Want to learn everything there is to know about the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South? The Historic New Orleans Collection is a great first stop on that journey!
Founded in 1966, The Historic New Orleans Collection is a free museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South.
Public galleries are at 520 Royal Street in the heart of the French Quarter, the oldest part of the city (see you learned something already!). Visit the museum for both permanent and traveling exhibitions, an interactive smart table that maps properties within the French Quarter, referencing historical, architectural, legal, and sociological data on lots and structures from the early 1700s to the present. The display serves as an introduction to the free French Quarter Tours smartphone app, which carries self-guided walking tours linked to New Orleans literature and music, the history of free people of color in the Quarter, landmarks of the slave trade, and more.
On the third floor of the visitors can explore the French Quarter Galleries, a permanent exhibition that surveys the Vieux Carré via images, objects, and dynamic interactive displays.
Beyond the building’s restored courtyard, the 2019 Tricentennial Wing houses changing exhibitions on a variety of themes. The carriageway at 520 Royal is also your portal to The Shop at The Collection, the finest destination in the French Quarter for locally sourced and eco-friendly keepsakes and gifts.
Want to research like Hermione Granger? The Historic New Orleans Collection’s holdings are available to the general public in the Williams Research Center (WRC). Through the assistance of the Center’s experienced reading room staff, patrons have access to more than 30,000 library items, more than two miles of documents and manuscripts, a microfilm collection, and more than 500,000 photographs, prints, drawings, and paintings, as well as beautiful and unusual three-dimensional objects. Rare documents and manuscripts are available in microform and in the original.
The major research fields are colonial Louisiana, the Louisiana Purchase, the Battle of New Orleans, the Civil War, Mississippi River life, cartography, transportation, plantations, urban development, Louisiana artists and writers, architecture, the French Quarter, jazz and other forms of early New Orleans music, historic preservation, and Mardi Gras. The collections reflect aspects of the history and culture of the Gulf South, Louisiana, and New Orleans. Most materials are available to researchers in our Reading Room. Access to the research center begins with an interview with reading room staff and the consultation of online catalogues.
Plus don’t sleep on The Historic New Orleans Collection books! For more than thirty years, The Historic New Orleans Collection has been publishing books about the city and the Gulf South as part of our mission to promote the study and preservation of our region’s history and culture. Our award-winning list comprises a wide range of nonfiction titles: high-quality research and scholarship, new editions and translations of archival materials, biographies of visual artists and musicians, and richly illustrated art volumes and exhibition catalogs. We strive always to put the regional and the global in conversation, looking for what each context helps us understand about the other. Even YOU can submit a proposal or manuscript for consideration.
Exhibitions change at the museum – make plans to visit and visit often. Become a member and join us for programs, forums, and receptions. Learn something new each month by reading our First Draft Blog. With activities for all ages, clean and accessible spaces, on-site shopping, and free admission, The Historic New Orleans Collection is an ideal destination in the French Quarter. Visit hnoc.org to learn more about gallery hours and current exhibit offerings.