013–14 fiscal year, when $400,000 was cut from the budget, Bonnette, who is also the preservation librarian and exhibits coordinator, could spend only $1,200 on books. The rest went for periodicals, newspapers, and databases.

There is no money in the budget for the vitally important—and expensive—archival materials. “When I really need something, I go to my supervisors and they find a way to get it for me,” said Bonnette, noting that acid-free folders cost two to three times what regular manila folders sell for.

The library’s archivally correct materials include boxes to hold large objects, paper to protect historic documents, and inert-plastic sleeves for the thousands of photographs in the department’s collection.

“Once, I ordered some ‘archival’ photo-holders, but I could tell they weren’t truly archival,” said Bonnette, who has a master’s degree in library science from LSU and is also a certified archivist. “When I ran my finger over one of them, it just slid silently because it had plasticizer on it. With the really archival photo-holders, when you slide your finger over them they go squeak, squeak, squeak. You have to buy the right ones because over time the wrong ones turn brittle and fall apart.”

Bonnette was hired in 1998 as a reference librarian. In 2008, she was designated preservation librarian, and in 2010 she was promoted to head of the Louisiana Department. “Charlene is the best department head we’ve had,” said Hamilton. “She got it organized and whipped into shape. It’s a living, breathing thing.”

“We are a repository for all state documents as well as phone books and city directories,” said Bonnette. “We don’t weed out our collection. Everything we get stays here. We try to get two copies of every book; one stays here and one circulates. Through interlibrary loan they have circulated all over the world.”

The collection includes LSU Gumbos dating to 1902, college yearbooks from all over the state, bound volumes of the LSU Reveille, and a rare copy of The Negro in Louisiana: Seventy-Eight Years of Progress, published in 1942 by the Sepia Socialite.

Budget cuts have resulted in the library’s being closed on Fridays for the past few years. “We come in and work on projects, but the public is not admitted,” said Bonnette, whose department has five employees. “But we are open to email and phone calls on Fridays.”

Despite occasional money woes, Bonnette feels lucky to work where she does.

“This job is right up my alley,” she said. “I’m very, very happy. It’s awesome to wake up in the morning and be eager to get to work. You never know what phone call you’re going to get from somebody wanting to make a donation.”

Ruth Laney can be reached at ruthlaney@cox.net.