Louisiana Archeology Society Presents

Joost Morsink, senior principal investigator at SEARCH, an archeology firm that deploys a full spectrum of cultural heritage services worldwide, will speak on the excavations at the Olivier Plantation/St. Mary’s Orphanage at 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 2, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie. This event is free of charge and open to the public. 

The original David Olivier creole-style plantation house was built about 1820 near the corner of Chartres Street and Poland Avenue in the Bywater neighborhood. It was purchased by The New Orleans Catholic Association for the Relief of Male Orphans in 1840 in order to relocate from Bayou St. John. Beginning in 1848, the Brothers and Marianites of Holy Cross cared for and educated orphan boys at the renamed St. Mary's Orphan Boys Asylum. For more than 80 years, through the cholera epidemic of 1852, yellow fever epidemic of 1853, the Civil War, WWI and WWII, an estimated 9,000 boys lived here, often more than 300 at a time. St. Mary's closed in 1933.

In 1949, a group of architects and historians mounted an attempt to save the Olivier plantation house from demolition. Though the effort was ultimately unsuccessful, it led to the founding of the Louisiana Landmarks Society in 1950, which continues today to advocate for the preservation of New Orleans' historic structures and neighborhoods.

Dr. Joost Moorsink has more than 20 years of experience in the field of archaeology where he focuses on energy, federal, and private projects. He is part of the Caribbean Group, and geographically his project are mainly in the Caribbean, Texas, and Louisiana. His academic education derives from two international programs, including Leiden University, the Netherlands, and the University of Florida. His academic research focuses on salt exploitation and exchange in the pre-colonial Caribbean has been published in peer-reviewed journals and the Oxford Handbook of Caribbean Archaeology.

He is a Fulbright alumnus, received a National Science Foundation grant for his dissertation fieldwork, and was recognized by the Florida Museum of Natural History with a Bullen Award for Graduate Student Excellence in Natural Science Research. Dr. Moorsink's interests range from social organization to exchange networks and geology. 

The Louisiana Archeological Society, founded in 1974 and with a current membership of nearly 300, brings together professional and avocational archaeologists interested in investigating, interpreting, and preserving information on the prehistoric Indians and the early history of Louisiana. 

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.