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THE CABILDO PROJECT
Ironwork Ornamental
The ironwork on the front gallery on the second floor of the Cabildo dates to the Spanish colonial period of the 1790s, when the present Cabildo was first constructed.
Marcelino Hernandez, who was a Spanish immigrant from the Canary Islands, designed the graceful and elegant patterns used here. The central windows of the gallery overlook the pattern of the crown, which symbolized the King of Spain. The windows on both ends of the gallery feature a rose design, which was a symbol of the Catholic Church, another important Spanish institution.
Many buildings in the French Quarter feature iron work on balconies. The wrought iron of the Cabildo represents the earlier iron technology of the Spanish period. However, most of the iron work in the French Quarter is cast iron and dates to the early 1800s of the American period. Cast iron is made when a cast pattern design is formed, and then molten iron is poured into the cast and then cooled. Cast iron allows a pattern to be repeated, as seen on the Pontalba Apartments adjacent to the Cabildo.
CARPETBAGSCRIPT
This carpet bag dates to the time of Reconstruction, Louisiana. Carpetbags became the symbol of northern migrants who moved south after the Civil War to earn a living during the reconstruction of the southern society and economy. New Orleans, as the economic center of the South, and also the region’s largest city attracted many newcomers from the northern states.
Some of the people called carpetbaggers were unprincipled and corrupt. But most were not, and many came to the South for honorable reasons. Some were Union soldiers who after the war decided to stay in the South to begin a new life as farmers or as operators of small businesses. Others worked in the South for the Freedmen's Bureau, a federal agency that aided former slaves. Another group consisted of people experienced in Northern politics who felt they could be useful and influential in the Republican Party in the South. Today, the term carpetbagger is still used to describe outsiders who try to exert influence where they are not wanted.
Carpetbags, were essentially suitcases made of carpet material, and were widely used at the time. They had very intricate colorful patterns and different designs. They also had locks on them just like suitcases to keep all materials inside safe.
Child’s Cast Iron Casket
This cast iron casket was recovered from the Girod Street Cemetary in New Orleans. The cemetery once stood where the New Orleans Centre is now located, and it served Protestants in New Orleans from 1822-1957. The cemetery was established at a time when Yellow Fever was a major health concern for the region’s residents, and led to over 300,000 deaths in the Lower Mississippi Valley during the 1800s.
Yellow fever is a viral infection spread by the bite of the female mosquito. American and Cuban observers had long argued that mosquitos were the source of spreading the virus, but it was not until 1901 when U.S. Army doctor Walter Reed comfirmed the findings for the U.S. military. The first reported cases appeared in Louisiana around 1817 (the first year reliable statistics are available)*and the disease remained a threat until 1905. More people died of Yellow Fever in New Orleans than any other city in the U.S., and New Orleans was also the last American city to have a major outbreak in 1905. The worst outbreak occurred in 1853, when up to 9,000 of the city’s residents died, which was almost ten percent of the population. Most victims were immigrants who lived in crowded unsanitary conditions, allowing the easy spread of the disease in their communities.
Some of the symptoms for yellow fever are coma, heart dysfunction, headache, fever, vomiting, red eyes, face, or tongue, jaundice, and a few others
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