An engineer who worked for 59 years at the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans, Louisiana, Alexander Allison was an avid and skillful photographer who donated hundreds of his photographs and negatives dating from the 1890s to the 1950s to the New Orleans Public Library's Louisiana Division. Visitors can view all of the negatives online, though this exhibit is akin to a "best of" feature. It...

Over the course of the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) life, this government agency put thousands of artisans to work creating sculptures, writing travel books, and taking photographs. In Louisiana, the state headquarters of the WPA was located in New Orleans. During its existence, the headquarters sent out photographers to document all sorts of activity in the Crescent City. This collection...