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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

Death on Display

Related Collection Highlights

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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

The death notice for John Ward Gurley, dated 1808. The notice in the middle is surrounded with drawings depicting a skull and crossbones, funerial trees, a coffin, and broken column.

Death Notice for John Ward Gurley 

One hot-headed young upstart in early 19th-century Louisiana found his way onto the dueling field, where the odds were not in his favor.

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A group of people view an exhibit in a gallery featuring a large historical illustration and several framed documents. A guide discusses the display, which includes a quote about shame and humiliation in a prison setting.
Announcement

Innocence Project New Orleans to Honor HNOC with John Thompson Award for Courage & Justice

August 13, 2025
The Collection will receive the award for its work on the exhibition “Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration.”
Innocence & Justice Louisiana presented HNOC with the John Thompson Award for Courage and Justice at the “Oh, Freedom!” Gala on September 13, 2025.
Press Release

HNOC Awarded John Thompson Award for Courage & Justice

September 22, 2025
Presented by Innocence & Justice Louisiana, the honor was received for HNOC’s “Captive State” exhibition and companion book that confront the historical roots of mass incarceration in Louisiana.
A screenshot from the video “Does Mass Incarceration Make Us Safer?” shows a woman adding a post-it note to a wall of post-it notes that answer the prompt "If you could change Louisiana's incarceration system, where would you begin?"
Behind the Scenes

New Video Goes Behind the Scenes of “Captive State” Exhibition and Companion Book 

October 9, 2025
Narrated by Anthony J. Hingle Jr., the piece explores how the project draws irrefutable historical links between slavery and mass incarceration.
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