RENÉ GRANDJEAN COLLECTION, ADDENDUM 1

(Mss 99)

Inventory

Earl K. Long Library

University of New Orleans

June 1997

Contents

Summary

Biographical Note

Container List

Index Terms

Procedures for Requesting Special Collections Materials

Summary

Size: 5 items

Geographic

locations: New Orleans, La.

Inclusive

dates: 1929 – ca. 1983

Summary: Materials concerning Grandjean or his interests.

Related

collections: René Grandjean Collection (Mss 85)

Source: Gift, 1984

Access: No restrictions

Copyright: Physical rights are retained by the Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans.

Citation: René Grandjean Collection, Addendum 1, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

Biographical Note

René Grandjean was born April 21, 1889, in Vouziers, Ardennes, France. He left France ca. 1909, and after briefly stopping in Cuba, moved to Haiti where he lived for two years. In 1911 he came to the United States settling in New Orleans in August of that year. Because of his French and Haitian background, he became acquainted with members of the Creole of color community, prominent among whom was Rodolphe L. Desdunes, author of Nos hommes et notre histoire. Through Desdunes, Grandjean met the Dubuclet family, descendants of Reconstruction state treasurer Antoine Dubuclet.

Grandjean and Assitha Dubuclet married on October 29, 1913. Because Louisiana law forbade interracial marriages, they were wed in St. Andrew, Jamaica.

An important aspect of Grandjean's life lay in his preserving and translating the records of a group of Creole of color spiritualists. Mainly in French, these records, which are a major part of the collection, detail séances by listing mediums and messages, messages which members believed were from spirits. The "messages" were from such diverse figures as Voltaire, Vincent de Paul, and Abraham Lincoln, as well as from deceased members of the spiritualist group.

Container List

99-1 Podmore, Frank. Mediums of the 19th Century. New Hyde Park: University Books, Inc. 1963. Two volume set.

99-2 16” x 14” photograph of René Grandjean and Aida Johnson. ca. 1983.

99-3 16” x 14” photograph of René Grandjean. ca. 1983.

99-4 14” x 19” framed certificate awarded to René Grandjean upon completion of night course “Alternating Current Electricity” by Tulane University School of Engineering. April 30, 1929.

99-5 14” x 19” framed certificate awarded to René Grandjean upon completion of night course “Direct Current Electricity” by Tulane University, School of Engineering. April 30, 1930.

Index Terms

Grandjean, René