Past Exhibitions
October 20, 2022 to January 22, 2023
October 23, 2021 to January 23, 2022
September 28, 2021 to December 11, 2021
February 25, 2021 to June 13, 2021
September 8, 2020 to March 7, 2021A 1,500-square-foot multimedia art installation by artist Susan Gisleson, "Land of Dreams" is “a love letter to a New Orleans summer.”
Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, Breaux Bridge; 1974; © Douglas Baz and Charles H. Traub; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2019.0362.107
September 8, 2020 to January 8, 2021Never before exhibited in such a large group, the images in Cajun Document illuminate the cultural threads woven through southern Louisiana at a liminal time in its history.
January 1, 2016 to January 1, 2021The Historic New Orleans Collection is proud to announce the donation of more than 300 hand-carved decoys and other works of art by southeastern Louisianan craftsmen.
Fishing in the flooded Bonnet Carré Spillway with moored tankers in background, near Norco (detail); 2015; © Richard Sexton; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2015.0364.51
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September 17, 2019 to April 5, 2020"Enigmatic Stream," opening September 2019, features more than one hundred black-and-white photographs by Richard Sexton, accented by other materials drawn from and inspired by the Mississippi River.
Sugar Bowl trophy; 1825 or 1826; sterling silver by Rebecca Emes and Edward Barnard (London); courtesy of the Sugar Bowl, LI-000138
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November 22, 2019 to March 8, 2020Drawing upon THNOC’s rich sports-related holdings and enhanced by loans from local collections, Crescent City Sport tells 20 tales of sporting life and civic communion in New Orleans.
Cabildo, St. Louis Cathedral, and Presbytère; between October 1848 and February 1849; pencil and watercolor on paper; by Gaston de Pontalba; courtesy of Baron de Pontalba
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October 29, 2019 to February 2, 2020Gaston de Pontalba’s drawings capture the family’s voyage from France, the houses in which they lived, the nearby plantations they visited, and their summer travels.
Island on Lake Shinji; 2019; collotype print from wet-collodion glass negative; © Everett Kennedy Brown
Cityscape; 1987; gouache on paper by Krista Jurisich; The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Judith L. Jurisich, 2017.0021
April 6, 2019 to October 6, 2019History and contemporary art will interact to refresh perceptions of the city in the inaugural exhibition at The Historic New Orleans Collection’s new Seignouret-Brulatour Building.
Original Tuxedo Jazz Band; between ca. 1925 and 1932; gelatin silver print; The William Russell Jazz Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, acquisition made possible by the Clarisse Claiborne Grima Fund, 92-48-L.218
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January 19, 2019 to August 4, 2019The music of New Orleans is the living product of dynamic cultural interactions played out over centuries in this diverse southern port city.
November 27, 2018 to March 31, 2019The Historic New Orleans Collection presents a panel version of "Purchased Lives: The American Slave Trade from 1808 to 1865" at its Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres Street.
A detail from New Orleans: Between Heaven and Hell
May 9, 2018 to December 31, 2018The colored pen-and-ink work—measuring three feet by six feet—is a view of an American city, held aloft by parading figures from throughout its 300-year history.
Louisiana's first Black Lieutenant Governor, Oscar James Dunn. Image courtesy of Amistad Research Center.
June 1, 2018 to December 8, 2018Presented by the New Orleans Arts & Culture Coalition
Ike Chapman, Lillian Moore, Dorothy Quick, and Lawrence Jacobs; December 24, 1959; Williams Residence working files
June 1, 2018 to June 30, 2018For the month of June, The Historic New Orleans Collection will be offering a special tour of the Williams Residence focused on the individuals who spent much of their lives in the Williamses’ employ.
January 1, 2018 to June 3, 2018The work, which positions ringing brass bells around the French Quarter, was the first program offered in conjunction with THNOC’s exhibition "Art of the City"
Le Missisipi ou la Louisiane dans l’Amérique Septentrionale; ca. 1720; hand-colored engraving by François Chéreau; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1959.210
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February 27, 2018 to May 27, 2018This exhibition will bring together a vast array of rare artifacts from THNOC’s holdings and from institutions across Europe and North America to tell the stories of the city’s early days.
