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Tuesday 9:30am - 4:30pm Wednesday 9:30am - 4:30pm Thursday 9:30am - 4:30pm Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm Saturday 9:30am - 4:30pm Sunday 10:30am - 4:30pm

The Historic New Orleans Collection

Name: The Historic New Orleans Collection
Address: 520 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA, 70130, US
Telephone: +1 504-523-4662
Price range: $
Rating: 4.7

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Founded in 1966 through the estates of General L. Kemper Williams and Mrs.
(825)

A free museum, research center, and publisher located in the heart of the French Quarter and dedicated to preserving and sharing the history and culture of New Orleans, the state of Louisiana, and the surrounding region. The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Leila Moore Williams, THNOC has helped local residents and visiting tourists better understand the multicultural history of the region through thought-provoking exhibitions; original books, periodicals, and articles; and its public research center. In addition, it offers a robust programming schedule and an extensive array of educational resources for teachers and students of all levels. THNOC operates three campuses in the heart of the French Quarter at 520 Royal Street, 533 Royal Street, and 410 Chartres Street. In observance of our founders' request to make historical resources available to all, admission is free. As a publisher, THNOC produces award-winning original books exploring the history, art, music, culture, and decorative arts of the region. Our magazine, the Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly, surveys the region's history as it relates to THNOC's projects and programs.

10/20/2026

Born on this date in 1909, Alvyk Boyd Cruise was an artist, curator, and preservationist who helped shape the foundation of the Historic New Orleans Collection—before the institution even had a name.

Following an early career as a watercolorist for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s, Cruise was introduced to Kemper and Leila Williams, who hired him to assist in the cataloging and curation of their collection. When HNOC was founded after Leila’s death, he became its first chief curator and executive director. In addition to being the institution’s unofficial godfather, Cruise was equal parts artist and researcher, painting the Vieux Carré with well-researched attention to detail.

During his time with the WPA, Cruise and his life partner, Harold Schilke, purchased a historic Creole cottage at 915–917 St. Ann Street and began a long, loving restoration process. Both Cruise and Schilke delighted in “adding a touch of magic here and there,” as Cruise told Times-Picayune reporter John Pope in a 1978 profile, filling the four-room cottage and service buildings with antiques and Cruise’s own art studio.

In his professional life, Cruise was seen as “aloof, unapproachable, and somewhat shy,” as Pope wrote. Cruise affirmed the characterization, saying that he preferred to have a small group of friends “because I believe you can’t give a lot to a lot of people.” Privately, he and Schilke shared a lifetime together, entertaining friends at their beloved St. Ann Street Creole cottage. (Cruise was a talented home cook, according to one letter from a friend reminiscing about a delicious meal.)

Cruise retired from HNOC in 1974, and Schilke passed away in 1978. Cruise died a decade later, leaving their house and collection of art, antiques, and research to HNOC.

📖 HNOC’s Lydia Blackmore explores the life and work of Boyd Cruise on our First Draft blog. Read the article: https://ow.ly/hhv350ZZvH7

📷 1: Boyd Cruise, ca. 1930. HNOC, 1984.9.8
📷 2: Boyd Cruise and Harold Schilke, 1959. HNOC, bequest of Boyd Cruise and Harold Schilke, 1989.79.343.2
📷 3: Boyd Cruise and Harold Schilke at Albert Lieutaud’s gallery at 531 Royal Street. 1946. HNOC, bequest of Boyd Cruise, 2010.0261.13
📷 4: “Self-Portrait,” 1953, watercolor by Boyd Cruise. HNOC, gift of Boyd Cruise, 1980.188 a,b
📷 5: “1032 St. Louis Street New Orleans,” 1950, watercolor by Boyd Cruise. HNOC, L. Kemper and Leila Moore Williams Founders Collection, 1951.3
📷 6: Boyd Cruise, between 1940 and 1959. HNOC, bequest of Boyd Cruise and Harold Schilke, 1989.79.342.1
📷 7: “1303 St. Ann,” 1938, watercolor by Boyd Cruise. HNOC, bequest of Richard Koch, 1971.69.1
📷 8: “Pitcher Plants,” 1951, watercolor by Boyd Cruise. HNOC, bequest of Edwin A. Zelnicker Jr. 1996.76

10/19/2026

Mark your calendar! HNOC’s annual Holiday Market celebrating local artists and makers returns on Saturday, November 14. Browse wares from more than a dozen local vendors in our historic French Quarter courtyard while enjoying live music by the New Orleans Jazz Vipers.

