Carolyn Morrow Long
I began to incorporate paper images into my paintings while in art school in the 1960s. In the 1970s and ‘80s I made collages using labels, wrapping paper, fashion plates cut from vintage magazines, antique paper dolls, holy cards, and pictures of flowers, birds, butterflies, animals, and other images cut from books and old prints. After working for eighteen years as a conservator of paper artifacts and photographs at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History, I returned to making collages in the 2000s.
I still painstakingly cut out paper images with a surgical scalpel or embroidery scissors and adhere them with Elmer’s School Glue to a 1/8” Plexiglas support panel. Instead of using irreplaceable original materials as I did in earlier years, I can scan them and reproduce multiples of sturdy, water-proof, light-fast images on my laser printer or on a color copier. I draw the faces and hands with colored pencil and water color. I incorporate small three-dimensional objects such as costume jewelry, pearl buttons, religious medals, and glass animal eyes. Each collage takes three to six weeks to make.
I don’t sell the original collages. Instead I have them reproduced as 5” x 7” notecards and 12” x 16” prints, which I sell wholesale to stores and retail to individuals. I have the original collages scanned by a company that produces high-resolution digital images of oversized art work. My notecards and larger prints are reproduced from these files. Each card and print is signed, titled, and dated by hand.
In addition to making collages I’m also a writer. I came to this vocation much later in life, when I became fascinated by the history and culture of New Orleans. I began work on my first project in 1995. The sort of research and writing I do is really very similar to the technique of making collages. Just as I collect all sorts of materials for my collages, I go into the civil and church archives of New Orleans to collect documentary evidence. I then assemble this information to create a historical narrative. My four published books are Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce (University of Tennessee Press 2001); A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau (University Press of Florida 2006); Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House (University Press of Florida 2012); and Famille Vve Paris née Laveau: The Tomb of Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (Left Hand Press 2016). I’ve also written many articles about New Orleans Afro-Catholic spiritual practices and Creole families. My collages are related to the subject of my books and articles. I did the cover illustrations for the Laveau and Lalaurie biographies.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Missouri, 1965.
Completed work on Master of Fine Arts, University of Mississippi, 1969, did not graduate.
Grants and Awards
Office of Curatorial Affairs, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History, for research on Marie Laveau, 1999.
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Publication Initiative Grant for Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House, 2009.
Press Club of New Orleans, first-place award for Excellence in Journalism (feature writing), “The Cracker Jack: A Hoodoo Drugstore in the Cradle of Jazz,” Louisiana Cultural Vistas, 2015.
Conferences and Papers
“John the Conqueror: From Root-Charm to Commercial Product” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy, 1996, Nashville, Tennessee.
“Sold as a Curio Only: The Evolution of the Spiritual Products Business” – Colloquium at National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution, 2000; paper presented at New Orleans Public Library, 2001.
“The Image of Africa in the Spiritual Marketplace” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Miami, Florida, 2000.
“Voodoo-Related Rituals in New Orleans Cemeteries” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Culture Association, Cemeteries and Gravemarkers section, New Orleans, 2000.
“Marie Laveau, a Nineteenth-Century New Orleans Voudou Priestess” – Paper presented with at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association, New Iberia, Louisiana, 2002.
“Sold as a Curio Only: The Evolution of the Spiritual Products Industry” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Folklore Society, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2003.
“Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voudou–A Comparison” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 2005.
“Mistress of the Haunted House: The Rise and Fall of Madame Lalaurie” – Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Louisiana Historical Association, Lafayette, Louisiana, 2008.
“Beyond the Voodoo Doll: African Religion and Magic in the American South” – Panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Southern Historical Association, New Orleans, 2008.
“Marie Laveau” – Lecture sponsored by the Friends of the Cabildo, Louisiana State Museum, 2011.
“The Macarty Family of Orleans Parish” – New Orleans Genealogical Society, 2012
“Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House” – Illustrated lecture at New Orleans Public Library Alvar Branch, 2012; Octavia Books, 2012; District of Columbia Public Library Tenley-Friendship Branch, 2012; Tuesday Colloquium, National Museum of American History, 2012; Louisiana Book Festival, 2012; Jefferson Parish Library, 2012; Jambalaya Writers’ Conference, 2013.
“Creole Women” – Panel discussion, Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, 2013.
“The Macartys: An Interracial Family in New Orleans” – Lecture presented at the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, in conjunction with the exhibition “Julien Hudson, Free Artist of Color,” 2013
“Madame Lalaurie’s Slaves in the Records of the New Orleans Police Jail 1828, 1830, and 1831” – Illustrated lecture at New Orleans Public Library Keller Branch, 2013.
“Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House, and Marie Laveau, Queen of the Voudous” – Illustrated lecture at District of Columbia Public Library Chevy Chase Branch, 2013.
“The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau” – Seminar, Save Our Cemeteries, New Orleans, 2013; SAGE Program, McNeese University, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 2014.
“The Cracker Jack: A Hoodoo Drugstore in the Cradle of Jazz” – Presentation in conjunction with publication of Louisiana Cultural Vistas Spring Issue, Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, 2014.
