PREFACE,

IT is the aim of the present volume to supply a work which shall deal with the history of New Orleans not alone in its broadest

sense of civic development, but as well in respect of those somewhat more intimate and, in a sense, personal details which, though not properly a part of the history of the municipality, possess an ever-widening bearing upon that history and entitle them to the perpetuity of print. If there be deficiencies in the volume, they are to be attributed to this very ambition, for the minutiae referred to is endless, and it is inevitable that the proper estimate should not always have been placed upon the multiplicity of detail confronting the writers. The book will, nevertheless, contribute its mite, and if it enrich the history-literature of the State only to the extent of providing an accurate and reliable volume with sources of information accessible by means of a carefully prepared index, the labor expended upon it shall not have been lost. It is hoped that what the value may lack in uniformity and symmetry, by reason of the number of writers engaged upon it, with the resultant diversity of views, may be compensated by the earnestness which has inspired the composition of the various chapters. Original records have been consulted wherever accessible and every writer has given a personal attention to the revision of proof-sheets. The chapters upon sugar and rice have been added because these industries have been of exceptional importance in the city's commercial history.

The writers and the editor are indebted, for invaluable assistance and advice in directing to sources of information, to Mr. William Beer, Librarian of the Howard and of the Fisk Free and Public Libraries.

The Editor.