HNOC members receive complimentary mimosas during member appreciation hours, as well as a 20 percent discount at The Shop at The Collection throughout the day.

🎄 2026 Holiday Market
🗓️ November 14, 9:30 a.m.–4 p.m.
📍 The Shop at the Collection, 520 Royal Street
🎟️ Free and open to the public

Learn more: https://ow.ly/y5vW50ZZ73s

Featured vendors this year include Paper Alchemy, Grayteful Hands, Lux Orleans, Objects in Clay, Once Around the Kitchen, Wadeware Ceramics, Envie Chocolates, Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience, Salon Kayvon, NOLA Pens, The Collective, Ugly Betty Boy Crush, Fox & Comet, and HNOC Publications.

📷: 1-3 by Melissa Carrier, 4 by Amber Johnson, HNOC

10/17/2026

Bunny Matthews’s iconic characters, Vic and Nat’ly, took the Times-Picayune by storm in 1982. For decades, the duo distilled everything that fascinated Matthews about New Orleans—the good, the bad, and the bizarre—and became enduring icons in the process. Crystallizations of “Yat” stereotypes, the two irreverent bar owners from the Nint’ Ward now rank alongside Ignatius J. Reilly and Blanche DuBois in the pantheon of fictional New Orleanians.

In this 2014 interview for an exhibit titled “The People of New Orleans from A to Z” at Arthur Roger Gallery, Bunny Matthews explains the origins of his characters.

Matthews passed away in 2021, but his legacy lives on in the young writers he helped mentor, the cartoonists he inspired, and in the yellowing clippings of Vic and Nat’ly still found taped to refrigerators throughout New Orleans.

Explore the world of the legendary artist at “Bunny Matthews: His Life, Art, and Obsessions,” on view at HNOC through May 2027. Plan your visit: https://ow.ly/fbOH50ZYE8p

🎥: “Bunny Matthews A to Z,” 2014, by Sergio Andrés Lobo-Navia and Jarret Lofstead for the Bend Media. Video courtesy of Jarret Lofstead.

10/16/2026

“Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and filé gumbo . . .”

Country songwriter Hank Williams was touring with the Hadacol Caravan, a folksy road show and radio program born in Louisiana, when he heard some of the Cajun musicians in the crew talking about food. Inspiration struck, and a hit was born, forever placing filé gumbo in the public consciousness.

Few dishes in Cajun and Creole cuisine are as widely known yet little understood. What is filé gumbo, exactly? Is it the same as gumbo filé?

The simple answer is that filé is a seasoning and thickener made from ground sassafras leaves. Filé gumbo is gumbo seasoned with filé, and gumbo filé is another name for the ingredient itself. It originated with Native Americans in the region, whose horticultural knowledge, agricultural skills, and trade routes pulled Louisiana colonists from the brink of starvation more than once. How the ingredient melded with other gumbo staples—including roux, from French Europeans, and okra, from enslaved people from West Africa—and iterated over the centuries remains one of the most delicious feats of creolization.

On our First Draft blog, HNOC’s Molly Cleaver explores the history of filé through interviews with Dusty Fuqua, an anthropologist and culture bearer known as the Filé Man, and Marty Cosgrove, CEO of Magic Seasoning Blends ®, which produces and distributes the ingredient.

