Myldred Masson Costa was born in New Orleans, LA. She attended Girls High School and Tulane University before getting a graduate degree in special education from Columbia University in New York City. She taught classes for the visually impaired for 31 years in the Orleans Parish public school system.

After retiring, Costa began working in historic preservation and promoting Louisiana history, especially colonial French history. She translated the letters of Marie Madeleine Hachard, an Ursuline nun who settled in the Louisiana during 1727 and 1728. She led efforts to restore the Ursuline Convent and joined organizations aimed at preserving the Vieux Carré. Mayor Victor Schiro appointed Costa to form a committee board to determine summer activities and events for tourists in New Orleans. Mayor Ernest Morial appointed Costa to the French Quarter Task Force and Governor Edwin Edwards appointed her to the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial Commission.

The Myldred Masson Costa papers include correspondence, meeting minutes, promotional material, and other documents related to her activities on a variety of official boards and neighborhood associations dedicated to historic preservation in the French Quarter from the 1970s and early 1980s. These organizations include the French Quarter Task Force, the Vieux Carré Association, the Louisiana Council for the Vieux Carré, and the Louisiana American Revolution Bicentennial Commission. Additionally, the collection includes documents related to Costa’s work with Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carré, as well as in French societies, such as the Council for the Development of French in Louisiana (CODOFIL), Athénée Louisianais, and L'Heure Françhaise.

The collection also includes some personal correspondence, newspaper clippings, as well as scrapbook pages from a One Act Play Tournament from the 1930s.

The collection is arranged chronologically by organization, including General Correspondence.

In English and French

Title	Date	Box Number	Folder Number
One Act Play Tournament	1930-1933	1	1
Le Petit Théâtre Du Vieux Carré, Theatre Development Committee	1964-1965	1	2
200th Anniversary Committee	1965	1	3
Maison des Jeunes et de la Culture	1965-1971	1	4
Vieux Carré Property Owners and Associates	1968-1978	1	5
Son et Lumière (Sound & Light)	1970-1975	1	6
Genealogical Research Society	1972-1978	1	7
Louisiana Council for the Vieux Carré	1972-1976	1	8-9
Athénée Louisianais	1976-1978	1	10
Founders Chapter, Louisiana Colonials, Inc.	1977	1	11
Huguenot Society	1977-1980	1	12
French Quarter Task Force	1979-1980, undated	1	13-14
French Quarter Task Force	1981	2	1
Bernardo Galvez research notes	1974-1975	2	2
Vieux Carré Action Association	1974	2	3
L'Heure Françhaise	1975-1976	2	4
U.S. Daughters of the 1812, Chalmette Chapter	1979-1981	2	5
General Correspondence	1954-1978, undated	2	6
General materials and ephemera	1935-1972, undated	2	7
Newspaper clippings	1950-1980, undated	2	8