First Draft
Stories from the Historic New Orleans Collection
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East Meets West
Over the course of a century, two iterations of Chinatown in New Orleans shaped the city’s landscape and culture.
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Browse our latest posts or search by topic.
Independence Won
An interactive exhibition immerses visitors in the events of the American Revolution, including Louisiana’s role in the conflict.
Fleeing Theu Freedom
The story of a grandmother’s escape from South Vietnam won third place in HNOC’s 2025 Student Writing Contest.
Frame by Frame, Developing a Picture of Vietnamese New Orleans
Mark J. Sindler spent almost 10 years documenting the lives of refugees in New Orleans East. His work might be the largest photographic record of Vietnamese resettlement in the United States.
Once a War Ends, Does It Really Ever End Within You?
A poetic meditation on the enduring scars of war took top honors in HNOC’s 2025 Student Writing Contest.
Wartime Letters from a WWII Airman
Francis I. Cervantes flew dozens of missions over Nazi-occupied Europe, many of them clandestine and extremely dangerous. His correspondence, held at HNOC, traces his wartime journey as well as its tragic end.
Leap of Faith
Fifty years after the fall of Saigon, a new exhibition tells the story of a community’s rise out of tragedy.
Patriotism in Print
As the young republic formed and took its first steps, print media served a crucial role in uniting the nation.
Coming to New Orleans, Part II
After becoming part of the United States, Louisiana experienced an influx of Haitian, Irish, German, and Jewish immigrants.
Coming to New Orleans, Part I
Introducing a new series tracing the history of immigration to New Orleans
New Orleans Stories,
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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
New Orleans Stories,
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