Langlois presents additional information on the commercial and scientific aspects of natural history discoveries in French colonial Louisiana.

The exhibition Seeking the Unknown: Natural History Observations in Louisiana, 1698—1840 presents objects that provide a broad historical background for the study of Louisiana’s natural history—from taxidermied animals, specimens in jars, and pressed plants to lavishly illustrated folios.

Langlois presents some thoughts on the dual motives for studying the natural environment in French colonial Louisiana: profit and knowledge.

The exhibition Seeking the Unknown: Natural History Observations in Louisiana, 1698—1840 presents objects that provide a broad historical background for the study of Louisiana’s natural history—from taxidermied animals, specimens in jars, and pressed plants to lavishly illustrated folios.

Langlois discusses the careers of the Prat Brothers, Jean and Louis, who sent botanical samples and information from Louisiana to France for nearly 20 years.

The exhibition Seeking the Unknown: Natural History Observations in Louisiana, 1698—1840 presents objects that provide a broad historical background for the study of Louisiana’s natural history—from taxidermied animals, specimens in jars, and pressed plants to lavishly illustrated folios.

In this segment personalities and motives of the official and unofficial botanists and other naturalists are discussed by the curators.

The exhibition Seeking the Unknown: Natural History Observations in Louisiana, 1698—1840 presents objects that provide a broad historical background for the study of Louisiana’s natural history—from taxidermied animals, specimens in jars, and pressed plants to lavishly illustrated folios.

The exhibition Seeking the Unknown: Natural History Observations in Louisiana, 1698—1840 presents objects that provide a broad historical background for the study of Louisiana’s natural history—from taxidermied animals, specimens in jars, and pressed plants to lavishly illustrated folios. Exhibition curators Gilles-Antoine Langlois and John H. Lawrence present some thoughts on the reasons for staging the exhibition

The museum's curators discuss an exhibition of the earliest-known paper photos of New Orleans. The show, called “A Closer Look: The Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards, 1858-1861,” features three dozen images of a thriving southern city on the brink of the Civil War. On view from October 1, 2008-February 20, 2009.

John Magill, museum curator, discusses an exhibition of the earliest-known paper photos of New Orleans. The show, called “A Closer Look: The Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards, 1858-1861,” features three dozen images of a thriving southern city on the brink of the Civil War.

John Magill, museum curator, discusses an exhibition of the earliest-known paper photos of New Orleans. The show, called “A Closer Look: The Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards, 1858-1861,” features three dozen images of a thriving southern city on the brink of the Civil War.

John Magill, museum curator, discusses an exhibition of the earliest-known paper photos of New Orleans. The show, called “A Closer Look: The Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards, 1858-1861,” features three dozen images of a thriving southern city on the brink of the Civil War.

John Lawrence, museum curator, discusses an exhibition of the earliest-known paper photos of New Orleans. The show, called “A Closer Look: The Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards, 1858-1861,” features three dozen images of a thriving southern city on the brink of the Civil War.