Using the theme “A Dream of the Vegetable Kingdom,” the Krewe of Proteus created Carnival floats and costumes for its 1892 parade based on corn, watermelon, and even English peas. Intended as working drawings for float builders and costumiers, the designs from Tulane’s Louisiana Research Collection are now on display in the Special Collections gallery, Jones Hall Room 201.

“The hand-painted watercolor designs are by Carlotta Bonnecaze, the first woman and first creole to design floats for a carnival krewe,” says Lee Miller, head of the Lousiana Research Collection. Carnival historian Henri Schindler calls Bonnecaze’s work “astonishing” and argues that in this 1892 parade, she used subtle layers of color to achieve her most beautifully painted designs.

“A Dream of the Vegetable Kingdom” is a rare instance of the Louisiana Research Collection preserving both a complete set of eighteen float designs and a complete set of 101 costume designs. Unlike today, each costume depicted a unique character designed specifically for the person who wore it. Of that number, sixteen float designs and thirty-eight costume designs have been chosen for display.

In addition to being beautiful works of art in their own right, the designs are heavily used by researchers in a variety of fields, including present-day Carnival designers, float builders, business people, historians, sociologists, and litterateurs. The Louisiana Research Collection preserves one of the largest Carnival collections in the world, including roughly 5,600 original designs, all of which are available online through the Louisiana Digital Library. With all of the designs viewable online, the collection restricts access to the delicate originals for preservation purposes, so this is a rare opportunity to see the original works on paper.

The Special Collections Gallery, Jones Hall Room 201, is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public. For information, please call 504-314-7833, or email lmiller@tulane.edu.

The 1892 Proteus designs are only a fraction of LaRC’s extensive Carnival collection. The Louisiana Research Collection is a research library and archives, not a museum, and so does not acquire materials such as costumes or other textiles; but for documents on paper, such as invitations, dance cards, and designs, LaRC may likely have the largest Carnival collection in the world, representing almost three hundred krewes.

A detailed guide to our Carnival collection is available here. If your krewe is not represented, please contact us.

LaRC’s Carnival collection is perhaps most famous for its original designs. LaRC’s float and costume designs are strongest for the krewes of Comus, Momus, and Proteus for the 1870s through the 1940s, and includes the famous 1873 “Missing Links” Comus costume designs, which used Darwin’s “Origin of Species” to satirize political leaders of the day.

Thanks to generous support from the Tulane University Office of the Provost, the Louisiana Research Collection has placed all 5,600 of its original Carnival designs online. You can browse the complete collection here.

If so, please make sure that your krewe is represented in the LaRC Carnival collection. We recommend that your krewe assign an officer to serve as liaison with LaRC. Your LaRC liaison would be responsible for keeping your documents up-to-date by collecting and delivering each year’s invitations, announcements, and other printed materials to LaRC.

LaRC can also act as your krewe’s archives by permanently preserving a complete set of your minutes and reports. That would ensure that your krewe’s records are safe, secure, and available for your use. This service is completely free. If you would like to learn more about making LaRC your krewe’s official archives, please contact us at larc@tulane.edu.

LaRC preserves the Carnival collection for one reason: to make it available to researchers from around the world. Everything the Louisiana Research Collection preserves – from the papers of Lindy Boggs to the papers of Jefferson Davis – is available to all researchers on an equal basis.

There are many ways you can help, from letting us know about documents that need preservation to helping fund an internship for a student eager to work with original Louisiana documents. Find out more about how you can help preserve our past for our future.