In today's episode, we head over to the Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter, and explore their newest exhibit, titled, New Orleans, the Founding Era.

The exhibit is part of the tricentennial of New Orleans celebration and is a great way to envision what the city was like at the very beginning. It brings together a vast array of rare artifacts from the Historic New Orleans Collections holdings, and from institutions across Europe and North America to tell the stories of the city's early days.

To help us explore the exhibit, I am joined by the exhibition curator, Erin M. Greenwald. Erin is currently the Curator of Programs at the New Orleans Museum of Art, but was previously the Senior Curator and Historian at the Historic New Orleans Collection. She was the lead curator in putting New Orleans, the Founding Era together and shares her stories and insights about what you'll see when you visit the exhibit.

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection is open Tuesday-Saturday year round, and offers both permanent and rotating exhibits. There is no admission charge to the view the exhibits. There is a small charge of $5 for non-members if you would like to tour the Williams Residence.

Located at 533 Royal Street, it is a nice destination when you want to escape the heat and the crowds. Be sure to let them know you heard about the museum from Beyond Bourbon Street!

The Historic New Orleans Collection is also a wonderful resource - I use it frequently when researching topics for the podcast. If you have a particular interest about New Orleans and want to learn more, try the research desk!

Additional Resources

You can follow the Historic New Orleans Collection on Instagram (@visit_thnoc) 

They also publish a quarterly magazine with historical essays and information about exhibits. You can download free copies of the current and past issues at their website.

Related Episodes

Today's show was the 3rd one we've done we done with the Historic New Orleans Collection team. Here are the others:

• 34 – Guidebooks to Sin, with Pamela Arceneaux - the guidebooks are the blue books that listed the names and details about the prostitutes who worked in the Storyville District of New Orleans
• 35 – Madams, Music and Musicians of Storyville - this discussion was about a now-closed exhibit that explored the Storyville District. While the exhibit is gone, this episode will give you a glimpse into that infamous red light part of New Orleans.

If you want to learn more about the founding of New Orleans, I strongly recommend you check out my discussion with author Richard Campanella, in episode #53 - Bienville's Dilemma and the Founding of New Orleans.

Thank You

Thanks to Erin Greenwald for talking with us about the exhibit. Erin is extremely busy with both the exhibit and her role as the the Curator of Programs at the New Orleans Museum of Art, not to mention being a mom. (Erin - I hope the performance of James and the Giant Peach was splendid!)

Thanks to the team at the Historic New Orleans Collection for inviting me to the sneak preview of New Orleans, the Founding Era, and for reaching out about the interview. A special thanks to Lauren Noel and Eli Haddow for pulling everything together!