June 14, 2016 to May 6, 2018In 2017, THNOC unveiled a scale model of the forthcoming facility accompanied by a history of the 200-year-old property, as well as information about the in-progress construction.
November 18, 2017 to February 25, 2018THNOC will host two Prospect.4 exhibitions of contemporary photography--one by the late Tony Gleaton and the other by Monique Verdin.THNOC will host two Prospect.4 exhibitions of contemporary photogra
Leila Williams as Queen of Mystic; 1936; The L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection at The Historic New Orleans Collection, 79-78-L.12
January 10, 2018 to February 25, 2018This winter, the home of THNOC’s founders—General and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams—will be decorated for the Carnival season.
Poster for 1988 Jazz Jamboree Festival in Warsaw, Poland; 1988; offset lithogragh by Waldemar Świerzy; The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Dr. and Mrs. Fritz Daguillard, 2017.0003.4
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April 21, 2017 to December 30, 2017Giants of Jazz: Art Posters by Waldemar Świerzy from the Daguillard Collection highlights THNOC’s new collection of jazz posters made by the Polish artist Waldemar Świerzy (1931–2013).![Postcard showing view of Storyville; New Orleans: C. B. Mason, [1904–8]; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1979.362.16](https://www.hnoc.org/sites/default/files/events/1979-362-16.jpg "Postcard showing view of Storyville; New Orleans: C. B. Mason, [1904–8]; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1979.362.16")
Postcard showing view of Storyville; New Orleans: C. B. Mason, [1904–8]; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1979.362.16
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April 5, 2017 to December 9, 2017This award-winning exhibition revived the sights and sounds of New Orleans’s former red-light district a century after its closing.
The Spring Fiesta Art Show; 1941; oil on canvas by Clarence Millet (1897–1959); The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Laura Simon Nelson, 1996.122.1
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May 2, 2017 to November 4, 2017The Laura Simon Nelson Galleries will once again showcase selections from the extensive collection of Louisiana art donated to THNOC by Laura Simon Nelson.
A. B. Griswold and Co. advertisement; by John William Orr, engraver; wood engraving from Jewell’s Crescent City Illustrated; New Orleans, 1874; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1951.41.23
September 23, 2016 to April 9, 2017"Goods of Every Description: Shopping in New Orleans, 1825–1925" invites visitors to peer into 19th- and early 20th-century shop windows.
Clarence John Laughlin in his home library; 1981; photoprint mounted on board by Nancy Robinson Moss; The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of Mr. Stanton M. Frazar, 1985.242
November 15, 2016 to March 25, 2017A Louisiana native, Clarence John Laughlin (1905–1985) began his career as photographer in the 1930s, eventually emerging as one of America’s pioneers in surrealist and experimental photography.
May 17, 2016 to October 29, 2016American banknotes in the twenty-first century are recognizable for their uniform size, green ink, built-in anti-counterfeiting features, and universal acceptance as the US’ only paper money.
March 13, 2016 to September 11, 2016Since the founding of New Orleans, women have played an active role in shaping the city.
May 3, 2016 to August 7, 2016April 23, 2016, marks the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, the most famous writer in the history of the English language.
January 21, 2016 to June 4, 2016Watercolor is a versatile and easily transportable medium.
December 9, 2015 to May 7, 2016With the onset of hostilities in the summer of 1914, Europe hurled itself into a conflict of enormous proportions, the ripple effects of which were quickly felt in New Orleans
Slave Auction; ca. 1831; ink and watercolor; The Historic New Orleans Collection, 1941.3
March 17, 2015 to July 18, 2015The exhibition Purchased Lives: New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade examined the individuals involved in the trade and considers New Orleans’s role in this era of U.S. history.