David Campbell papers
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, personal and business records concerning both to the legal and the art professions, records of environmental organizations, journals, maps, manuscripts, legal briefs, and articles, photos, and clippings related to the life, career, and activism of attorney David Campbell. These papers and records culminate in Campbell’s memoirs, The Double Life: A Survivor’s Guide to Transcend Success and Tragedy (2016) also included.
The papers follow a general chronological outline of Campbell’s life and career, including his time as a Tulane law student, clerking for the firm Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre L.L.P in which he worked on a private project for firm founder, Joseph Merrick Jones, Jr., who also served as the President of the Board of Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund. This project led to Campbell’s report, Segregation in the Field of Public and Private Law—Status of the Tulane University of Louisiana, that eventually led to the desegregation of Tulane University in the late 1960s.
Active in civic and legal affairs, much of Campbell’s papers center on two events: the Sesquicentennial of 1825 Louisiana Civil Code in Paris, France and the Louisiana and Spain Commemorative Congress in Madrid, Spain that celebrated the influence of French and Spanish law over Louisiana’s legal heritage.
Housed here are also the records of the Little Tchefuncte River Association, a St. Tammany-based environmental organization in which Campbell served as one of the founders. These records include maps of St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, and Washington parishes, along with information regarding conservation efforts on the regional, state, and national levels. The journal, Some Wildflowers (and Needs) of St. Tammany Parish and Some Observations and Notes of Wild Animals, 1975-2005, offer an insight to the ecological status of St. Tammany during a period of transition.
Of note are photographs of Carnival in New Orleans from the 1950s through the 1970s that depicts how gay men celebrated Mardi Gras in the French Quarter through their masking and revelry. Another focus within Campbell’s papers and photographs centers on the re-development of the Warehouse District during the 1980s as well as bucolic St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, during the same time, and in particular his home, Little River Bluffs in Folsom.
Dates
- 1890s - 2016
- Majority of material found within 1960 - 2000
Conditions Governing Access
Access is unrestricted.
Conditions Governing Use
Physical rights are retained by the Louisiana Research Collection. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. copyright laws.
Biographical / Historical
Louisiana-based attorney, historic preservationist, and environmentalist, David Lee Campbell was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1936 and spent his formative years in Fort Worth, Texas and Morocco. After receiving his BA from North Texas State University and his law degree from Tulane University, Campbell, a Marshall Scholar, earned his D. Phil. in law from Oxford University in 1963. He began his legal career with Lemle Kelleher, branched off to open the Law Offices of David Campbell, and eventually moved onto Deutsch, Kerrigan, & Stiles. Past president of the Preservation Resource Center and the Louisiana Landmarks Society, as well as the founder of the Little Tchefuncte River Association, Campbell was active with several state and regional environmental and urban redevelopment organizations.
Extent
7.5 Linear Feet (15 boxes. )
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
Donated by David Campbell.
Processing Information
Processed by Melissa Smith. Data entry by Andrew Mullins, III.
- Waterways -- Louisiana Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- African Americans -- Education -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Carnival -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- History Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Civil Law -- Louisiana Subject Source: Local sources
- Conservation of natural resources Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Gays -- Louisiana -- New Orleans -- Social life and customs Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Great Britain Marshall Aid Commemoration Commission Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Hogarth Art Gallery (New Orleans, La.)
- Julia Row Foundation (New Orleans, La.)
- Law -- Louisiana Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Little River Bluffs (Folsom, La. )
- Little Tchefuncte River Association (Folsom, La. )
- Louisiana Wildlife Federation
- Louisiana and Spain Commemorative Congress (Madrid, Spain)
- Reilly Gallery (New Orleans, La.)
- Saint Tammany Parish (La) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- School integration -- Louisiana -- History -- 20th century Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Sesquicentennial of 1825 Louisiana Civil Code -- Paris, France Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Tangipahoa Parish (La) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Urban development and infrastructure Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Washington Parish (La) Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Wildlife conservation -- Louisiana Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Wildlife conservation -- Louisiana -- Societies, etc Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- David Campbell finding aid
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Melissa Lee Smith
- Date
- 2017 November 3
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Tulane University Special Collections Repository
