Like most historical research, this project relies heavily on archival manuscript materials for interpretation and analysis. These have been incorporate dinto the various essays and papers published form this project. Personal and business correspondence, ledgers, diaries, and account books provide us with an intimate, often detailed, ground-level perspective of plantation life and the nature of employee-employer relations. Local newspapers offer an additional perspective, detailing the political and organizational history of a particular, town, parish, or region. Agricultural journals and industrial publications provide us with a perpsective on developments within the industry, while travelers accounts and visitor recollections offer an insight into how others saw the social and political developments of the era. Project staff conducted research in many state archives and wish to thank librarians and archivists for their assistance. Much of the research for Documenting Louisiana Sugar took place at the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. Further and extensive research was conducted at the Howard Tilton Memorial Library, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA; Ellender Memorial Library, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA; The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA; Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC; Perkins Library, Duke University, Durham, NC; Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC; Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, TX.