About the Documentary
Who is Margaret Haughery? And why don't you know who she is?
A Documentary about an American Heroine
Margaret Gaffney Haughery (1813-1882) also known as "Angel of the Delta", "Breadlady of New Orleans" and "Mother of the Orphans." This extraordinary woman dedicated her entire life to feed, clothe, and house the orphans and poor. An orphan herself, she went from beggar to become one of the most influential entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and social reformers before, during and after the Civil War. Upon her death, as a tribute to her memory and generosity, the people of New Orleans erected a statue in her honor, which was one of the first statues of a woman in our country. In her will, she left over a half a million dollars to the orphans and poor of every race, color and creed, yet she never learned to read or write. FIND OUT MORE ABOUT MARGARET @ www.AngeloftheDelta.org
For over 100 years, the legend of Margaret Haughery has languished in obscurity. Even people born and raised in New Orleans don't remember her story or know why the statue is here. With the support and cooperation of Louisiana Public Broadcasting/WLAE PBS New Orleans and the City of New Orleans, Arts & Technologies brings you the definitive and only full-length documentary ever produced on one the greatest heroines to have ever lived in the United States.
Shot on location in New Orleans, Louisiana & Ireland, Margaret's birthplace, we will bring you interviews with her descendants as well as interviews with New Orleans foremost authorities of Southern History including:
Ambassador Corinne Claiborne "Lindy" Boggs, President Clinton¹s Ambassador to the Vatican, Congresswoman from the State of Louisiana & author
Mrs. Mary Lou Widmer, award winning novelist & author of
Margaret: Friend of Orphans. (Her award-winning screenplay of her novel, Night
Jasmine, will soon be major motion picture.)
Sister Mary Hermenia Muldrey, R.S.M (Religious Sisters of Mercy) historian,
archivist, & author
Mr. Waldemar Nelson, engineer & philanthropist (Recipient of the New
Orleans Distinguished Citizens Loving Cup)
Mr. Roger Houston Ogden, Esq., art collector & philanthropist (Owner
of Jacques Amans original portrait of Margaret)
Dr. Jonathan Sarnoff, PhD., Assistant Professor of History, Limestone College, South Carolina
Production Notes: Executive Producer & host, award-winning
performer, Meredythe Dee Winter
Directed & Edited by John Rousseau
Additional editing, graphics, animation & special effects by Emmy award
winning documentarian, Dave Alvarez ("Oil Fires of Kuwait")
Original score and "Margaret" theme song by award-winning composer
& performer, Mr. Danny O'Flaherty (Owner of O'Flaherty's Irish Channel
Pub in the French Quarter.)
http://dannyoflaherty.com/
About the new History Series "Who is? And Why Don¹t You Know Who They Are"
Created by Meredythe Dee Winter, this informative series is designed to inspire. We will bring to life obscure, yet important, figures that have been ignored in history. The first of the 13 hour-long episodes of the Southern Series for family audiences will kick off with "Who is Margaret Haughery?"
For more info contact: Arts & Technologies 310.415.0054
angelofthedelta@yahoo.com
Cover illustration: Portrait of Margaret with two orphans, by Jacques Amans,
c. 1842 (Courtesy of the Roger Houston Ogden Collection from The Ogden Museum
of Southern Art, University of New Orleans in association with the Smithsonian
Institution.) "Who is? And Why Don't You Know Who They Are" History Series Œ 2002 M. Dee Winter. All Rights Reserved.
Experts:
MARY LOU WIDMER
Mary Lou Widmer is a former teacher, a novelist, and historian. Her first book, Night Jasmine, set in New Orleans in the years 1906-1920, is presently under option for movie rights. Her second novel, Lace Curtain, about the Irish coming to New Orleans in the 1830s to dig the New Basin Canal, won the Irish Cultural Society award for the one who is the best "keeper" of Irish traditions in America.
Between those two novels came a long research for the book, Beautiful Crescent, A History of New Orleans, which she co-authored with Joan Garvey. It is presently in its 10th edition.
Since 1989, Mary Lou has written five hard-cover illustrated nostalgia books for Pelican Publishing Company entitled New Orleans in the Twenties, Thirties, Forties, Fifties, and Sixties. In 1995, Pelican also published her docunovel of Margaret Haughery called Margaret, Friend of Orphans. And most recently, she and Joan Garvey again got together to research and write Louisiana, the First 300 Years, released in 2001.
Mary Lou is a native of New Orleans and a life-long resident. She is a graduate of Loyola University. She taught school for 16 years and held several other positions before retiring to devote herself full-time to writing. She is married to Albert F. Widmer and has two children and four grand-children. She is past president of Romance Writers of America. She is presently historian for the U. S.Daughters of 1812, and a member of Louisiana Colonials, having certified her descent from ancestors living in Louisiana before 1803
JONATHAN D. SARNOFF
957-I Overbrook Drive
Gaffney, SC 29341
864.488.3696 jdshatt@aol.com
DEGREES Doctor of Philosophy in History, University of
Southern Mississippi, August 2003 Master of Arts in History, Lehigh University,
June 1997 Bachelor of Arts in History, SUNY-Purchase, May 1995
OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTIUTIONS ATTENDED Graduate Studies in History, West
Virginia University, May 1995-December 1995 Undergraduate Studies in History
and Music, Susquehanna University, August 1991-May 1993
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Assistant Professor of History, Limestone College, August 2003-present Teaching Assistant/Instructor, University of Southern Mississippi, August 1998-present Youth Services Director, JCC of Central New Jersey, August 1997-August 1998
FELLOWSHIPS/AWARDS Visiting Scholar Fellow, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, March 2001-August 2003 McCain Fellow, University of Southern Mississippi, 2001 Phi Alpha Theta Award, University of Southern Mississippi, 2001 WORKS PRESENTED " 'A Sacred Right:' The New Orleans Female Society in the Business World, 1817-1864" Sixth Southern Conference on Women's History, University of Georgia, June 2003 "Catholicism, Conversions, and Conflict: The Sisters of Charity's Tenure at the Poydras Female Orphan Asylum, 1830-1836" In and Around the Gulf of Mexico, A Graduate Research Conference, University of Southern Mississippi-Gulf Park, April 2003 " 'The Follies of the North:' New Orleans Women and the Sectional Crisis, 1830-1861" Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, November 2002 "Our Female Philanthropists" Invited Presentation, St. George Tucker Society Meeting, June 2002 " 'Within the Walls of the Asylum:' The Ideology of Girls' Orphanages in Antebellum New Orleans, 1817-1861" Invited Presentation, University of Warwick (England), May 2002 "Female-Operated Orphanages in Antebellum New Orleans" Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, February 2002
PUBLISHED WORKS "White Women and Respectability in Antebellum New Orleans" Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Southern Mississippi, August 2003
SERVICE Vice-President, Phi Alpha Theta, University of Southern Mississippi, September 1999-August 2000 REFERENCES Dr. Charles Bolton Professor and Chair, Department of History University of Southern Mississippi (601) 266-4333 Dr. Bradley G. Bond Associate Professor of History, Department of History University of Southern Mississippi (601) 266-6134 Dr. Marjorie J. Spruill Associate Vice-Chancellor for Institutional Planning Research Professor of History Vanderbilt University (615) 322-8667 Dr. Beth Willinger Director, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women Tulane University (504) 865-5238.
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