Hometown Heritage archival restoration. The text below reproduces the surviving newspaper submission; editorial subheadings have been added for readability and are not part of the original manuscript.
If you’ve been to an event lately where Natchitoches heritage was the topic, chances are you were hearing about research by a student in the NSU Master’s of Heritage Resources program. The students seem to be everywhere right now, wrapping up research projects and presenting their project theses to the community. In fact, four thesis projects were presented in the past week.
Breda Town Cemetery
Most recently, Curtis Desselles and Josh Martin presented their research on the Breda Town cemetery. Desselles’ thesis, “Breda Town Cemetery Project: From Plantation to Community” examined the rich heritage of the Breda Town community through the lens of its historic cemetery.
Martin’s thesis “Breda Town Cemetery Project (BTCP): Mapping and Remote Sensing Survey of a Century-Old African-American Cemetery” focused on understanding the physical structure of the cemetery better. Together, Desselles and Martin presented to a packed community center in Breda Town.
Historic cattle trails
Ellen Ibert presented her research on“Westward Settlements toward the Sabine River on the Old Beef Trail: Vernon and Rapides Parishes, Louisiana” at the Louisiana Folklore Society Annual Conference. Ibert researched and attempted to trace the placement of old cattle trails when western Louisiana was a hardscrabble frontier land. The conference was held at the NSU Leesville campus.
Documenting Kisatchie School
Tamara Miller’s thesis,“Kisatchie School Documentation Project: Saving a Part of the Past,” is a huge advancement in our understanding of the Kisatchie School and its place in Natchitoches history. Miller documented the school for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) and managed to dig up pieces of its history not seen in decades. Community members–from toddlers to octengenarians–turned out to see Miller’s presentation at the Kisatchie community center in south Natchitoches Parish.
Sometimes it’s hard to believe our region produces research of this caliber year after year. Resources that have been ignored or underrepresented now have a fighting chance at gaining meaningful preservation and interpretation. The Kisatchie Community Center has a group on the Natchitoches Preservation Network at natchitochespreservation.ning.com (http://natchitochespreservation.ning.com). And check back at the site for announcements of more research project public presentations on managing the Pleasant Hill battlefield, expanding the National Historic Landmark boundaries of Fort Jesup, and the history of the Mansfield Female College.
What Remains
The Heritage Resources graduate program whose students were presenting these projects was later eliminated following university budget cuts in 2012. The subjects highlighted in this column, including Breda Town Cemetery, nevertheless remain important sources of local history. The 2009 presentation announcements record research questions, participants, and community partners that can guide efforts to locate the completed theses and related documentation. The program’s closure should not be confused with the disappearance of its scholarly work. Northwestern State: Heritage Resources program history.
Updated October 2026
Supporting Documents & SourcesView related reporting & supporting materials
| Related article | Breda Town Cemetery preservation |
|---|
Article Catalog CardView the manuscript record, provenance & surviving materials
| Artifact | Hometown Heritage newspaper column — original submitted manuscript |
|---|---|
| Institution | Natchitoches Times, Natchitoches, Louisiana |
| Period | 2009-04-02 |
| Role | Jeffery Guin, columnist and author |
| Platforms | Local newspaper; email submission; Voices archival restoration |
| Collections | Hometown Heritage · MAHR student research; Breda Town; Kisatchie School; oral history and documentation |
| Experiment | Public-facing reporting and interpretation of regional culture and preservation practice |
| Evidence / engagement | Sent email dated 2009-04-02. Newspaper publication is presumed for that Thursday from the regular schedule, pending author confirmation or print comparison. |
| What survives | Original sent-mail manuscript with submission timestamp. Researchers named in the manuscript are credited individually; no school project outcome beyond the contemporary report is inferred. |
| What changed | Historical terminology, locations, technologies, or institutional details may have changed since the original reporting. |
| Trajectory | Contemporary local reporting → surviving submission → archival restoration → contextual interpretation |
| Status | Recovered manuscript republished online; original newspaper print text and publication date not yet independently verified. |
Critical Questions + Add to the Record
Application here: The student thesis presentations captured emerging scholarship whose lasting value depends on safeguarding the research and tracing its community applications.
Know something that adds context, documentation, correction, or firsthand knowledge to this record? Keep this page open and copy its URL into the contribution form.
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