HNOC Book “Captive State” Receives Southeastern Museum Conference Publication Award
The 2025 publication was awarded Second Place (Silver) by the SEMC Publications Competitions jury.
The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC) received the Second Place (Silver) award from the Southeastern Museum Conference (SEMC) in recognition of its 2025 publication Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration.
The SEMC Publication Design Competition recognizes and rewards excellence in graphic design in Southeastern museum publications. The competition encourages communication, effective design, creativity and pride in work, and recognition of institutional image and identity. Recipients of the awards were judged by an appointed jury of museum professionals across the region who specialize in graphic design.
Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration by Eric Seiferth, Katherine Jolliff Dunn, and Kevin T. Harrell (curators) and Nick Weldon (editor) examines how the institutions of slavery and mass incarceration are historically linked. Adapted from HNOC’s award-winning exhibition of the same name, Captive State traces the evolution of laws and customs that created this carceral system and that, by design, have disproportionately harmed Black Louisianians. Captive State accentuates this narrative with profiles of people impacted by these systems, spotlights on key historical objects, and insightful data visualizations. As the human and financial costs continue to mount, this book details the choices that led us here—and asks whether Louisiana is fated to remain captive to its history.
SEMC Award winners will be celebrated at the 2026 Annual Meeting Awards Luncheon on September 30, 2026, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as well as in the Winter 2026 edition of INSIDE SEMC, a digital publication of the Southeastern Museums Conference. This designation recognizes HNOC’s contribution to professional standards in Southeastern museums.
The Southeastern Museums Conference (SEMC), a nonprofit membership organization, is an association of museums, museum staff, independent professionals, and corporate partners. They focus on the Southeastern United State including: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Puerto Rico, and US Virgin Islands.
Learn more about the book and its companion exhibition below.
Related Books
Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
by Eric Seiferth, Katherine Jolliff Dunn, and Kevin T. Harrell (curators) and Nick Weldon (editor)
Related Exhibitions
Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration
Learn how the institutions of slavery and mass incarceration are historically linked, and how these connections have made Louisiana the world leader in incarceration today.
Related Stories
Death on Display
Louisiana’s travelling electric chair, and the shift from public to private executions
Poets Respond to “Captive State” in Verse
Nine Louisiana poets visited the landmark exhibition on the history of incarceration and created original work based on their experiences.
Related Collection Highlights
“Vernon C. Bain” Christening Ceremony Video
When New York City’s war on drugs sent incarceration rates soaring, officials commissioned a floating jail built and christened downriver from New Orleans.
Hospital Banner Newsletters
An unusual periodical, written and produced by residents of the state mental hospital in the mid-20th century
Related News
WGNO: Video Explores HNOC’s New “Captive State” Book
Forbes: HNOC Explores Human Tragedy of Mass Incarceration in Louisiana
Innocence Project New Orleans to Honor HNOC with John Thompson Award for Courage & Justice
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