En Français
Collection Summary
The En Français Collection consists of 223 episodes (1980-1993) of the only original Louisiana Public Broadcasting series broadcast entirely in French. It also includes 25 clips of unedited footage shot for the series. The series was produced in partnership with the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL) during a time of renewed pride in Louisiana’s French cultural heritage. It presented interviews, stories, and performances in French that were of interest to the state’s French speakers and helped to fulfill LPB’s mission of preserving the French language in Louisiana. The themes of the series include: the preservation of the Cajun French dialect; Acadian history and cultural traditions; life in the Acadiana region of Louisiana; the enduring connection between Louisiana and the Francophone world; interviews and performances by the pioneers and stars of Cajun music; and performances by Le Théâtre ‘Cadien, a local theater group from Lafayette that performed original plays in the Cajun French dialect.
Collection Background
In 2018, LPB received a Recordings at Risk grant from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) to preserve the first six seasons of En Français. LPB had previously digitized the last eight seasons of the series in 2014. The series is freely available for streaming on LPB’s Louisiana Digital Media Archive. Updated metadata and links to the LDMA records were submitted to the AAPB Online Reading Room in 2019.
The Recordings at Risk grant program is made possible by funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It supports the preservation of rare and unique audio and audiovisual content of high scholarly value.
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