[7] In 1940, under Governor Sam Houston Jones, the legislature declared nearly all state records public property and opened access to most files.
Davis and his colleague, John C. L. Andreassen, the first director of the state archives, managed to obtain an emergency appropriation of $43,140 from the Louisiana Board of Liquidation.
With this revenue, the archives were relocated to permanent headquarters in Peabody Hall on the LSU campus adjacent to the Louisiana State Capitol.
At a statewide meeting held on March 29, 1958 on the campus of Baptist-affiliated Louisiana College in Pineville, thirty-five new members were added.
There Davis was named as LHA president, Kenneth Trist Urquhart was chosen as vice-president, and John C. L. Andreassen, secretary-treasurer.
One particular group led by General Joseph O. Shelby of Missouri, followed its cavalry flag, or guidon, south with the goal of planting an imperial colony in Mexico.