Exhibit Case 4: New Orleans as Gateway to the Americas
Through the 1960s and, to a lesser extent in the 1970s, New Orleans continued to aggressively market itself to more affluent Latins as a prime destination for travel, business, cultural exchange, education and pleasure. Perhaps no other single person was as instrumental in this endeavor as four-time mayor deLesseps Story (“Chep”) Morrison (1946-1961), who served as promoter and ambassador of all things Pan-American. Morrison, who once declared he was, “in his soul, a Latin American,” made the pursuit of trade and cultural exchange with the region the cornerstone of his administration. This case features some of the Latin American initiatives under the Morrison Administration.
Case 4, a physical exhibit at The Latin American Library.
Contents
The texts below and images above left highlight some of the materials exhibited in Case 4 shown above.
Juanita Till Pradel Scrapbooks
Juanita Till Pradel (1920-2016) was a civic leader and businesswoman from New Orleans, where she lived all her life. A graduate of Soule College and Tulane University, as well as the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City, Mrs. Pradel was a fashion designer who was actively involved in many civic organizations in the city. In May 2016, shortly before her death, she donated to the Latin American Library three scrapbooks relating to her participation in a series of goodwill and trade missions to Latin America engineered by deLesseps Story “Chep” Morrison as mayor of New Orleans (1946-1961) and later as U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States. Displayed in the upper left and center of the case are items from the three scrapbooks documenting missions in 1960 to Mexico, Panama and El Salvador on the Pan American Highway; 1964 to Guatemala, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Perú, Colombia and Mexico; and again to Guatemala in 1966 by motorcade. Mrs. Pradel was the only business woman selected as delegate to the three trade missions. The scrapbooks provide her personal take on these itineraries.
Juanita Till Pradel Collection
Manuscripts Collection
The Latin American Library
In the left corner of the case is a gelatin silver print documenting Mayor deLesseps Story (“Chep”) Morrison and a trade delegation from New Orleans in Buenos Aires on an official visit as guests of Argentine President Juan Domingo Perón, 1948.
Image Archive
The Latin American Library
Pan-American Life Insurance Company at 50, 1961-1962
Pan-American Life Insurance Company’s 50th anniversary was a notable event in New Orleans. In the top right corner of the case is a commemorative pull-out section from The Times-Picayune Sunday supplement dedicated to PALIC’s Golden Anniversary; below it, a gelatin silver print showing Mayor “Chep” Morrison signing a proclamation declaring the week of March 26, 1961 to be “Pan-American Life Insurance Week” in New Orleans as Chairman of the Board of PALIC, Crawford H. Ellis (left) and President John Ruddock look on. The event coincided with the unveiling of the statue of Simón Bolívar on Basin Street.
Dixie Roto Magazine/The Times Picayune
Pan-American Life Insurance Group Collection
The Latin American Library
Garden of the Americas, 1961-1965
On the initiative of Mayor deLesseps Story (“Chep”) Morrison, in 1961, the Venezuelan Government gave to New Orleans a statue of Simón Bolívar, who led the independence movements in northern South America. The statue (center right of the case) was erected on Basin Street, and led to donations of two more monuments to Spanish American independence era leaders. A statue of Benito Juárez was gifted by the Mexican Government in 1964, and one of Francisco Morazán was given by Honduras and El Salvador in 1965, forming what was known as the “Garden of the Americas.” All were billed as symbolic gestures honoring New Orleans’ role as “Gateway to the Americas.” The unveiling of the Bolívar statue coincided with “PALIC Week,” at right.
Dixie Roto Magazine,
The Times Picayune
Pan-American Life Insurance Group Collection
The Latin American Library