History

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.

City of New Orleans. (THNOC, gift of the City of New Orleans, 2019.0340) 

A couple of issues ago, we brought you  the story of an iron pipe removed from beneath Bourbon Street. That was a pretty cool find, but now we’ve got one to top it: a wooden pipe from New Orleans’ first waterworks.

If you are a certain age, you know Louis Prima’s songs and wild onstage antics from TV or Las Vegas. If you’re younger, you know his songs recorded by other artists, in TV commercials or as the swingin’ voice of King Louie in Disney’s “The Jungle Book.”

If good things come in small packages, great things arrive in big, rusty, muddy pipes.

Calvin Dayes came to the United States in 1949 as a Jamaican-born stowaway with $38 in his pocket. But, a long career as one of New Orleans’ most-respected cobblers put him at the center of local life.

You may think that rats are a nuisance now, but back in 1914, their presence in New Orleans was dire.

Fifty years ago, the world watched as two Americans set foot on the lunar surface. It seems like an otherworldly feat, but the journey to moon and back passed right through the Gulf Coast.

As visitors enter The Historic New Orleans Collection’s new welcome center at 520 Royal St., they’ll find something unique among its spaces: a seven-foot, three-dimensional touchscreen smart table, titled “French Quarter at Your Fingertips.”

In 1928, Audubon Park in New Orleans opened a public pool so massive it was called the largest in the South and the second-largest in the country.

Does your teenager frequent libraries, binge-watch documentaries and constantly have their nose in a history book? If so, you have a problem: They could be a history nerd!

The Historic New Orleans Collection’s Portage Bike Roll returned this month as part of the exhibition “Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina,” presented by The Helis Foundation.