Loyola University New Orleans history professor Justin Nystrom, Ph.D., and his students are bringing to light the lesser-known history of the Gulf region through their documentary efforts with the men who work the ports—the longshoremen. Nystrom’s article on the topic, “The Vanished World of the New Orleans Longshoreman,” was published in the March 2014 issue Southern Spaces, an interdisciplinary scholarly journal highlighting the region.

Nystrom, along with Loyola juniors and seniors working through the Loyola Documentary and Oral History Studio, partnered with the International Longshoremen’s Association Local 3000 in New Orleans to document the stories of dock workers who loaded and unloaded cargoes along the city’s waterfront in the days before automation and shipping containers. Interviews feature stories from the men who lived this vanishing history.