An online encyclopedia focused on Louisiana is calling for articles for submission. KnowLA will be a Louisiana version of Wikipedia, emphasizing history, culture and community. “We’re not as loosely constructed as Wikipedia,” says editor Cathy Corder. That means the general public won’t be able to go in and add information to entries, an action that both makes Wikipedia rich with esoteric knowledge and bedevils its editors, who are constantly having to delete all sorts of false tidbits.
The launch of KnowLA is slated for 2010, but Corder says this is just the beginning of a 10-year project. Initially, the encyclopedia will cover art, architecture, folk life, history and music with links to audio, video and digitized documents. The project is under the auspices of the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Corder is looking for experts to write about a plethora of Louisiana culture. For more information check out the writer’s guidelines, email her, or call (504) 620-2637.
Current call for submission of articles includes:
ART African American art in La. Native American art Public art Louisiana women artists Architectural Art (murals, friezes, etc.) Decorative Arts Printmaking (engraving) Sculpture Statues/Memorials Natchitoches Art Colony Images of Louisiana in Art Bultman, Fritz Dureau, George
HISTORY — OVERVIEW ENTRIES Bourbon Louisiana, 1877-1924 Late 20th-century Louisiana, 1960-1999** MEDIUM TO LONG ENTRIES **Battle of New Orleans Neutral Strip Sharecropping/Peonage Anti-Secessionism/Unionism in La. Louisiana Women in the Civil War and Reconstruction Women in antebellum Louisiana “Head and Master” Law Marital/Divorce Law “Right to Work” Laws Vietnam War in La. Louisiana and World War I Prohibition/Temperance Compromise of 1877 Anti-Longism Louisiana Lottery Industrialization Legalized Gambling Organized Labor Native Americans in 20th- and 21st- century La.
NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES Atakapa Tribe Cherokee Tribe Chickasaw Tribe Tensas Tribe Tunica Tribe
LITERATURE Literature by Creoles Creoles in Literature “Local Color” Fiction Children’s literature (in La.) Louisiana Poet Laureates Cookbooks (in La.) Drama (in Louisiana) Nature Writing (in La.) Poetry (in Louisiana) Slave narratives (in La.) Images of La. in literature Brooks, Cleanth Grau, Shirley Ann Poydras, Julian Rice, Anne Scott, Evelyn
MUSIC Cajun Dancing Native American musical traditions Buckwheat Zydeco Chavis, Boozoo Dural, Stanley and Buckwheat Zydeco Guy, George “Buddy” Henry, Clarence “Frogman” Johnson, Bunk Marsalis Family Toussaint, Allen