Brian J. Costello
Brian James Costello (born December 28, 1966) is an American historian, author, archivist and humanitarian. He is an 11th generation resident of New Roads, Louisiana, seat of Pointe Coupee Parish. He is three-quarters French and one-quarter Italian in ancestry. Education. He graduated from False River Academy in New Roads and from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, with a major in History and minor in English. He is one of the few remaining speakers of Louisiana Creole French, having been immersed in childhood in the dialect spoken in Pointe Coupee Parish and is internationally  regarded as an advocate of the Louisiana Creole people Work. Costello is one of Louisiana's most published figures, having published as many as four books in one year. He is the sole author of 19 books, co-author of six books and numerous newspaper columns and features since 1987. Among his co-authored works are "Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735-1835", published by The Historic New Orleans Collection, and "New Roads and Old Rivers: Louisiana's Historic Pointe Coupee Parish", published by LSU Press. He was editor of "The Pointe Coupee Banner" newspaper in New Roads, Louisiana  during 1988-1996. He holds membership in the Catholic Writers' Guild, numerous spiritual and charitable apostolates and has been recognized as an outstanding advocate of the Lions International charitable works since 1993. He has served as president of Le Cercle Historique, a historical preservation and archival organization, since its founding in 1992. Costello is a Louisiana Carnival historian and advocate, having been active in the preservation and growth of New Roads and New Orleans Carnival krewes, historical documentation and Mardi Gras parade orchestration since 1993. He was chairman of the New Roads Lions Carnival parade from 1993 though 2010, and  reigned as King of the Carnival in 2009. In 2009, Costello was named founding historian and archivist of the Historic Materials Collection of the Pointe Coupee Parish Library in New Roads, Louisiana. He is often featured as a consultant and documentary participant in the fields of American and European genealogy, history, culture, linguistics, antiquities and spirituality with local, national and global audiences. In recognition of his cultural and spiritual works, Costello was knighted by the order of European charitable chivalry the Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem. in 2015, and by the Equestrian Order of the Holy  Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 2019.