MSS 290 - Hitt Scrapbooks Collection: Inventory

Hitt Scrapbooks COLLECTION

(Mss 290)

Inventory

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

 

Summary

 

Size:                          2.5 linear feet

 

Geographic

locations:                 New Orleans, La.

 

Inclusive dates:      1957-1969

 

Summary:                Six scrapbooks and related publication, pertaining to the University of New Orleans, 1957-1969.  Scrapbooks contain newsclippings from the New Orleans Times-Picayune and others publications, chiefly from the New Orleans and Baton Rouge areas; copies of editorials; printed ephemera; and other materials.

 

Related

collections:              University of New Orleans Archives (Mss 159); Homer Hitt Editorial Cartoons Collection (Mss 308)

 

Source:                     Gift, 1997

 

Access:                     No restrictions

 

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

 

Citation:                    Hitt Scrapbooks Collection, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

Historical/Biographical Note

 

            The first appointment of an official to the staff of the fledgling Louisiana State University in New Orleans (now the University of New Orleans) was that of Homer L. Hitt (b. 1916), who was named dean of LSUNO on December 14, 1957.  At the time, Hitt was associate dean of the graduate school and head of the departments of sociology and rural sociology at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.  A native of Comanche, Texas, Hitt earned bachelor of science (1935) and master of arts (1937) degrees at LSU and a master of arts degree (1938) and a doctorate (1941) at Harvard University.  His publications include The People of Louisiana (with T. Lynn Smith; LSU Press, 1952).  An authority on population, Hitt was one of five scholars from the United States to be elected to the International Union of the Scientific Study of Population in 1952.  Hitt’s status at LSUNO was changed in 1959 to vice president and in 1963 to chancellor.  He retired from that position in 1980.

 

            LSUNO opened on Friday, September 5, 1958, with an inaugural convocation.  A faculty of 63 offered freshman-level courses only to a racially integrated student body of 1,459.  Additional courses were added each year until a full four-year curriculum was available, with the first, 102-member graduating class completing their studies in the spring of 1962.  Graduate courses were introduced the following year.  These and other events of the university’s first twelve years are recalled in these scrapbooks, which were compiled by Mrs. Homer L. Hitt.

 

Container List

 

290-1              Scrapbook, December 14, 1957 - November 18, 1958.

                        Includes appointment of Dr. Homer Hitt as dean, including letter of notification from Troy H. Middleton, president of the LSU Board of Supervisors; announcement of faculty appointments; soaring enrollment; inaugural convocation; racial strife and desegregation; and opening day.

 

290-2              Scrapbook, December 1958 - March 2, 1960.

                        Includes opening activities, master plan for construction, enrollment projections, first student government elections, approval of curricula, construction of science laboratories by faculty members, proposed new buildings, additions to the faculty, start of second term, and naming the university newspaper.

 

290-3              Curtis and Davis, Architects and Planners.  A Master Campus Development and Building Plan, Louisiana State University in New Orleans.  New Orleans: The Architects, 1959.

 

290-4              Scrapbook, March 4, 1960 - June 7, 1963.

                        Includes completion of first permanent buildings, first summer session, receipt of research grants, publication of first yearbook, programs from first honors convocation and commencement, administrative reorganization, beginning of fifth year, presentation of the Crabitès Collection, Depart­ment of Chemistry accreditation, allocation of funds for construction, and Dr. Hitt’s title changed to chancellor.

 

290-5              Scrapbook, June 13, 1963 - June 17, 1964.

                        Includes LSUNO-related land use, the inauguration of graduate programs, financial needs, library construction and opening, and first commencement program.

 

290-6              Scrapbook, June 22, 1964 - April 30, 1965.

                        Includes plans for expansion, new library, Gulf South Research Institute, and overhauling Louisiana’s system of higher education.

 

290-7              Scrapbook, April 21, 1965 - November 13, 1969.

                        Includes opposition to separation of LSUNO from LSU, rumors of an effort to oust Dr. Hitt, growth and impact of LSUNO, and awarding of first Ph.D.

Index Terms

 

Hitt, Homer L.

University of New Orleans—History