Newly discovered prints added to digitized Ralston Crawford collection of New Orleans jazz photographs

Tulane University Special Collections (TUSC) is pleased to announce that 14 additional photographs from the Ralston Crawford collection of New Orleans jazz photographs (HJA-098) have recently been digitized and are now available via the Tulane University Digital Library. The 14 newly available prints include Alice Zeno, mother of clarinetist George Lewis, circa 1951; and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade during Mardi Gras 1954.  

The collection contains 800 photographs shot by visual artist Ralston Crawford, capturing scenes representing New Orleans music, history, architecture, celebration, and daily life from 1947-1960. It contains what Crawford deemed his best images in New Orleans. Photo subjects include local parades, bars, nightclubs, dances, churches, Carnival balls, musicians and bands, buildings and streets, and community members.

The Archive of New Orleans Jazz (now known as the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz) at Tulane University first acquired the Crawford collection in 1961. The bulk of the photographs were first digitized and made available online in 2012. These newly digitized prints, discovered during collection processing and rehousing work that began in 2023, ensure the entirety of the collection is easily accessible to the public. As part of this work, archivists and librarians also published a collection finding aid and corrected and enhanced the collection’s metadata.

For more information, contact Hogan Archive curator Melissa A. Weber at mweber3@tulane.edu or 504-247-1807. To learn more about Tulane University Special Collections, visit the TUSC website at library.tulane.edu/tusc, email specialcollections@tulane.edu, and follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Prints: Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade during Mardi Gras 1954:

Note: Some of the photographs contain images of Black members of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club adorned in black face paint, part of the krewe’s traditional Mardi Gras costume since its formation in the early 1900s.  According to an official press release issued by Zulu SAPC in 2019, “Unlike minstrelsy, which was designed to ridicule and mock Black people, the founders of our Social Aid & Pleasure Club chose the name 'Zulu' to honor their African ancestry and the continent’s most fierce warriors. Zulu parade costumes bear no resemblance to the costumes worn by 'blackface' minstrel performers at the turn of the century. Zulu parade costumes more closely resemble and are designed to honor garments worn by South African Zulu warriors.”

Prints: Alice Zeno, mother of clarinetist George Lewis, circa 1951:

Published February 10, 2025

Photo caption: Woman at the Zulu Parade, 1954, New Orleans, Ralston Crawford collection of New Orleans jazz photographs, Tulane University Special Collections.

Woman at the Zulu Parade, 1954, New Orleans, Ralston Crawford collection of New Orleans jazz photographs, Tulane University Special Collections