History

Earlier this month, The Historic New Orleans Collection was honored to host a special group from the National Urban League while they were in town for the organization’s 2023 Leadership Summit.

The 19th Amendment extended the vote to American women in 1920 – the crowning achievement of a decades-long struggle by women nationwide to be part of the democratic process.

Since becoming a state in 1812, Louisiana has participated in America’s bold experiment with democracy.

• An advocate for disability rights, Helen Keller became the first deaf/blind person in this country to earn a college degree.

Antique Heart Pine is a 300-year-old lumber used heavily in construction prior to the 1920s.

It’s Girl Scout cookie season. Every year around 200 million cookies are sold, representing around $800 million in revenue.

Fourteen reindeer and one caribou brought cheer during the Cold War days in Operation Reindeer.

At the stroke of midnight, discounts and deals kick off the race to finish your shopping list. So what’s with the dark name “Black Friday”?

The illegitimate daughter of a freed slave and a wealthy plantation owner, Marie Laveau and her voodoo practice have kept people spellbound – literally, if the stories are true – for more than two centuries.

Katherine Choy was one of the most celebrated innovators of the mid-century American craft world, thanks in large part to her time in New Orleans.

June 19,1865, marked the first ever Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day. This year we celebrate 157 years, making this the longest running African American holiday. 

A two-block strip of land adjacent to the Old U.S. Mint was once New Orleans’ most notoriously sinful neighborhood – Gallatin Street.

The word “Dixieland” is a common term used to describe the southern states of America, but the etymology of the term is controversial.

Audacy is proud to celebrate 100 years of WWL (WWL-AM/FM), New Orleans’ premier talk radio station for sports, weather and current events since 1922.

Piano prodigy Henry Roeland Byrd – better known as Professor Longhair, or “Fess” for short – was one of New Orleans’ most revered pianists of all time.

WYES, the premier public broadcasting station for southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, celebrates its 65th anniversary this month.

Born in New Orleans in 1925, Ella Brennan’s legacy for quality dining experiences and Southern hospitality shaped the standard for Cajun and American cuisine as we know it.

If you’ve ever attended the Irish Channel St. Patrick’s Day Parade, chances are you’ve collected a handful or two of airborne cabbages. Luckily, there’s a story behind the odd tradition.

A founding member of New Orleans’ seminal funk band The Meters, George Porter, Jr. is widely recognized as one of the greatest bass players of all time.

A vital element of every New Orleans celebration (along with food and drink) is music, even when we celebrate death.

In the 1800’s, many Sicilians migrated to New Orleans to sell their world-famous lemons – which were perfectly ripe upon arrival.

In 1960, New Orleans first-grader Leona Tate received holiday cards from across the country, offering words of encouragement, admiration and hope.

WWL-TV Mardi Gras expert and New Orleans Magazine editor Errol Laborde calls the creation of the Krewe of Muses 20 years ago a seminal moment in Mardi Gras history.

Inevitably, the promise of a new year leads to reflections of the past. For The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2019 was full of milestones: the opening of its third (and largest) campus, the retirement of a longtime president, the start of a new president’s tenure, and that was within the first six months! 

The Historic New Orleans Collection was founded by Leila and Kemper Williams, whose elegantly renovated French Quarter home brimmed with high style of the mid-20th century.

It is easy to name great athletes in New Orleans history, but while Louis Armstrong is among the city’s favorite sons, you probably wouldn’t put him in the local sports hall of fame.

Next Wednesday, Nov. 20, the nominees will be announced for the 62nd  annual Grammy Awards.

Before his role as Dr.

Inspired by The Historic New Orleans Collection’s upcoming symposium on wine, we set out to make a classic vino-infused recipe from Lafcadio Hearn’s groundbreaking cookbook “La Cuisine Créole.”

In Chalmette, the De La Ronde ruins are what remain of the home that served as a military hospital for the British during the Battle of New Orleans.  Recent efforts are breathing new life into the site by the Denis De La Ronde Preservation Corporation.