The LSU Rural Life Museum presents the 13th annual Ione E. Burden Symposium on March 3 at the museum in Baton Rouge.
The title of this year’s conference is “Fun and Frivolity: Entertainment in 19th-century Louisiana.”
Registration begins at 8 a.m., followed by the first speaker at 8:45 a.m.
The event will conclude with a meet-the-speakers reception at 3 p.m. The symposium honors the memory of Ione E. Burden who contributed so much to both the museum and the Baton Rouge community.
Distinguished speakers will discuss leisure pursuits in 19th-century Louisiana. Topics will include horse racing, opera, theatre, New Orleans saloons and Acadian-rural entertainments.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus Paul Johnson from the University of South Carolina will discuss horse racing in the South, focusing on the sport in Louisiana.
Jack Belsom, archivist of the New Orleans Opera Association, will give a history of theatre and opera in New Orleans and other communities.
Christina Vella, noted historian, author and lecturer, will consider rural entertainment such as theatre, traveling shows and show boats.
Alecia P. Long will discuss New Orleans as the Great Southern Babylon, with its notorious Storyville and saloons.
She is an assistant professor of history at Georgia State University.
Advance registration is required.
The $40 registration fee includes the lectures, a plantation lunch and a meet-the-speakers reception. For reservations or more information, call 225-765-2437.
The Rural Life Museum is located at 4650 Essen Lane, right off of I-10.
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