First Draft
Stories from the Historic New Orleans Collection
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How Madame Bégué Invented Brunch, a Meal Born in New Orleans
What began as a decadent “second breakfast” for hungry French Quarter butchers became a global dining sensation.
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Browse our latest posts or search by topic.
Cataloging Every Item in the Williams Residence, from Spoons to Sofas
During the renovation of 533 Royal Street, staff are working to clean and create records for all of our founders’ furnishings—some 3,000 objects in total.
The Man Who Lived in a Movie Palace
Rene Brunet Jr. grew up in his father’s cinema, the Imperial. He went on to shape New Orleans’s movie landscape.
Beyond Nottoway
The mansion at Nottoway Plantation burned to the ground, but related sites survive across the South.
The 19th-Century Family Found in an Attic
When one New Orleans couple unsealed the attic of their Algiers house, they discovered a remarkable set of family portraits going back 135 years.
How the Superdome Became a Louisiana Landmark
Nathaniel Curtis Jr. designed the stadium to be a modern counterpart to the great domes of the world.
Tall Orders
Masonic art and influence are all around us, but Freemasonry’s outsized mystique can make it difficult to separate fact from fiction. HNOC explains the real history of a world hidden in plain sight.
Masonic and Odd Fellows Buildings in New Orleans
Society halls and temples have had a lasting impact on the local architectural landscape. Here’s where to find them.
Thinking About the Roman Empire in Novus Orleanus
South Louisiana is full of references to the Roman Empire.
Possessed by the Past at Shadows-on-the-Teche
An antique armoire gives insight into a New Iberia plantation's complicated history and road to preservation.
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Cajuns & Creoles
Sally Miller or Salomé Müller?
An enslaved woman named Sally Miller went to the Louisiana Supreme Court to sue for her freedom. She won, then she was forgotten.
Identity Theft
Nearly 35 years ago, a heedless conservator altered a rare portrait of a free woman of color. Now, it has been restored and is on view again—and this time, HNOC is telling the story.
What’s the Difference Between Cajun and Creole—Or Is There One?
The answers are tied up in race, class, language, and, of course, history.
New Orleans Icons
Richard Simmons, New Orleans’s Hometown Hero
How a native son who grew up in the French Quarter sweated his way into the spotlight
Shades of Blanche
An experimental theater production sheds new light on one of Tennessee Williams’s most beloved characters.
Danny Barker’s Folk Heroes
The jazzman was also a gifted writer and storyteller who put his own spin on the archetypes of African American folklore, from badmen and blues mamas to “day people and night people.”
Carnival Chronicles
DJ Soul Sister’s Personal Mardi Gras Playlist
In liner notes to a playlist curated for HNOC, the “Queen of Rare Groove” leads a tour through Mardi Gras music history, drawing on her memories as a New Orleans native.
The Renaissance Man Who Changed Mardi Gras
Before he became the father of the Carnival doubloon, H. Alvin Sharpe was a sailor, maker, prospector, and poet.
Carnival Couture
Eight Mardi Gras fashion designs inspired by history, pop culture, and even architecture
North Side Skull and Bone Gang: “You Next!”
Bruce Sunpie Barnes, big chief of the North Side Skull and Bone Gang, describes a Mardi Gras Black masking tradition.
The Defiance of New Orleans’s Black Debutante Tradition
The debutante circuit was once the province of whites only, until Black New Orleanians found their own way to hold court.
The Breadth of Carnival Artistry in Nine Photographs
Snapshots of Carnival through photographic history, from Mardi Gras Indian big chiefs to ‘Tit Rex
How to Catch Beads during Mardi Gras (No, Not That Way)
In a charming DIY pamphlet from 1969, one Carnivalgoer gives humorous tips for how to survive and thrive during Mardi Gras.
HNOC Quarterly
Our members-only magazine, full of pretty pictures, interesting articles, and inside info
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