Original Illinois Club records

Content Description

The records of the Original Illinois Club document much of the club’s planning and implementation of the annual ball and cotillion, mainly dating from the 1970s or later, with a small amount of early records for the 1930s to 1940s held within a single ledger book. The bulk of the collection provides documentation for the club’s Executive Committee and Debutante Committee, as well as the OIC membership monthly meetings. Available within the files are agendas and minutes, as well as correspondence that details the planning work of the club in regards to the yearly balls and debutantes, as well as the selections of kings and queens for each year. Additionally, Ball Committee correspondence and reports are available detailing planning from 1984-2005. Personages represented: Harold Boucree, Secretary; William J. Washington, Debutante Committee Chairman and President; Charles F. Webb, Sr., Business Manager/Treasurer; and Tracey L. Thibodaux, Secretary. The earliest records held within the collection consist of a ledger book, 1930-1949, providing detailed lists of officers, committees, members, debutantes, and members of the Young Men Twenty Club. Additionally, membership dues are detailed, as well as a hand script copy of the club’s charter and articles of incorporation. The ledger book is water damaged on the lower half of the pages with some entries obscured or that have been erased. Records relating to debutantes are extensive for the late 1980s and later and include applications, biographical sketches, yearly lists, debutante reception programs and invitations, orientation schedules and handbooks, as well as some correspondence for the Debutante Committee regarding various applications and selections of debutantes to become ball queens for various years. Photographs mainly depict the various balls and royal courts from the 1970s to the 1990s and are often housed in photographer’s proof albums for final selections. There are occasional reproductions of early photographs from the 1920s within the records, including one of founder Wiley Knight. The bulk of the photographs are undated and unidentified. Additionally, there are films in the form of DVDs for 2011 and 2012 balls, as well as digital photographs of debutantes, pages, heralds, and members for 2010 and 2012. Of note are scripts for the balls dating 1987 to 2013, as well as ball souvenir programs from 1967 to 2019. Also of interest are collected news clippings and articles detailing the history of the club and in particular a copy of an article circa 1945 by John E. Rousseau titled “New Orleans’s Black Society,” based on an interview conducted with the club’s founder Wiley Knight (publication unknown). Additional programs and ephemera are included for the Young Men Illinois Club, as well as collected programs and orders of services related to various members of the club. Ephemera within the collection includes doubloons, handkerchiefs, and a 1999 OIC Mardi Gras baseball cap.

Acquisition Type

Gift

Restrictions Apply

No

Access Restrictions

The records of the Original Illinois Club are located offsite; please contact the Research Services Department for access at (504) 862-3217.