Inventory - MSS 363 - FEMA - George Washington Carver School Collection - Library Guides at University of New Orleans

FEMA – GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER SCHOOL COLLECTION

(Mss 363)

Inventory

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

June 2011

Summary

Size: 0.25 linear foot

Geographic

locations: New Orleans, Louisiana

Inclusive dates: June 7-8, 2010

Summary: Photographs by Rob Tucher from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) documenting George Washington Carver School (3059 Higgins Boulevard, New Orleans, La. 70126), which is scheduled for demolition. The Recovery School District plans to clear the entire campus and construct new buildings on the site.

Source: Gift, 2010

Access: No restrictions on use in the library’s reading room

Copyright: Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

Citation: FEMA – George Washington Carver School Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

Historical Note

In 1952 the Orleans Parish School Board introduced to Louisiana a new concept in public school design: the school village. Designed to save money by maximizing use of space and facilities, the model created large facilities shared by multiple schools and the surrounding neighborhood. This permitted students to complete their public school education on a single campus while fostering a sense of community spirit among students, faculty, parents, and neighbors. One such school village was the George Washington Carver Complex, which provided elementary through high-school grades on an eighty-eight-acre campus.

Designed by award-winning New Orleans architects Curtis & Davis, Carver Junior-Senior High School and Helen Sylvania Edwards Elementary School were dedicated on December 7, 1958. According to Recordation of Certain Buildings at the George Washington Carver School Campus, New Orleans, Louisiana by Elizabeth G. Heavrin, “buildings [were] symmetrically grouped on the south end of the campus with playing fields to the north. The auditorium, cafeteria, and gymnasium buildings, utilized by both junior and senior high students, were arranged down the center spine of the campus. The classroom buildings, one for junior high students and one for the senior high, ran perpendicular to the center line and were connected by the administrative offices and libraries at their center. The music and industrial arts classrooms, two noisy instructional spaces, were contained in wings at the far ends of the classroom buildings. The elevated classroom wings and covered walkways throughout the campus provided relief from the hot New Orleans sun and offered informal areas for students to gather” (p. 3).

The Carver Complex was located in the Desire Area, a predominantly African American neighborhood in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Developed during the first half of the twentieth century, the area encouraged home ownership by African Americans. The construction in the early 1950s of the Desire Housing Project brought more than nine thousand residents and contributed to the need for schools.

Damage sustained by the school complex as a result of Hurricane Katrina (August 29, 2005) and the subsequent flooding led the School Board to request funds to demolish the damaged buildings.

Sources: Heavrin, Elizabeth G. Recordation of Certain Buildings at the George Washington Carver School Campus, New Orleans, Louisiana (New Orleans: Federal Emergency Management Agency; New Orleans: Trigon Associates; Lexington, Ky.: Cultural Resource Analysis, June 28, 2010); “New Education Facilities Open,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, December 8, 1958.

Container List

Series I. Exterior photographs

Box 1, Folder 1

Black-and-white, 4-by-5-inch glossy photographs of the exterior of Carver High School, 3059 Higgins Boulevard, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Exterior photographs were taken by Rob Tucher on June 8, 2010.

363-1 Overview of campus including auditorium. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-2 Overview of campus including cafeteria. Photographed facing southwest. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-3 North and west elevations of auditorium. Photographed facing southeast. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-4 North elevation of auditorium. Photographed facing south. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-5 East elevation of auditorium. Photographed facing west. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-6 South elevation of auditorium. Photographed facing north. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-7 Detail of buttresses, west elevation. Photographed facing south-southeast. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-8 Detail of buttresses, east elevation. Photographed facing north. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-9 Detail of floating stair case, east elevation. Photographed facing northwest.

363-10 Detail of hinged expansion joint. Photographed facing north. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-11 South elevation of cafeteria. Photographed facing north. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

363-12 North and west elevations of cafeteria. Photographed facing south-southeast. Photographed facing north. Includes negative.

Series II. Interior photographs

Box 1, Folder 2

Black-and-white, 4-by-5-inch glossy photographs of the exterior of Carver High School, 3059 Higgins Boulevard, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. Interior photographs were taken by Rob Tucher on June 7, 2010.

363-13 Overview of auditorium interior taken from the second story. Photographed facing south.

363-14 Overview of auditorium interior taken from the stage. Photographed facing north.

363-15 Details of colored panels in auditorium. Photographed facing northwest.

363-16 Detail of auditorium stage. Photographed facing east.

363-17 Detail of auditorium seat. Photographed facing northwest

363-18 Overview of the Edwards Elementary cafeteria in the auditorium building. Photographed facing southeast.

363-19 Detail of windows in the Edwards Elementary cafeteria in the auditorium building. Photographed facing west.

363-20 Overview of the cafeteria building interior showing metal ceiling trusses. Photographed facing northwest.

363-21 Detail of the cafeteria building windows. Photographed facing southwest.

Series III. Other visual materials

Box 2

363-22 –

363-34 Curtis & Davis, Architects. Construction plans for Carver School, 1955. 13 sheets.

Box 1, Folder 3

363-35 Compact disc containing color images of 363-1 – 363-21 and black-and-white images of 363-22 – 363-34.

Series IV. Textual materials

Box 1, Folder 4

363-36 Heavrin, Elizabeth G. Recordation of Certain Buildings at the George Washington Carver School Campus, New Orleans, Louisiana. New Orleans: Federal Emergency Management Agency; New Orleans: Trigon Associates; Lexington, Ky.: Cultural Resource Analysis, June 28, 2010.

Photo log.

Index Terms

Carver School (New Orleans, La.)

Edwards School (New Orleans, La.)

Federal Emergency Management Agency

George Washington Carver School (New Orleans, La.)

Hurricane Katrina, 2005

Schools—Louisiana—New Orleans

Helen Sylvania Edwards School (New Orleans, La.)

Tucher, Rob

MSS 363 - FEMA - George Washington Carver School Collection: Inventory