From May 9th to May 17th the Watson Library will be open:
Monday through Thursday | 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM |
Friday | 7:30 AM to 12:00 PM |
Saturday and Sunday | CLOSED |
We will resume Summer semester hours on Wednesday, May 18th.
Our Libraries
Located at the main campus, the Eugene P. Watson Memorial library is a three-story modular 95,000 square feet building containing facilities for group and individual study and research. Professional librarians are available to assist with research both face-to-face and remotely. The Reference Room and stacks (circulating collection) are on the 2nd floor. The main office and Serials Media Department are on 3rd floor. The library also houses the Academic Success Center (tutoring), a computer lab, and the Café DeMon Coffee Shop on the first floor. The Cammie G. Henry Research Center, on the 3rd floor houses the University archives, Special Collections, and the Louisiana Collection.
Mailing AddressNSU Natchitoches LA 71497 |
Physical Address913 University Parkway Natchitoches LA 71457 |
Contact Us
Phone: 318-357-4477
Phone: 888-540-9657 (toll free)
Fax: 318-357-4470
Text Reference:318-228-5150
Reference Questions: reference@nsula.edu
Webmaster: cartern@nsula.edu
The Melrose Collection
Third Floor, Watson Memorial Library
913 University Parkway
Natchitoches LA 71457
Contact Us


“Some day – some one will hunt history in these very old materials C.G.H” — note by Cammie G. Henry in a Melrose Scrapbook
Contact us for research questions, tours, or to make an appointment. Please call or email us before you visit.
For information regarding the Archives or Records Management, please contact Dr. Megan
Lowe, Director of University Libraries, at loweme@nsula.edu
Phone: 318-357-4585
Vacant, University Archivist and Records Officer
Vacant, Assistant Archivist
The Research Center is named after Carmelite “Cammie” Garrett Henry (1871-1948) of Melrose, Louisiana who collected Louisiana documents and books of rare fictional and non-fictional works. Here you’ll find Louisiana books, rare books, archival materials, NSU Archives, microfilm, maps, newspapers, and oral history tapes.
Melrose Plantation, the Henry Family home, provided a perfect setting for entertaining guests from diversified intellectual disciplines including literature, art, and the social sciences.
After the sale of Cammie G. Henry’s home, her manuscript collection was donated to Northwestern State University and named the Melrose Collection. This collection, our largest, serves as the core of the Research Center’s holdings. It focuses on the rich cultural, historical, and literary heritage of Louisiana and Natchitoches spanning from French Colonial times through the 1940’s.
Other collections sharing similar strengths include those of James Aswell, the Cloutier Family, Robert DeBlieux, Caroline Dormon, Joe Dellmon, the Egan Family, and the Federal Writers’ Project. Our resources offer a wealth of opportunities for scholars. Focusing on Louisiana History, documents range in date from the founding of Natchitoches in the early 1700’s to the present.
The Melrose Imaging Project digitizes images from these collections for easier access and preservation. Electronically imaging the Melrose Collection allows computer access to documents related to the region’s history, and preserves the originals.
Address
Leesville, LA
71446
Hours
Mon—Thu: 8:00am-5:30pm |
Fri: 8:00am-noon |
Summer Hours
Mon – Thu: 7:30 am-5 pm |
Friday: 8 am-noon |
Closed: Sat-Sun |
Contact Us
Heather Ritter, Library Manager
Phone: (337) 392-3126
Hours
Mon—Thu: 8am—7pm |
Fri: 8am—3pm |
Sun: 3pm—7pm |
Contact Us
Diane Jones, Library Associate
Phone: (318) 357-5475
Creative & Performing Arts Center – Room 319
Arts, Music and Humanities Databases
- Academic Search Complete
- Ambrose Digital Video
- American Doctoral Dissertations (1933-1955)
- Art & Architecture Complete
- Art Index Retrospective (1929-1984)
- ARTStor
- Biography in Context
- Credo
- Dance in Video
- Dissertations & Theses A&I
- Gale Virtual Reference Center Library
- Grove Music (Oxford Music Online)
- JSTOR Arts & Sciences Collections 1-5, 7
- Literary Reference Center Plus
- Music Index
- Music Scores (Library Music Source)
- Naxos Music Library
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Project Muse
- Religion & Philosophy Collection
- World Cat

Our libraries offer quality research services and online resources, including 8 medical literature databases available 24 / 7 via an internet connection. We offer consultations to Nursing and Allied Health students and faculty, WebEx online workshops, and in person training on all NSU medical resources and web applications such as Rayyan, Perrla, Mendeley Desktop and Mendeley Citation Manager. Contact us for database training, arrange a resource consultation for your Project in Liew of Thesis (PILT), or make an appointment with the Librarian to review our collection of systematic reviews and integrative reviews.
We encourage you to take advantage of the knowledgeable staff ready to assist you with your research and library use. We also invite you to make full use of the broad array of digital information and valuable scholarship preserved in print. Our libraries offer comfortable physical spaces in which to read and study individually and in groups:
- Study rooms for individuals or small student groups are available on a first come basis
- Two media rooms have laptop connections and a large flat projection screen
- The Learning Resource Center may be reserved by faculty for testing
Fall / Spring Hours
Mon—Thu: 8am—8pm |
Fri: 8am—noon |
Address
1800 Line Avenue (parking available on the North side of the building)
Shreveport, LA 71101
Phone: (318) 677-3007 · Text: 318-210-7036 · Ask a Librarian!