Three generations of inspired Louisiana collectors have contributed in profound ways to the preservation and study of some of the most important furniture crafted in or imported into the Deep South. A much-needed study devoted to the region, Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735–1845, to be published by The Historic New Orleans Collection this winter, will include many pieces in both public and private collections that reflect collectors’ wise choices, informed tastes, and an abiding passion for local history. Guardians of culture, they have assembled Louisiana-made canopied tall-post beds, elegant Creole cabriole-leg armoires, Fournier clocks, and rustic Acadian cypress pieces (Fig. 1), not only for personal enjoyment, but for donations to such house museums throughout the state as the Pitot House and Magnolia Mound plantation homes.1 Such gifts have helped to secure an important facet of Louisiana’s cultural patrimony for generations to come (Figs. 2–4).
