Home Research Seminar
What would your New Orleans property tell you about its history if it could? Maybe it would tell you about who lived there—all the previous owners and the ways they each changed the house—or who ate there, what important figures may have passed through, or what secrets may have been told on your porch.
On Saturday, June 28, at 10 a.m., the Friends of the Cabildo is hosting an in-depth program on how to learn more about the history of your home at the New Orleans Jazz Museum and on Zoom with Robert J. Cangelosi Jr. Cangelosi is an adjunct professor at Tulane University School of Architecture and president of Koch and Wilson Architects, and he will teach a seminar about historic home research.
Unlock your Research Toolkit
Rather than relying on oral histories and secondary sources, Cangelosi will detail how you can develop the history of your property using primary sources.
Beginning with a short outline of New Orleans' architectural history, Cangelosi will guide you on the best practices to finding and analyzing a variety of databases, including newspapers, taxes, water records, census, contracts, city directories, and more.
This seminar will provide the necessary tools to truly unlock the stories that may have taken place on your property and, most importantly, how to prepare a "chain of title." The chain of title is a record of the previous owners, which in theory could lead back to the French colonial period in the 1700s. He will further widen your possibilities to understand when improvements took place by providing information on where records can be found and and how they can be used to improve your understanding of your home.
More about Friends of the Cabildo
Established in 1956, Friends of the Cabildo is a non-profit organization supporting the Louisiana State Museum through a variety of cultural and historical programs. They conduct daily walking tours in the French Quarter with dedicated volunteer staff who complete 100-hour training classes each year.
They also provide a variety of educational programs, such as the home research seminar, as well as operate a museum store and host a concert series showcasing musicians from New Orleans and across the state of Louisiana. They are the primary volunteer group that supports the State Museum and have expanded their outreach abilities through their expansive network of dedicated volunteers.
Ticketing Details
In person and Zoom tickets are both $35 for non-members and $25 for members, and can be found at this link.
For more information, you can visit the Friends of the Cabildo's website or call them at (504) 523-3939.
