III 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 701 

Honoring the life of Michael P. Smith. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 1 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 17), 2008 

Ms. LANDRIEU submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

RESOLUTION 

Honoring the life of Michael P. Smith. 

Whereas Michael P. Smith was an award-winning photographer nationally recognized for his work over 4 decades 

documenting the music, culture, and folklife of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith greatly influenced the understanding of New Orleans and Louisiana of people around 

the world; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work captured and made accessible the environment, social structures, and neighborhoods that both create and sustain the musical traditions 

of New Orleans; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith was born in Metairie, Louisiana, 

the son of a member of the Rex organization and the 

Boston Club, was a star athlete, and graduated from 


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Metairie Park Country Day School and Tulane University; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith was the only person to photograph 

at every New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival since the 

festival began in 1970 until his retirement in 2004, when 

he was honored with a major grandstand exhibition and 

photo kiosks placed around the fairgrounds at the festival; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith received 2 Photographer’s Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts early in 

his career and his prints have toured worldwide through 

the United States Information Agency (USIA); 

Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work has been presented at the 

National Museum of American History, the International 

Center for Photography in New York, and the LeRoy 

Neiman Gallery at Columbia University, as well as numerous other museums, galleries, and jazz festivals in 

America and Europe; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work is part of the permanent 

collections of the National Museum of American History 

in Washington, DC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 

New York, the Bibliothe`que Nationale in Paris, the Louisiana State Museum, the Ogden Museum of Southern 

Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith’s work is represented in 5 photography books including ‘‘Spirit World: Pattern in the Expressive Folk Culture of African-American New Orleans’’, 

‘‘A Joyful Noise: A Celebration of New Orleans Music’’, 

‘‘New Orleans Jazz Fest: A Pictorial History’’, ‘‘Jazz 

Fest Memories’’, and ‘‘Mardi Gras Indians’’, which is a 

visual and sociological history of the unique masking and 


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musical traditions still alive in the older Black neighborhoods of New Orleans; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith’s photographs grace the covers of 

many compact discs and record albums, illustrate numerous books and magazine articles published in America 

and Europe, and are in continual demand for documentary films produced at home and abroad; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith won numerous awards for his 

work, including the 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award 

from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, the 

(New Orleans) Mayor’s Arts Award, the Clarence John 

Laughlin Lifetime Achievement Award from the New Orleans chapter of the American Society of Magazine Photographers, and the Artist Recognition Award from the 

New Orleans Museum of Arts’s Delgado Society; 

Whereas Michael P. Smith was an original owner and a 

founder of Tipitina’s, the iconic club that has featured, 

and continues to feature, the best and brightest of New 

Orleans music; and 

Whereas Michael P. Smith is survived by a companion, Karen 

Louise Snyder, 2 daughters, Jan Lamberton Smith of 

Quail Springs, California, and Leslie Blackshear Smith of 

New Orleans, a brother, Joseph Byrd Hatchitt Smith of 

Port Angeles, Washington, and 2 grandchildren: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) honors the life of Michael P. Smith; 

3 (2) recognizes Michael P. Smith for his invalu4 able contributions as a cultural archivist of New Or5 leans and Louisiana history and culture; 


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1 (3) recommits itself to ensuring that artists 

2 such as Michael P. Smith receive recognition for 

3 their creative and cultural endeavors; and 

4 (4) extends condolences to his family on the 

5 death of this talented and beloved man. 

Æ 


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