NEWS RELEASE

JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA

August 9, 2023
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HISTORIAN JOHN MAGILL TO DISCUSS PROHIBITION IN NEW ORLEANS AT EAST BANK REGIONAL LIBRARY

JEFFERSON, LA – John Magill, retired curator/historian at The Historic New Orleans Collection, will discuss “Prohibition in New Orleans” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 26, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon Ave., Metairie.

The presentation is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration.

Magill’s talk is based on a book to which he contributed, Shaking Up Prohibition in New Orleans: Authentic Vintage Cocktails from A to Z. based on a collection of poems and drink recipes for each letter of the alphabet by Olive Leonhardt (of Double Dealer artist fame) and Hilda Phelps Hammond. The poems probably were written around 1930. He wrote the forward to the book, titled “Belligerently Wet.” He will talk about Prohibition in New Orleans, then read a selection of poems and stories behind the cocktails.

John Magill attended the University of New Orleans where he received a master's degree in history. His field of study has been the urban growth of New Orleans, and he has written and lectured extensively on the subject. He worked at HNOC beginning in 1982 until his retirement in 2015.

His articles have appeared in publications such as New Orleans Magazine, Gambit, Preservation in Print, Louisiana Cultural Vistas and The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly. He has contributed to several books including Charting Louisiana: 500 Years of Maps, Classic New Orleans, Marie Adrien Persac: Louisiana Artist and most recently with television producer Peggy Scott Laborde he has written Canal Street: New Orleans' Great Wide Way and Christmas in New Orleans. His most recent book is The Incomparable Magazine Street.

Exhibitions at The Historic New Orleans Collection to which he has contributed include: "A Pelican's-Eye View: New Orleans through Bird's-eye Views," "From Bank to Shore: The Development of New Orleans Neighborhoods," "The Long Weekend: Arts and French Quarter Preservation between the World Wars" and "A Mystical Bal Masque: the Mystic Club Ball," "Surrounded by Water: New Orleans, The Mississippi River & Lake Pontchartrain," and "A Closer Look: the Antebellum Photographs of Jay Dearborn Edwards."

He received the 2006 Press Club of New Orleans’ first place award for an article that appeared in Louisiana Cultural Vistas. He received the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities "Individual Achievement in the Humanities" award for 2007. 

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

The Jefferson Parish Library system consists of 16 locations that stretch from the Lakeshore Branch on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain to the Grand Isle Branch just steps away from the Gulf of Mexico. The library system consists of two large regional libraries and seven branches on each side of the Mississippi River. The East Bank Regional Library (4747 West Napoleon Avenue, Metairie) serves as library headquarters. The Jefferson Parish Library is the second largest system in the state of Louisiana. More than 200 employees work for the Jefferson Parish Library including librarians, administration and support staff. For more information, contact the library at (504) 838-1100 or www.jefferson.lib.la.us.

For more information about Jefferson Parish, visit www.JeffParish.net. Residents can also receive regular updates by following the Parish on social media (@JeffParishGov) or by texting JPALERT or JPNOTICIAS to 888-777.

###

Jefferson Parish Public Information Office 1221 Elmwood Park Boulevard, Suite 1002 Jefferson, LA 70123

JPALERT – SIGN UP TO RECEIVE EMERGENCY ALERTS

Gretchen Hirt Gendron, PIO