Acadie / Acadiana Exchange Research Showcase - Jean Lafitte’s Buried Treasure in an Acadian Archive

Join us on October 15th for an open house at the Center for Louisiana Studies. At 5:00 p.m., hear a presentation on a remarkable Acadie / Louisiana research journey. Master's student William Dailey, recipient of the Acadie / Acadiana Student Exchange Fellowship, spent the summer of 2025 in the archives of the Centre d’études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson at the Université de Moncton. There, he found a trove of recordings that led him back home to Louisiana. His project, titled « Le plus gros pirate qu’on a eu dans le world : à la recherche du trésor caché de Jean Lafitte », presents the specificity of legends collected by Sister Catherine Jolicœur in the 1970s and 1980s. This Canadian folklorist did fieldwork in Vermilion Parish where, according to William’s discoveries, she unearthed very particular tales of hidden treasure. It’s an honor for us to collaborate with the l’Institut d’études acadiennes de l’Université de Moncton in our shared objective of student mobilization and in continuing the long tradition of exchanges between Acadie and Acadiana.

We’re proud to partner with the Grand Réveil Acadien to present our student’s work with l’Institut d’études acadiennes at l’Université de Moncton, our sister institution in Acadie. Thanks to the generosity of a Louisiana donor family, this program aims to cultivate and promote the cultural and historical ties between French-speaking Louisiana and Acadie. It also aims to offer students from UL Lafayette and the Université de Moncton a unique and enriching research and creative experience.

You may also like the following events from Center for Louisiana Studies:

• Next Thursday, 9th October, 05:30 pm, Louisiana’s History is America’s Future: The Katrina Disaster, 1915–2025 in Lafayette
• Next Friday, 10th October, 09:00 am, Festival Symposium, Et asteur, quoi ?! Countercultural Currents, Artistic Intersections in Lafayette
• Next month, 3rd November, 10:30 am, Book Talk, Metates and Other Poems in Lafayette