Charles L. "Pie" Dufour (1903–1996) was an American newspaper journalist, historian, humorist, and book author from New Orleans, Louisiana who served as a columnist for the New Orleans States-Item newspaper.[1] He wrote approximately 9700 installments of his column "Pie Dufour's A La Mode" for the States-Item and for the Sunday edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune during his newspaper tenure, from 1949 until his retirement in 1978. He authored 20 books and approximately 50 articles for scholarly literature.[1] Dufour's column covered diverse topics including Louisiana history, New Orleans Mardi Gras, law, local sports, classical music, New Orleans cuisine, and European travel.[2]
Dufour lived his entire life in New Orleans, except to serve in the US Army in World War II in a non-journalistic role. He enrolled at Tulane University for college in 1921, although he commenced his career with newspapers before completing his degree.[3] He ultimately completed his college degree in 1953.[3] Dufour was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters by Tulane University in 1978, after retiring as a newspaper columnist.[3]
Together with fellow local historian John Churchill Chase, he taught a course on New Orleans history at Tulane University for 25 years.[1] Dufour referred to this course as "New Orleans on the Half Shell" as an acknowledgement of its emphasis on food and culture.[3] Dufour was a member of the gourmet group in New Orleans called "La Societe des Escargots Orleanais".[3]
A 1967 article in The New York Times characterized Dufour as a columnist and historian "who has devoted most of his professional life to the idea that history is news".[4]