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The Historic New Orleans Collection
HNOC in the News

In NOLA.com Guest Column, HNOC Historian Discusses “Captive State” As Public History Project

October 20, 2025

Curator Eric Seiferth explains how HNOC’s 2025 exhibition and companion book serve as an important public telling of privately known truths.

A tour guide gestures towards an exhibition display at HNOC.
NOLA.com / The Times Picyaune
CAPTIVE STATE cover

Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration

News

“Captive State” Book: Upcoming Local and Regional Literary Events

Related Exhibitions

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Exhibitions

Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration

July 19, 2024 to February 16, 2025

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First Draft

Inside Angola’s Prison Newspaper, the ‘Angolite’

First Draft

Poets Respond to “Captive State” in Verse

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A screenshot from a vintage color film shows part of a ship with the name "VERNON C. BAIN" written on the side.

“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.

The cover of the newspaper "Hospital Banner" from August of 1955.

Hospital Banner Newsletters

An unusual periodical, written and produced by residents of the state mental hospital in the mid-20th century

A vintage sheet music cover titled The Mysterious Axmans Jazz (Dont Scare Me Papa). It shows a chaotic scene with musicians playing and a startled woman at a piano. Two inset portraits are at the bottom.

The Mysterious Axman’s Jazz

At the turn of the 20th century, a music-loving serial killer proclaimed that only jazz lovers would be safe from his reign of terror.

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Two men are observing an exhibit in a museum. One holds a book while explaining something. Behind them are informational panels and photographs. Text overlays mention a display through January 19, 2025, at 520 Royal St., sponsored by the Historic New Orleans Collection.
HNOC in the News

WWL-TV: Inside a New Exhibit on Mass Incarceration

October 25, 2024
WWL-TV's Great Day Louisiana visited HNOC's new exhibition about the history of mass incarceration in Louisiana.
A historical museum exhibit features a large black-and-white photograph of an old prison building. In front, there is a wooden stock used for restraining prisoners, with openings for neck and wrists. The quote on the photo describes the harsh prison conditions.
HNOC in the News

Louisiana Weekly: HNOC Receives LEH Award for Louisiana Mass Incarceration Exhibit

January 29, 2026
Officials praised “Captive State” for addressing a difficult and often polarizing subject with scholarly depth while remaining accessible to a broad audience.
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