The Historic New Orleans Collection — Attraction in New Orleans

This museum has some fascinating exhibits encompassing both art and history. Unfortunately, our experience was overshadowed by a docent who, unprompted, started asking us about ourselves (which is totally fine). When he uncovered that we were neither tourists nor natives but dreaded transplants, he gave us a huge passive aggressive guilt trip about gentrification (not so fine). I don't know if it was supposed to be educational but I found it pretty presumptuous. We are a mixed race couple of modest means visiting the Historic New Orleans Collection that day because we were on staycation, the museum was free and we enjoy learning about local history. Not every transplant is a wealthy gentrifier - some of us are just ordinary working class people who care about our adopted city and want to learn more about it. We've lived in New Orleans for two years now and this was the first time anyone has ever personally let us know we're...

Free museum with super nice people working there (or volunteering?... I'm not sure). From the outside you could easily walk by and miss this place, in fact I almost did. I walked in just out of curiosity (not quite sure if it was a gift shop, art gallery, or what) and I found what seemed to be a tiny two room museum/gift shop. I was greeted by a friendly lady who told me to check out the collection upstairs first as they were closing soon. So I go upstairs and wow... it's a whole museum, not just a little room or two. Sure it's a lot of paper products (maps, paintings, and the like) but it's well laid out with tablets full of information. I only had about 20 minutes so I rushed through it, but you could easily spend at hour in here. If you are looking to do New Orleans on a budget, or just want some culture before you start drinking, check...

ThIf you weren’t looking for this museum, you could easily pass it by walking down Royal Street, and that would be a real shame. The Historic New Orleans Collection is such a high-quality, engaging, fantastic museum!! And, it’s free! The exhibit on the history of New Orleans/the French Quarter was so fascinating to learn about. There was also a special exhibit on democracy and elections in the US, which was very interesting and well-done. The museum guide, Winston, was so kind and knowledgeable!! We had some really nice conversations about the citizenship test and election history in America. Due to various scheduling reasons, I wasn’t able to spend as much time here as I’d have liked, but will definitely plan accordingly if I’m able to visit the city again! Make sure to add this place to your...