“Madame Lalaurie and Marie Laveau: Fact and Fiction in American Horror Story-Coven” – Illustrated lecture at District of Columbia Public Library Northeast Branch, 2014
“Marie Laveau” – Illustrated lecture presented at Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana, sponsored by the Student Government Association, 2016.
“Madame Lalaurie” – Illustrated lecture at the Gallier House Museum, New Orleans, 2017.
“The Historical Marie Laveau” – Panel discussion at the annual meeting of the Congress of Santa Barbarba (KOSANBA), New Orleans, 2017.
“The Tomb of Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1” – Illustrated lecture presented by Save Our Cemeteries at the Beauregard-Keyes House, New Orleans, 2019.
Publications
Books
Spiritual Merchants: Religion, Magic, and Commerce, University of Tennessee Press, 2001.
“New Orleans Voudou and Haitian Vodou: A Comparison,” in Cécile Accilien, ed., Revolutionary Freedoms: A History of Survival, Strength, and Imagination in Haiti, Caribbean Studies Press, 2006.
A New Orleans Voudou Priestess: The Legend and Reality of Marie Laveau, University Press of Florida, 2006.
“Marie Laveau, A New Orleans Voudou Priestess,” in Janet Allured and Judith Gentry, ed., Louisiana Women, University of Georgia Press, 2009.
Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House, University Press of Florida, 2012.
Famille Vve Paris née Laveau: The Tomb of Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, Left Hand Press, 2016.
Articles
“John the Conqueror: From Root-Charm to Commercial Product,” Journal of Pharmacy in History 39, no. 2, 1997.
“Folk Gravesites in New Orleans: Arthur Smith Honors the Ancestors,” Folklore Forum 29, no. 1, 1998.
“Voodoo-Related Rituals in New Orleans Cemeteries and the Tomb of Marie Laveau,” Louisiana Folklore Miscellany 14, 1999.
“Perceptions of New Orleans Voodoo: Sin, Fraud, Entertainment, Religion,” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Fall 2002.
“Marie Laveau, a Nineteenth-Century New Orleans Voudou Priestess,” Louisiana History, Summer 2005.
“Madame Lalaurie, Mistress of the Haunted House,” Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Summer 2012.
“The Macarty Family of Orleans Parish,” New Orleans Genesis, April 2013 and October 2013.
“The Cracker Jack: A Hoodoo Drugstore in the Cradle of Jazz,” Louisiana Cultural Vistas, Spring 2014.
“Famille Vve Paris née Laveau: The Tomb of Marie Laveau in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1,” New Orleans Genesis, July 2016.
“The Octoroon Mistress in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom,” Academia.edu 2017
“The Macarty Plantation in New Orleans’ Bywater Neighborhood,” Academia.edu 2017
“The Influence of European and European-American Occult Texts on African American Hoodoo, Academia.edu 2017
“Marie Laveau, A New Orleans Voudou Priestess,” World Religions and Spirituality website, https://wrldrels.org/2017/10/27/marie_laveau/
“The Family of Blanc François Joubert: Racial Determination in New Orleans 1818-1916,” Louisiana History, forthcoming 2021.
Encyclopedias
Entries on “Marie Laveau” and “John the Conqueror” in Anand Prahlad, ed., Encyclopedia of African American Folklore, Greenwood Press, 2005.
Entries on “John the Conqueror root,” “Congo Square,” and “grave decoration” in Walter Rucker, ed., Encyclopedia of African American History, ABC-CLIO, 2010.
Entries on “John the Conqueror” and “Voodoo,” in William Ferris and Glenn Hinson, eds., Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, 2010.
Entries on “Marie Laveau,” “Voudou,” “Eulalie Mandeville,” and “Delphine Macarty Lalaurie” for the online Louisiana Encyclopedia KnowLA, 2011.
Entry on “Marie Laveau,” in World Book Encyclopedia, 2011.
Entries on “Jean Montanée,” “Doctor Jim Alexander,” “Betsy Toledano,” “Sanité Dédé,” “the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses,” “the ‘Tit Albert,” “Harry Middleton Hyatt,” “Robert Tallant,” “graveyard dirt,” “the nation sack,” and “hoodoo drugstores,” in Jeffrey Anderson, ed., The Encyclopedia of Voodoo, ABC-CLIO,2015.
Book Reviews
Review of The Spiritual Churches of New Orleans: Origins, Beliefs, and Rituals of an African-American Religion, by Claude Jacobs and Andrew Kaslow, Arkansas Review, 2003.
Review of African Voices in the African American Heritage by Betty M. Kuyk, Journal of American Folklore, Winter, 2007.
Review of Faithful Vision: Treatments of the Sacred, Spiritual, and Supernatural in Twentieth-Century African American Fiction by James W. Coleman, Louisiana History, Summer, 2007.
Review of Spiritualism in Nineteenth-Century New Orleans: The Life and Times of Henry Louis Rey by Melissa Daggett, Nova Religio, May, 2019.