The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Gulf South The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The coastal states that have a shoreline on the Gulf of Mexico are Texas, Louisiana, Mississ ...

region of the United States. It is located in New Orleans'

French Quarter The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old Sq ...

. The institution was established in 1966 by General and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams to keep their collection of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

materials intact and available for research and exhibition to the public. The Collection operates a museum, which includes the Williams Gallery, Louisiana History Galleries, the Williams Residence, a house museum, and a museum shop. The Williams Research Center, which opened in 1996, makes The Collection's holdings available to researchers. The holdings consist of some 35,000 library items, and approximately 350,000 photographs, prints, drawings, paintings, and other artifacts. Museum exhibitions have been presented on a wide variety of topics relating to the history and culture of the Gulf South region and the peoples who have influenced it, ranging from the

Battle of New Orleans The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Frenc ...

to the development of

New Orleans cuisine The cuisine of New Orleans encompasses common dishes and foods in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is perhaps the most distinctively recognized regional cuisine in the United States. Some of the dishes originated in New Orleans, while others are comm ...

to more modern subjects, such as the Sugar Bowl and life after Hurricane Katrina. Many of the museum's exhibits are free and open to the public.

History

In 1938, General Lewis Kemper Williams (1887-1971), a World War I veteran, Brigadier General in World War II, businessman, and honorary Consul General of Monaco in New Orleans, from Patterson, Louisiana, and his wife, Leila Hardie Moore Williams (1901-1966) bought two properties in the French Quarter, the ''Spanish Colonial'' Merieult House on Royal Street and a late 19th-century residence next to the Merieult House, facing Toulouse Street. The latter was their home for 17 years, during which time they amassed a substantial collection of important Louisiana materials. With the deaths of Leila and Kemper Williams, in 1966 and 1971 respectively, a foundation bearing their names was established, creating The Historic New Orleans Collection.

Museum buildings

Merieult House

The Merieult House on 533 Royal Street serves as the entrance to the Historic New Orleans Collection and main museum facility. Dating from the 18th century, the house occupies land that has been in continuous use since the early colonial days in the 1720s. The house is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. THNOC opened the Louisiana History Galleries on the second floor and located the museum shop and the Williams Gallery for changing exhibitions about Louisiana's history on the first floor.

Williams Residence

Built in 1889, the Williams Residence is an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

, two-story brick

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

with galleries. The history of the property dates to Jean François Merieult, who, after purchasing the Royal Street lot in 1792, increased his land a few years later, adding depth to the lot toward

Bourbon Street Bourbon Street (french: Rue Bourbon, es, Calle de Borbón) is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending thirteen blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars an ...

where he erected a warehouse. The residence, surrounded by three courtyards, is often described as a hidden house. The furnishings and decor today remain as they were in the 1940s and 1950s when the Williamses lived there. Tours are offered daily.

Other buildings

Counting House

The Counting House is named for the banking activities conducted on site in the 19th century. It was built as a warehouse by Jean François Merieult between 1794 and 1795. Today, the first floor is used for office space, meetings, receptions, and exhibitions when additional space is needed.

Maisonette

Across the courtyard from the Counting House, the three-story Maisonette stretches along the Toulouse Street side of THNOC. This service wing was constructed over an earlier structure that was built at the same time as the Merieult House in the 1790s. The Maisonette houses staff offices.

Townhouse

This two-story brick building, dating from the late 19th century, was used as a banking house, according to an act of sale in 1888. Leila Moore Williams purchased the property in 1947 and sold it in 1965. The townhouse once again became part of The Collection when the Williams Foundation purchased it in 1980.

Louis Adam House

The house that Louis Adam built in 1788, after the first great New Orleans fire destroyed an earlier structure, appears to have escaped the second great New Orleans fire of 1794. In the 1930s, the house was opened to boarders and for a short time a young

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thr ...

lived there. Restoration to the original Spanish Colonial style did not occur until the 1970s.

Creole Cottage

The double cottage on Toulouse Street was purchased by the Collection in 1990. During the summer of 1991, an archaeological dig revealed evidence of all the structures that existed prior to the house now on the site. Archaeologists found indications of French barracks from the 1720s; a structure burned in the fire of 1788; a residence from the period 1790 to 1820; and debris related to the existing cottage that was built around 1830.

Williams Research Center

Built in 1915 in the Beaux Arts style, the two-story brick structure was erected to house the Second City Criminal Court and the Third District Police Station. After an extensive restoration, the Chartres Street building opened as the Williams Research Center in January 1996. The Collection's rare and important holdings at the Williams Research Center are available to the general public via the public reading room. The building's annex, which opened in 2007, was the first new construction completed in the French Quarter since Hurricane Katrina.

Notable collections

In addition to its massive collection of New Orleans-related maps, photographs, surveys and other documents, the Historic New Orleans Collection contains a number of collections of rare or otherwise specialty materials.

