Media Contacts:
Eli A. Haddow, The Historic New Orleans Collection
504.556.7603 | elih@hnoc.org
Sarah Chambless Federer, Gambel Communications
985.37.5271 | sarahc@gambelpr.com
WHO: Pamela D. Arceneaux, author of "Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville, New Orleans" and THNOC senior librarian and rare books curator
WHAT: Presentation of "Guidebooks to Sin" at the Friends of the Jefferson Parish Library General Meeting
WHEN: Wednesday, May 3, 2017 • 10 a.m.
WHERE: Jefferson Parish East Bank Regional Library, 4747 West Napoleon Ave., in Metairie
HOW: The event is free and open to the public; the book retails for $50 and will be available for purchase at the program. For details, call (504) 455-2665 or e-mail friendsjpl@yahoo.com.
WHY: Pamela D. Arceneaux, author of The Historic New Orleans Collection's latest publication "Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville, New Orleans," will speak at the Friends of the Jefferson Parish Library General Meeting at the East Bank Regional Library on Wednesday, May 3.
"Guidebooks to Sin" is the first contemporary study of blue books, the notorious guides to Storyville, the legal red-light district that thrived on the edge of the French Quarter from 1897 to 1917. The blue books arose from an integral and complicated point in New Orleans history, when class consciousness and tourism intersected with race and prostitution through modern advertising. Because they were originally created as disposable resources, few copies exist today-100 years after Storyville's closure-and THNOC houses one of the largest collections of these curious pieces of Americana.
"Guidebooks to Sin," the culmination of Arceneaux's decades of research on the topic, is illustrated with hundreds of facsimile pages from the guides in THNOC's holdings. With a foreword by Emily Epstein Landau placing the books in their historical context, the new volume is the ultimate guide to these artifacts, which have long been misconstrued pieces of Storyville's history.
A hardcover, archival-quality art book, "Guidebooks to Sin" features more than 300 images. The program will take place at the Jefferson East Bank Regional Library at 4747 West Napoleon Ave. in Metairie, and is free and open to the public. The book, which retails for $50, will be available for purchase, and a signing will follow Arceneaux's presentation. For more information, visit (504) 455-2665 or e-mail friendsjpl@yahoo.com
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About The Historic New Orleans Collection
Founded in 1966, The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research center and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. For more information, visit www.hnoc.org or call 504.523.4662.