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The Historic New Orleans Collection
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.

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.
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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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Books

Captive State: Louisiana and the Making of Mass Incarceration

CAPTIVE STATE cover

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First Draft

Death on Display

First Draft

Processing Hope and Loss in the Prison Portraits of “One Big Self”

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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.

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.

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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Carceral City book cover
Press Release

HNOC, LHA Select “The Carceral City” to Receive 2024 Williams Prize

March 19, 2025
With powerful and evocative prose, author John K. Bardes boldly reinterprets relations between slavery and prison development in American history.
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 painting depicting a New Orleans police car with two officers inside and a distressed Black man in the back seat. Another officer is in a second police car, and houses are visible in the background under a dark blue sky.
Content Feature

Reflecting on “Captive State”: How to Take Action

February 26, 2025
Explore resources from our curatorial team about how to advocate for change in America’s carceral system.
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