Louisiana State Exhibit Museum

The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum was completed in 1939 as a New Deal public works project, and it is one of the odder buildings in the state: a circular Art Deco drum of marble, granite, polished aluminum and hand-cut limestone around a landscaped courtyard, on the edge of the Louisiana State Fairgrounds. Living New Deal credits the Public Works Administration. Edward F. Neild, a Shreveport native who later designed the Truman Presidential Library, was the architect. Conrad Albrizio painted a fresco on the front portico, and Louisiana artists painted rotunda murals of the state's landscapes and history.

The collection begins with the people who lived here first. The Native American Gallery holds a Caddo log boat about 30 feet long and roughly 1,000 years old, excavated from the Red River, along with Louisiana Native American artifacts from prehistoric times to the present. Sculptor Duncan Ferguson made a topographical map of the state's cultural geography, and beeswax dioramas show agrarian life in early Caddo Parish. The West Wing hosts rotating art exhibits.

The museum is at 3015 Greenwood Road in Shreveport and is run by the Louisiana Secretary of State. The Secretary of State lists weekday hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and does not list an admission price, so call 318-632-2020 before a visit.