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Dulac Community Center (Dulac, Louisiana) collection

 Collection
Identifier: LACUMC-2023-048

Scope and Contents

This collection documents the activities of the Dulac Community Center (Dulac, La.). It includes administrative reports, institutional histories, newspaper clippings and magazine articles, photographs, printed items and newsletters, property records, information about directors and employees, and four photograph albums.

The four photograph albums have been disassembled due to preservation concerns. Their contents have been removed from the albums and placed in folders retaining their original order. Photograph albums 1, 2, and 3 appear to include material that has been collected and reassembled at different points in time. Included is an index corresponding to numbered photographs from albums 1, 2 and 3, identifying people, places, and activities. Common themes throughout the albums include images depicting kindergarten classes, children’s Sunday School, Clanton Chapel Methodist Church (Dulac, La.), and children participating in activities such as fishing and boating, dancing, camping, and a zoo visit. Album 1 consists of photographs numbered 1-59; it also includes images depicting a fashion show and a freeze at Bayou Dulac and Grand Caillou. Album 2 consists of photographs numbered 60-91. Album 3 consists of photographs numbered 92-163; it also includes images depicting the aftermath of Hurricane Audrey in 1957, an eighth grade graduation, Boy Scouts, student headshots, plans and photographs of the Brunson Library, and newspaper clippings about the Dulac Community Center. Album 4 consists of material assembled by an employee perhaps named Cheryl during her time at the Dulac Community Center from 1968-1969; it includes images depicting Christmas and Girl Scout activities, student headshots, the Women’s Society of Christian Service, and members of the Dulac Community Center staff.

Dates

  • 1934 - 2013

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.

Biographical / Historical

The Dulac Community Center (Dulac, Louisiana) traces its origins to Methodist missionary work for Native American people of the Houma tribe. Clergy within the Louisiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church South began traveling by boat to the area as early as the 1910s to hold religious services. In 1932, two sisters, Ella and Wilhelmina Hooper, helped establish the Dulac Indian Mission School for children in the Houma tribe. Wilhelmina Hooper served as a teacher at the school from 1932 until 1965. In addition to the school, work also included offering social services for the community and worship at Clanton Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South, established in 1936.

A new building for the Dulac Indian Mission School was dedicated in 1950. In 1953, when Terrebonne Parish established a new public school open to indigenous children, the Dulac Indian Mission School became the Dulac Community Center. The community center served as a meeting place and provided a kindergarten, adult literacy classes, clothing drives, dances, teenage craft programs, and a library.

The Dulac Community Center has seen numerous damaging hurricanes and rebuilding efforts. Some of the most significant developments include the dedication of a new community center in 1960, the Hooper Memorial Building in 1991, and the Brunson Library in 1994.

Sources: Gladys Crutchfield Ferguson, “Inasmuch As Ye Have Done It Unto One Of The Least Of These” New Orleans Christian Advocate (New Orleans, La.), December 16, 1943, pages 12, 16.

Timothy Hebert. Methodism Along The Bayou: A History of Methodism in Houma and Terrebonne Parish (Utica, Ky: McDowell, 1994), pages 80-82.

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Arrangement

Arranged by subject, then chronologically.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Collection transferred by Corine Paulk in 2023.

Title
Finding Aid to the Dulac Community Center (Dulac, Louisiana) collection
Author
Lai Wallace and Chris Brown
Date
2024
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Centenary College of Louisiana Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
2911 Centenary Blvd.
Shreveport LA 71104 US
(318) 869-5462