📖 Read the article: https://ow.ly/OJK750ZYyv3

🍲 Learn more about the history of gumbo from Fuqua and other food experts at the 2026 Food Forum: Gumbo!, then sample varieties of the dish at the 2026 Food Fête, both on November 7 at HNOC. Space is limited. Learn more and register: https://ow.ly/PPIj50ZYyv4

📷 1: Choctaw women with sassafras leaves, between 1867 and 1877, by Léon Joseph Frémaux (artist) and Léon H. Grandjean (printer). HNOC, 1974.25.20.100
📷 2: Dusty Fuqua tabling at the Kent House in Alexandria, LA. Image courtesy of Dustin Fuqua
📷 3: Label for commercially sold gumbo filé, between 1902 and 1949. HNOC, 1981.333.2
📷 4: Sassafrass tree, 1756, engraving by Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. HNOC, 1980.205.10
📷 5: Sassafras-themed float design for 2002 Krewe of Proteus parade, “Bayou Flora and Fauna,” designed by Herbert Grant Jahncke. HNOC, gift of the Crescent Club, 2010.0229.15

10/15/2026

Les visites guidées des Galeries du Quartier français sont désormais disponibles en français!
—
Guided tours of the French Quarter Galleries are now available in French!

Que vous veniez d’un pays francophone ou que vous souhaitiez rafraîchir votre français, c’est une excellente introduction à l’un des quartiers les plus emblématiques des États-Unis. Participez à une visite guidée en français et découvrez des objets et des images historiques retraçant plus de 300 ans d’histoire du Vieux Carré, chaque samedi à 14:00h.
—
Whether you’re visiting from a francophone country or just looking to brush up your French, this is a great way to learn about one of America’s most iconic neighborhoods. Join a guided tour in French and discover historic objects and images that span over 300 years of Vieux Carré history, every Saturday at 2 p.m.

🎟️ Pour en savoir plus et obtenir des billets, rendez-vous sur: (To learn more and get tickets, visit): https://ow.ly/FCOW50ZYg5r

10/14/2026

Halloween New Orleans began as an invitation-only costume party among members of the LGBT+ community in 1983. In 1987, the informal organization adopted a charitable bent, directing its profits to Project Lazarus, which was founded in 1985 to respond to the HIV/AIDS crisis in New Orleans. Today, Project Lazarus is an independent nonprofit organization that serves people living with HIV/AIDS, and Halloween New Orleans has raised $4.6 million for Project Lazarus to date.

In 2019, HNOC acquired 53 items documenting the Halloween New Orleans Lazarus Ball between 1997 and 2010, including video and audio recordings. A 2025 acquisition added six videotapes and three audio recordings spanning 2006 to 2018. Both acquisitions were facilitated by Arthur Roger, who has long been associated with the Halloween New Orleans organization.

An HNOC event tonight with the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, “Preserving the Party: The Legacy of Halloween New Orleans,” is sold out, but the footage is preserved in our collections and available to view on our online catalog.

🎥 Explore more Halloween New Orleans footage: https://ow.ly/eSlV50ZXQab

10/13/2026

For more than a century, the name Julien Hudson has been shrouded in mystery. The first native-born portraitist in Louisiana history and the second-known portraitist of color in America, Hudson made a name for himself in the 19th century, died young, and left behind little of his catalog. Only six of his works are known to exist, and last year, the Historic New Orleans Collection acquired two of them through a generous bequest. The exceedingly rare paintings—one depicting a Creole boy, the other an African or African-descended man—each hint at individual stories of complexity, tragedy, and hope.

HNOC is proud to display these two important works of American art history in a new installation at the Williams Research Center. Curators’ text share what we know—and don’t—about the sitters and Hudson himself. Viewers are invited to reflect on the lives captured in the paintings and the artist who left them behind too soon.

