VOLUME XXXV The Historic New Orleans NUMBER 1 Collection Quarterly WINTER 2018 Shop online at www.hnoc.org/shop ORIGIN STORY: The Birth of New Orleans EVENT CALENDAR EXHIBITIONS & TOURS All exhibitions are free unless otherwise noted. CREOLE CHRISTMAS HOUSE TOURS CURRENT Tour The Collection’s Williams Residence as part Giants of Jazz: Art Posters and Lithographs of the Friends of the Cabildo’s annual holiday home by Waldemar Swierzý from the Daguillard tour. Collection Wednesday–Friday, December 27–29, 2017, Through December 30, 2017 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Williams Gallery, 533 Royal Street 718 Toulouse Street Tickets available through Friends of the Cabildo, Prospect.4: “The Lotus in Spite of the Swamp” (504) 523-3939, friendsofthecabildo.org Through February 25, 2018 Laura Simon Nelson Galleries, 400 Chartres RECITATIONS OPENING PROGRAM Street Artist Zarouhie Abdalian meets the public to discuss her sound installation Recitations. Holiday Home and Courtyard Tour Executive Director Priscilla Lawrence and Jan Gilbert, guest curator of the upcoming Through January 6, 2018 exhibition Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, presented by The Helis closed December 24–25, 31, and January 1 Foundation, will also speak about THNOC’s yearlong Art of the City programming, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 and 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. of which Recitations is the first installment. Sunday, 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. Tuesday, January 9, 2018, 12:30 p.m. 533 Royal Street 533 Royal Street $5 admission; free for THNOC members Free “Rites, Rituals, and Revelry” Tour NEW ORLEANS, THE FOUNDING ERA OPENING RECEPTION Tuesday–Sunday, January 10–February 9, 2018, Join The Collection in celebrating its marquee exhibition of the tricentennial year, an 11 a.m. exploration of the various peoples who made up New Orleans’s early population. 533 Royal Street Tuesday, February 27, 2018, 6–8 p.m. $5 admission; free for THNOC members 533 Royal Street Free Mardi Gras at Home “MAKING NEW ORLEANS January 10–February 25, 2018 HOME: A TRICENTENNIAL Williams Residence, 533 Royal Street SYMPOSIUM” Featuring lectures and cultural The Seignouret-Brulatour House: A New programming throughout the city, the Chapter four-day event will explore the incredible Through June 2018 300-year history of New Orleans. For 533 Royal Street more information, see the inside back cover. PERMANENT Thursday–Sunday, March 8–11, 2018 At locations throughout the city Louisiana History Galleries Free; no reservations required closing temporarily January 2–June 25, 2018 533 Royal Street TRICENTENNIAL BLOCK PARTY The Williams Residence Tour Join THNOC following Friday’s THNOC Architecture Tour tricentennial symposium sessions for a 533 Royal Street block party with food, music, and more. Tuesday–Saturday, 10 and 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. THNOC’s exhibition New Orleans, the Sunday, 11 a.m., 2 and 3 p.m. Founding Era will be open late for the $5 admission; free for THNOC members occasion. Refreshments will be available Groups of eight or more should call (504) 598-7145 for purchase. or visit www.hnoc.org to make reservations. Friday, March 9, 2018, 6–9 p.m. 500 block of Royal Street UPCOMING Free New Orleans, the Founding Era February 27–May 27, 2018 GENERAL HOURS Williams Gallery and Louisiana History 533 Royal Street 400 and 410 Chartres Street Galleries, 533 Royal Street Williams Gallery, Louisiana History Williams Research Center, Boyd Cruise Galleries, Shop, and Tours Gallery, and Laura Simon Nelson Galleries Art of the City preview exhibition Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. Tuesday–Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. May 8–Fall 2018 Sunday, 10:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m. 533 Royal Street ON THE COVER Le Missisipi ou la Louisiane dans l’Amérique Septentrionale ca. 1720; hand-colored engraving by François Chéreau 1959.210 CONTENTS NEW ORLEANS AT 300 / 2 THNOC rings in the city’s tricentennial year with a new installation. FROM THE DIRECTOR ON VIEW / 4 Three hundred years ago, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, sieur de Bienville, declared the New Orleans, the Founding Era showcases the city’s earliest inhabitants. slice of land along a curve of the Mississippi River to be the site of a new city for France’s Louisiana colony. Over the following three centuries it endured floods, fires, Mardi Gras at Home highlights the Carnival traditions of THNOC’s founders. and pestilence; it saw two transfers of colonial power before becoming a US terri- tory and then achieving statehood. Vibrant cultures—Native American, European, Prospect.4 returns to The Collection. African American, and Asian American—helped to form the distinctive character- Off-Site istics of New Orleans, making its history as rich and varied as its people. The year 2018 marks