Media contacts
Teresa Devlin, Marketing Manager
(504) 598-7170 | teresad@hnoc.org 

Lauren Noel, Marketing Associate
(504) 556-7655 | laurenn@hnoc.org

533 Royal Street | 400-410 Chartres Street
New Orleans, Louisiana  70130
(504) 523-4662 | wrc@hnoc.org | www.hnoc.org

General Information about The Historic New Orleans Collection 

The Historic New Orleans Collection is a nonprofit museum, research center and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016, THNOC strives to present a complete, authentic history of the region-capturing information on significant and everyday moments through the centuries.

The institution was founded in 1966 by General L. Kemper Williams and his wife Leila Hardie Moore Williams-two private collectors of Louisiana materials who wished to keep their collection intact and to make it available to the public. Since that time, THNOC's holdings have grown to more than one million items, and its facilities include two campuses in the heart of the French Quarter: 533 Royal St. and 400-410 Chartres St.

Between both campuses, THNOC's museum hosts five to seven exhibitions per year, and the Royal Street location offers two guided tours year-round. The Williams Research Center, at 400 Chartres St., houses three centuries of art and artifacts and a reading room accessible to scholars of all levels. As a publisher, THNOC produces nonfiction works exploring the region's history and art as well as its musical and literary culture. A variety of educational and social programs, from public lectures and symposia to courtyard concerts with local musicians, are hosted year-round.

More than 37,000 patrons visited THNOC on Royal Street in 2015, and due to the popularity of the 2015 exhibition "Purchased Lives: New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808-1865," nearly 20,000 people visited the galleries in the WRC. 

            As THNOC continues to grow, the institution will add a third site at 520 Royal St. in time for New Orleans's 300th anniversary in 2018. Currently under construction, the new location will offer additional public gallery spaces, an expanded gift shop and a courtyard café.

            In the next year, the museum will present a number of exciting and engaging exhibitions: visitors will discover the forefather of surrealist photography in America, Clarence John Laughlin; experience retail shops from 19th- and 20th-century New Orleans; and learn more about New Orleans's red light district, Storyville, and its relationship to early jazz. Upcoming publications include a new illustrated edition of jazz great Danny Barker's memoir and an examination of THNOC's collection of Storyville's infamous blue books.  

            More information about THNOC is available by visiting www.hnoc.org or calling (504) 523-4662.

The Historic New Orleans Collection-Discover Authentic New Orleans