CALIPOMMA Meeting of February, 1916; abstract of the minutes. Sketch of the Expulsion of the Society of Jesus from Colonial Louisiana, by Rev. J. J. O'Brien.. PAGE The Opera in New Orleans, by Harry Brunswick Loeb.... Reminiscences of the French Opera, by Mrs. Emilie LeJeune. 41 Letter from Governor Claiborne to General James Wilkinson. 75 INTRODUCTION. THE YEAR'S WORK. The past year in retrospection presents an even record of faithful work and steady growth. The monthly meetings have been held regularly; the papers have been of uniform interest, many of them drawn from personal memory or from family archives, showing that the Society has at last touched those vital authoritative sources in making connection with past history, a consummation for which it has been patiently hoping and waiting many years. Outstanding among the events to be recorded with thanksgiving is the publication by the Society of a quarterly, an undertaking that has been made possible by the gracious act of the Legislature, placing the official records of the Society in the Department of State Public Printing. This relieves the Society of a noticeable expense, while it insures the regular publication of an accumulation of documents of rare historical value that have been lying dead, as it were, in the Society's archives without hope of resurrection. A Committee of Publication, of which the Hon. John Dymond is chairman, has prepared the first number of the Quarterly, which will be placed in the hands of the members before these pages are printed. Of the present Annual, while no other introduction or recommendation other than a cursory glance over its contents is necessary, the Secretary cannot forbear calling particular attention to the hitherto unpublished notes on "General Wilkinson's Memorial," and "Miro's and Navarro's Dispatch, No. 13." Also, to the interesting paper, "Some Forgotten Treks," by Mr. Milner, a member of the Society, whose comprehensive study of the old highways of the country is a valuable contribution to the existing historical and geographical data, concerning the development of the Southern half of the North American continent. The long and able report of the Corresponding Secretary, at the end of the volume, giving the facts and figures that serve as the skeleton upon which the Society's activities are moulded makes any further comment unnecessary. GRACE KING, Secretary. February, 1917. |