The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to the study and preservation of the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South region of the United States. It is located in New Orleans' French Quarter. The institution was established in 1966 by General and Mrs. L. Kemper Williams to keep their collection of Louisiana materials intact and available for research and exhibition to the public.
The Collection operates a museum, which includes the Williams Gallery, Louisiana History Galleries, the Williams Residence, a house museum, and a museum shop. The Williams Research Center, which opened in 1996, makes The Collection's holdings available to researchers. The holdings consist of some 35,000 library items, and approximately 350,000 photographs, prints, drawings, paintings, and other artifacts.
Museum exhibitions have been presented on a wide variety of topics relating to the history and culture of the Gulf South region and the peoples who have influenced it, ranging from the Battle of New Orleans to the development of New Orleans cuisine to more modern subjects, such as the Sugar Bowl and life after Hurricane Katrina. Many of the museum's exhibits are free and open to the public.
History
In 1938, General Lewis Kemper Williams (1887-1971), a World War I veteran, Brigadier General in World War II, businessman, and honorary Consul General of Monaco in New Orleans, from Patterson, Louisiana, and his wife, Leila Hardie Moore Williams (1901-1966) bought two properties in the French Quarter, the Spanish Colonial Merieult House on Royal Street and a late 19th-century residence next to the Merieult House, facing Toulouse Street. The latter was their home for 17 years, during which time they amassed a substantial collection of important Louisiana materials. With the deaths of Leila and Kemper Williams, in 1966 and 1971 respectively, a foundation bearing their names was established, creating The Historic New Orleans Collection.
Museum buildings
Merieult House
The Merieult House on 533 Royal Street serves as the entrance to the Historic New Orleans Collection and main museum facility. Dating from the 18th century, the house occupies land that has been in continuous use since the early colonial days in the 1720s. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. THNOC opened the Louisiana History Galleries on the second floor and located the museum shop and the Williams Gallery for changing exhibitions about Louisiana's history on the first floor.
Williams Residence
Built in 1889, the Williams Residence is an Italianate, two-story brick historic house museum with galleries. The history of the property dates to Jean François Merieult, who, after purchasing the Royal Street lot in 1792, increased his land a few years later, adding depth to the lot toward Bourbon Street where he erected a warehouse. The residence, surrounded by three courtyards, is often described as a hidden house. The furnishings and decor today remain as they were in the 1940s and 1950s when the Williamses lived there. Tours are offered daily.
Other buildings
Counting House
The Counting House is named for the banking activities conducted on site in the 19th century. It was built as a warehouse by Jean François Merieult between 1794 and 1795. Today, the first floor is used for office space, meetings, receptions, and exhibitions when additional space is needed.
Maisonette
Across the courtyard from the Counting House, the three-story Maisonette stretches along the Toulouse Street side of THNOC. This service wing was constructed over an earlier structure that was built at the same time as the Merieult House in the 1790s. The Maisonette houses staff offices.
Townhouse
This two-story brick building, dating from the late 19th century, was used as a banking house, according to an act of sale in 1888. Leila Moore Williams purchased the property in 1947 and sold it in 1965. The townhouse once again became part of The Collection when the Williams Foundation purchased it in 1980.
Louis Adam House
The house that Louis Adam built in 1788, after the first great New Orleans fire destroyed an earlier structure, appears to have escaped the second great New Orleans fire of 1794. In the 1930s, the house was opened to boarders and for a short time a young Tennessee Williams lived there. Restoration to the original Spanish Colonial style did not occur until the 1970s.