the tricentennial of our founding, and The Collection will be celebrating PROGRAMS / 12 every step of the way. Oral histories capture memories of the civil We are kicking off the tricentennial year with the artistic sound installation rights movement. Recitations, by Zarouhie Abdalian, which, starting in January, will bring a festive ring to the heart of the French Quarter. In February, a major exhibition and bilingual COMMUNITY / 14 catalog, New Orleans, the Founding Era, will bring our holdings together with items On the Job from institutions all over the world to tell the stories of the city’s first inhabitants. We Staff News are honored to be a part of the city’s official tricentennial symposium in early March, Focus on Philanthropy which will be free and open to the public at locations across the city. Fall 2018 will bring another milestone, one dear to my heart: The Collection will Become a Member open its new facility at 520 Royal Street. It will include the painstakingly renovated Donors Seignouret-Brulatour house as well as a newly constructed three-story building, and On the Scene will feature multiple exhibition spaces, state-of-the-art interactive elements, a central courtyard, kids’ activities, and a cafe. Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, ACQUISITIONS / 22 presented by The Helis Foundation, will serve as our first exhibition in the new space, Acquisition Spotlight: A new manuscript and I believe its contemporary focus will serve as a bridge from the building’s historic collection sheds light on the history of past to its new, exciting future. I hope you have a wonderful end to 2017 and will join Straight University. us for all of our tricentennial activities in the new year. —PRISCILLA LAWRENCE Recent Additions NEW ORLEANS AT 300 Ringing in the Tricentennial As New Orleans ushers in the tricentennial of its founding, THNOC is ready with A a year’s worth of celebration. The survival of the French Quarter street grid is one of the biggest keys to its histori- cal resonance: for hundreds of years, people have walked its streets, soaking up its sights and sounds. Starting in January, that resonance will be made manifest by the installation Recitations, an aural artwork created by New Orleans artist Zarouhie Abdalian commemo- rating the tricentennial of the city’s founding. Large bells mounted atop THNOC’s French Quarter properties, as well as one located at the Omni Royal Orleans hotel, will all ring at 3 p.m. every day through early June 2018. “The idea is to ring in the tricentennial year as well as kick off our programming for the upcoming exhibition Art of the City: Postmodern to Post-Katrina, presented by The Helis Foundation, which will debut in the fall in The A. Zarouhie Abdalian, artist Collection’s new facility at 520 Royal Street,” said Deputy Director Daniel Hammer. The recurrence and festivity of Recitations makes it a fitting overture to a year packed B. Rex Carnival bulletin (detail) with activity. In early March, The Collection will join the City of New Orleans 2018 New Orleans: Searcy and Pfaff, 1926 1977.38.31 Commission’s Cultural and Historical Committee to present “Making New Orleans Home: A Tricentennial Symposium.” Featuring lectures and panel discussions at locations C. Bells of St. Louis Cathedral throughout the city, the symposium provides “a unique opportunity to gather as a commu- ca. 1960; photoprint by Jack Beech nity, reflect on our city’s 300-year legacy, share groundbreaking scholarship, and examine 1974.25.14.77 this fascinating place we call home,” said Executive Director Priscilla Lawrence, who, with Sybil Morial, former Xavier University associate vice president and mayoral first lady, cochaired the planning commit- tee. Among the featured speakers are journalist Cokie Roberts, who will give the keynote address; Isabel Wilkerson, author of the award-winning book The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration; Nick Spitzer, professor of anthropology and American studies at Tulane University and host of public radio’s American Routes; and Walter Johnson, director of the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University. The new exhibition New Orleans, the Founding Era (featured on pages 4–7) will be on view throughout the spring, featuring an array of rare artifacts from institutions across the globe that shed B light on the earliest inhabitants of the 2 The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly city and surrounding region. Sponsored by Whitney Bank, the exhibition is accompanied by a book-length, dual- language catalog in English and French, featuring a foreword by Gérard Araud, ambassador of France to the United States, and made possible by a number of additional sponsors. In April, local partners working with Tall Ships America will bring a number of wind-powered sailing vessels to New Orleans, recalling the age when these stunning ships transported people and supplies to the world’s ports.