Access the Maps
To download the .kmz map files and view them using Google Earth Pro (freely downloadable), click on the Instructions tab.
Additional Digital Resources
- Wikimedia CommonsDownloadable and freely usable media files, primarily in the public domain.
- Louisiana Digital LibraryNumerous academic and public libraries and private archives have collected and labeled much of their digital holdings in one online repository to aid with users' discovery. Some items have restrictions on use and are so labeled.
- New Orleans Public LibraryThe City Archives, La. Collection, and Special Collections at the New Orleans Public Library contain a wide array of digitized or transcribed materials that may be of use. Select court, police, photographic, and other collections are accessible online through the home page. Reproduction may be limited to fair use only.
- Library of CongressThe LoC has extensive digitized holdings, including Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, local newspapers (Chronicling America), and photographs and other images relating to a wide breadth of periods during the U.S.'s history. Much content is in the public domain. The Chronicling America newspapers are digitized and available in full text format for text analysis purposes.
- HathiTrustHathiTrust is "a digital preservation repository." It allows access to an extensive array of books, papers, and images in the public domain from a large number of repositories and archives around the U.S. Member institutions have increased functionality, but basic uses are granted to the public free of charge.
Bibliography
The following books provided the bulk of the information contained in each map's annotated pins. References to newspaper articles are given in the text of the annotations (including newspaper name and pub date). In the rare instances where an online source is used only once to provide supporting information, the annotation provides a hyperlink to that source.
- Krist, Gary. Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans. New York: Broadway Books, 2014.
- Landau, Emily Epstein. Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2013.
- Long, Alecia. The Great Southern Babylon: Sex, Race, and Respectability in New Orleans, 1865-1920. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2004.
- Schafer, Judith Kelleher. Brothels, Depravity, and Abandoned Women: Illegal Sex in Antebellum New Orleans. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2009.
- Rose, Al. Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District. Tuscaloosa: U Alabama Press, 1974
- Wiltz, Christine. The Last Madam: A Life in the New Orleans Underworld. New York, Faber and Faber, 2000.
Relevant Primary Sources
Newspapers in English (not an exhaustive list): The Bee, The Mascot (weekly), New Orleans Daily Item, New Orleans Times Democrat, New Orleans Times-Picayune (previously New Orleans Daily Picayune), The Sunday Sun (weekly). Check Chronicling America (at the Library of Congress) or the Google Newspapers archive for access to some scanned historical newspapers.
Court Transcripts and Other Official Documentation (not digitized):
- 1st and 2nd Districts of Orleans Parish Civil Court and Orleans Parish Criminal Court
- Louisiana Supreme Supreme Court
- New Orleans Notarial Archives (especially for successions and real estate transactions)
- New Orleans Police Department Homicide and Arrest Reports (some accessible in N.O. Public Library's City Archives)
Digitized Criminal Justice Records
- NOPD Bertillon Card Collection (via N.O. Public Library's City Archives Digital Collections, contains cards from the late 1890s-1925) -- Bertillon cards were introduced in Paris in 1879 as a standardized way to identify prisoners and to catalog and organize records of their arrests. The system is named for its inventor, who sought to systematize criminal justice bureaucracy.
- NOPD Mugshot Collection (also via N.O. Public Library's City Archives Digital Collections; contains mugshots from the late 1890s-1925)
Other Sources
- Soards' City Directories (available in HathiTrust)
- U.S. Census (census.gov or through the U.S. National Archives)
- U.S.Genweb Archives Project (old, but contains transcriptions of some valuable public records)
Systems & Information Resources Librarian
Useful Search Terms
Contemporary terms associated with prostitution may not be as useful in turning up searches in newspapers. Though police records frequently use the term "prostitute" rather than any of several euphemisms, journalists were allowed a bit more creative license in their reporting and often created a veneer of decency in their prose by avoiding unambiguous language to describe places, people, and events.
abandoned (in spirit rather than in fact)
amalgamation (sex across the color line)
assignation house
bad repute/ill repute
bawdy house
bordello
brothel
debauched
disorderly house
dissipation
frail (refers to frail morality, not physique)
improprieties
landlady (many madams opted for this more respectable designation)
larceny (prostitutes were often arrested not for soliciting but for theft)
lewd
nymph (synonym for prostitute)
obscene/obscenity
procurement/procurer (not the same as a madam or pimp; more like a broker)
public woman
saloon
seraglio
sirens/syrens
vagrant (prostitutes were sometimes called vagrants when not operating out of a house)