HNOC’s Williams Research Center is free and open to the public. Plan your visit: https://ow.ly/F48f50ZXls6

📷 1: Two portraits by Julien Hudson are now on display in HNOC’s Williams Research Center. Photos by Amber Johnson, HNOC
📷 2-3: Creole Boy with a Moth (detail), 1835, oil on canvas by Julien Hudson. HNOC, gift of the Robert and Martha Bolton Living Trust in memory of James D. (Don) Didier, 2025.0300.1
📷 4-5: Free Black man wearing a turban (details), 1835, oil painting by Julien Hudson. HNOC, gift of the Robert and Martha Bolton Living Trust in memory of James D. (Don) Didier, 2025.0300.2

10/12/2026

Charleston, South Carolina: A breathtaking coastal city famed for its beautifully preserved historic architecture and Southern hospitality. Framed by scenic harbor views and cobblestone streets, the city’s living history stretches from its pre-Revolutionary roots to its pivotal role in the American story.

This Spring, the Historic New Orleans Collection invites you to join celebrated food author and historian Dr. Jessica B. Harris for an unforgettable four-day tour of Charleston. Explore the city’s complex history through exclusive visits to its most profound museums and historic estates, enjoy private receptions at some of the city’s most iconic institutions, and dine on a curated selection of the region’s most celebrated dishes.

As a historic colonial port, Charleston evolved at the crossroads of culture and politics: European, West African and Indigenous influences have merged over centuries to shape the unique identity of this part of the American South. This rich tapestry of history comes alive at every turn—woven into the city’s ironwork gates, preserved in its living traditions, and savored in its world-class food scene.

✈️ HNOC Travel: Inside Charleston with Jessica B. Harris
🗓️ April 4–8, 2027
📍 Charleston, South Carolina

🎟️ Space is limited! View the itinerary and reserve your spot: https://ow.ly/BpSS50ZWZtn

📷 1: Free-flying staircase at the Nathaniel Russell House, photo by Carol M. Highsmith
📷 2: Historic downtown Charleston, photo by Leo Heisenberg
📷 3: Angel Oak on Johns Island
📷 4: Middleton Place, photo by Warren Le May

10/11/2026

“It’s hard to imagine, in a collective way, having more fun than a second line parade. It’s just a nation of joy and exuberance. Prince of Wales is one of the oldest social and pleasure clubs in New Orleans. It formed in 1928, mostly from people in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Wards. Originally, a lot of the people in the club were working on the river as longshoremen. I was told, at one point members also ran barrooms, so the parade route had a lot of stops. Back in those days, parades were way longer than four hours. When you’d stop, you might hang out for a half hour having a drink and eating something before going on to the next barroom,” said Joe Stern.

🎺 It’s ! Keep an eye out for the Prince of Wales Second Line Parade uptown this afternoon. See the route and more information from WWOZ 90.7 FM New Orleans: https://ow.ly/emJ850ZWxwY

📖 Read more fromStern’s interview with the Neighborhood Story Project for HNOC’s “Dancing In The Streets” club narratives: https://ow.ly/LF7u50ZWxwZ

🎥: Treme Sports, Prince of Wales, Young Mens Olympia, Scene HiLighters, Soul Steppers, between 1965 and 1975, 16mm film by Jules L. Cahn. Jules Cahn Collection at HNOC, 2000.78.4.116
🎵: Second Line/Olympia, audio recording by Jules L. Cahn. Jules Cahn Collection at HNOC, 2000.78.6.84

10/10/2026

HNOC staff brought historic costumes to life this week during a photo shoot of archival textiles!

Every few years, our staff organizes a multi-day photo shoot to document recently acquired costumes, garments, and other textiles. Many items in this shoot were century-old Mardi Gras costumes that required special handling to protect delicate components weakened by decades of attic storage.

In this video, HNOC’s Lydia Blackmore explains how our registrars, curators, preparators, and photographers worked together to carefully remove the garments from their boxes, dress mannequins, and photograph each piece from several angles.

This documentary photography is key to our preservation mission. These objects will soon be available to view and study on our online catalog, while the original artifacts remain protected from frequent handling.

Explore our online catalog: https://ow.ly/8xPQ50ZWx9w

Address

520 Royal Street
New Orleans, LA
70130

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Saturday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday	10:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+1 504-523-4662

Website

http://www.hnoc.org/

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