Tennessee Williams Collection

In 2001, THNOC acquired the largest private collection of Tennessee Williams materials anywhere in the world from collector Fred Todd. In addition to the many typescripts and manuscripts of works such as ''

A Streetcar Named Desire ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pers ...

'' and ''

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

'', there are dozens of playbills, as well as signed first editions of Williams' plays and other works, unpublished letters, a myriad books about Williams, translations of his work, film scripts, and photos of Williams with friends and associates. The more rare items include notes on the filming of ''

The Rose Tattoo ''The Rose Tattoo'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams in 1949 and 1950; after its Chicago premiere on December 29, 1950, he made further revisions to the play for its Broadway premiere on February 2, 1951, and its publication by ...

'', an operatic version of ''

Summer and Smoke ''Summer and Smoke'' is a two-part, thirteen-scene play by Tennessee Williams, completed in 1948. He began working on the play in 1945 as ''Chart of Anatomy'', derived from his short stories "Oriflamme" and the then-work-in-progress "Yellow Bir ...

'', a playscript for a western, a prose-poem to lover Frank Merlo, and numerous promotional materials and memorabilia from ''

Baby Doll ''Baby Doll'' is a 1956 American dramatic black comedy film directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Carroll Baker, Karl Malden, and Eli Wallach. It was produced by Kazan and Tennessee Williams, and adapted by Williams from his own one-act play '' ...

'', including the film script with notes from director Elia Kazan and some of Williams' own financial records. Additionally, the Historic New Orleans Collection publishes the ''Tennessee Williams Annual Review'', the only regularly published journal devoted exclusively to the works of Tennessee Williams. It is available in print and electronically.Tennessee Williams Annual Review
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William Russell Jazz Collection

The William Russell Jazz Collection is an extensive collection of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

memorabilia including musical instruments, records, piano rolls, sheet music, photographs, books and periodicals. It traces the development of jazz in New Orleans and follows the movement of musicians to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and beyond. It encompasses notes from Mr. Russell's research, audiotapes, programs, posters, correspondence, films, business cards, notes, clippings, and scrapbooks. Large portions of the collection focus on the lives of Manuel "Fess" Manetta,

Bunk Johnson Willie Gary "Bunk" Johnson (December 27, 1879 – July 7, 1949) was an American prominent jazz trumpeter in New Orleans. Johnson gave the year of his birth as 1879, although there is speculation that he may have been younger by as much as a dec ...

, and

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

. The collection includes correspondence between composer

Anita Socola Specht Anita Socola Specht (June 1871 - November 11, 1958) was an American composer, pianist, and singer who was president of the Louisiana State Federation of Music Clubs and helped found the New Orleans Symphony Orchestra. Specht was born in Louisian ...

and her husband, conductor William Specht. The collection also features materials on brass bands,

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that flourished from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers such as Scott J ...

, gospel music, and William Russell's own compositions.

William C. Cook War of 1812 in the South Collection

The William C. Cook collection focuses on the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

in the South, particularly the Creek War, the war in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, and the

. Major General

Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...

, military commander during these events, is well represented, and the collection also includes various important U.S. Army and

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

documents, as well as materials concerning the participation of the southern

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

tribes and manuscripts from the British perspective. Also present are related materials concerning the War of 1812 in the South from a later date, the largest single grouping of which contains campaign materials from the 1828 presidential election. These principally focus on the 1815 execution of the six militia men that were most dramatically executed in the infamous " Coffin broadsides."

Clarence John Laughlin Collection

THNOC also maintains the substantial

Clarence John Laughlin Clarence John Laughlin (1905 – January 2, 1985) was an American photographer best known for his surrealist photographs of the American South. Biography Early life Laughlin was born into a middle-class family in Lake Charles, Louisiana. H ...

collection, which contains film negatives, transparencies, photographs and prints spanning the decades from the 1930s to the 1980s, taken both by and of Laughlin. The collection documents Laughlin's life and work throughout both New Orleans and the world.

Germans in New Orleans

The Williams Research Center contains an abundance of materials relating to New Orleans'

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

settlers, organizations, music, businesses, and rural German enclaves. The collection includes an assortment of prints, photographs, postcards, letterheads, maps, sheet music and other objects. The J. Hanno Deiler Papers contain hand-written and typescript drafts of the historian's major books, articles, and speeches, as well as a number of genealogies of Louisiana-German families.

Sugar Bowl archives

Prior to 2007 the Sugar Bowl maintained its archives at the

Mercedes-Benz Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saint ...

. However, the Superdome was damaged by Hurricane Katrina; and although the archives were not damaged, the Bowl decided the archives needed a more suitable home and donated the materials to the Collection.

References

External links

The Historic New Orleans Collection
– official website
WRC Online Catalogue
- Williams Research Center online catalogue
Moving Image Archiving and Preservation
– THNOC preparations for Hurricane Katrina {{DEFAULTSORT:Historic New Orleans Collection, The Museums in New Orleans Culture of New Orleans Historic house museums in Louisiana French Quarter