The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection is a museum, research centre and publisher at 520 Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, devoted to the history and culture of the city, the Gulf South and Louisiana. It was founded by the collectors General L. Kemper Williams and his wife Leila Hardie Williams, whose private holdings of manuscripts, maps, paintings and decorative arts formed the nucleus of the institution, which opened to the public in 1966 under a nonprofit foundation. The museum occupies a complex of historic buildings, centred on the Merieult House, built around 1792 after the great fire of 1788 and one of the few colonial-era buildings to survive the fire of 1794. Next door is the Williams Residence, a 1889 townhouse on Toulouse Street where the Williamses lived, and the Royal Street complex includes a 21st-century Tricentennial Wing, opened in 2018 to mark the city's 300th anniversary, which provides galleries and a new entrance. The curatorial approach combines chronological and thematic exhibition. Permanent galleries trace the city's history from its 1718 founding through French and Spanish rule, the Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and the 20th century, using documents, maps, portraits and objects. Changing exhibitions cover art, photography, Mardi Gras, music and decorative arts. Highlights include early maps of the Mississippi, rare manuscripts, and paintings. Paid guided tours cover the Williams Residence and the history of the Merieult House and the Quarter, while the main exhibition galleries are free. The Williams Research Center, at 410 Chartres Street, offers archives and a reading room to researchers. The buildings have been carefully conserved and adapted, and the collection is regularly expanded. A visit to the galleries takes about 60 to 90 minutes; guided tours add 45 to 60 minutes.