Louisiana State Museum facts for kids

Louisiana State Museum, The Presbytere.

The Louisiana State Museum (LSM) started in New Orleans in 1906. It's a group of important historic buildings and modern museums all over Louisiana. These places hold thousands of old items and artworks. They show Louisiana's rich history and its many different cultures.

Discovering Louisiana's Past

The idea for the Louisiana State Museum began at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. This big fair was held in St. Louis, Missouri. Many interesting items about Louisiana were collected for the fair. After the fair, people decided these items should be kept, added to, and shown to everyone. So, the Louisiana State Museum was created in 1906.

Some of the first buildings for the museum were The Presbytere and The Cabildo. These are historic buildings located next to the St. Louis Cathedral on Jackson Square. Today, the Louisiana State Museum has thirteen properties across the state. These include old historic buildings and new, specially built museums.

For over 100 years, the Louisiana State Museum has done more than just run museums. It has also collected and protected all sorts of historic items from Louisiana's past. Louisiana has been a French colony, a Spanish colony, and even briefly owned by Napoleon. Then it became part of the United States through the Louisiana Purchase. Finally, it became the state of Louisiana. Because of this, the museum's collections help us understand not just state history, but also national and even global history!

The Louisiana State Museum works hard to protect Louisiana's unique culture and history. In recent years, several new museum sites have opened. These include the Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum - Patterson, the Performing Arts Center at the New Orleans Mint, the Capitol Park Museum - Baton Rouge, and the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches. The museum also creates new exhibits all the time. These exhibits share exciting stories from Louisiana's past. The museum also hosts many programs, like talks, school tours, walking tours of historic areas, and music shows.

Many groups in Louisiana help support the museum. Some of these are the Louisiana Museum Foundation and Friends of the Cabildo.

Historic Sites in New Orleans' French Quarter

2nd Floor gallery of the Cabildo, showing flags that have flown over Louisiana.

• The Cabildo - This building was Spain's old City Hall, built in 1799. It's where the two Louisiana Purchase transfers happened in 1803. First, Spain gave Louisiana to France, and then France sold it to the U.S. The Cabildo now has three floors of exhibits about Louisiana's history.

Old U.S. Mint Museum.

• New Orleans Mint - This building was a United States Mint, built in 1835. It's special because it was the only U.S. Mint to make coins for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The building also served as a prison and a Coast Guard base. Now, it's a Louisiana State Museum. You can see exhibits about how coins were made and learn about Louisiana music. There's also a Performing Arts Center.

• The Presbytère - This building was first meant to be housing for local church leaders. It was used for many things before becoming a Louisiana State Museum in 1911. The first two floors have exhibits, and the museum offices are on the third floor.

The front of the Arsenal.

• The Arsenal - Built in 1839, the Arsenal is next to the Cabildo. Its first floor is a classroom for school groups. The second floor has changing exhibits, and the third floor is used for meetings. You can get to the Arsenal through the Cabildo museum.

Inside the 1850 House exhibit.

• 1850 House - This is a historic house museum inside the Lower Pontalba Building. The 1850 House shows what life was like for a middle-class family in New Orleans during its most successful time. It's a fully furnished apartment. The first floor has a museum gift shop.

• The Creole House - Built in 1842, this building is the main office for the Friends of the Cabildo. This group supports the Louisiana State Museum's sites in the French Quarter.

• The Jackson House - This building is named after Andrew Jackson, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans. The original building was rebuilt in 1936. There are no exhibits here right now.

Madame John's Legacy.

• Madame John's Legacy - This building is very important because it survived the Great New Orleans Fire (1794). This fire destroyed most of New Orleans. The house was actually rebuilt in the same French colonial style after an earlier fire in 1788.

Capitol Park Museum, in Baton Rouge.

Capitol Park Museum – Baton Rouge

The Capitol Park Museum - Baton Rouge has exhibits about Louisiana's history, industries, and culture. It has two main exhibits: "Grounds for Greatness: Louisiana and the Nation" and "Experiencing Louisiana: Discovering the Soul of America."

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame.

Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches

The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame & Northwest Louisiana History Museum – Natchitoches is the newest museum facility. The Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame exhibit shows pictures and items celebrating over 300 famous Louisiana athletes, coaches, and sports figures. The Northwest Louisiana History Museum explores the history of cultural traditions. It covers everything from early Native American groups to today.

Aviation & Cypress Sawmill.

Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum – Patterson

The Wedell-Williams Aviation & Cypress Sawmill Museum - Patterson is a modern museum in Acadiana. The Aviation Collection focuses on Louisiana airplane pioneers Jimmie Wedell and Harry Williams. They started an air service in Patterson in 1928. The Cypress Sawmill Collection tells the story of the cypress lumber industry in Louisiana.

E.D. White.

E. D. White Historic Site – Thibodaux

The E. D. White Historic Site is in Thibodaux. It's an 1800s plantation home. It belonged to Edward Douglass White, Sr., who was governor from 1835 to 1839. His son, Edward Douglass White, became a Supreme Court Justice and later Chief Justice. The E.D. White House exhibits show the region's history. You can learn about the Chitimacha Natives, early Acadian settlers, sugar cane farming, and the White family.

Museum Collections

The Louisiana State Museum has two main places in New Orleans where it keeps its collections. The main facility is in the French Quarter. This is where they store art, costumes, textiles, science items, and decorative arts.

The second facility is the Old U.S. Mint on Esplanade Avenue. This building holds old documents and jazz and music archives. The Mint also has the Louisiana Historical Center. Here, students and researchers can look at the old documents. Besides maps and old papers, the Center has sheet music, old films, scrapbooks, and newspapers.

You need to make an appointment to visit either of these collection facilities.

Fun Programs and Events

The Louisiana State Museum offers many interesting programs in New Orleans and Baton Rouge:

• Hidden Treasures: This is a series of talks that takes you behind the scenes. You get to see special items from the museum's archives in New Orleans that relate to the topic being discussed.
• 2nd Thursdays Lecture Series: These are regular talks about unique topics from Louisiana's culture and history.
• Music at the Mint: The museum hosts concerts of different music styles, like jazz and blues. These happen on the third floor of the Old U.S. Mint.
• New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park performances and lectures: The National Park Service often hosts free music shows and talks about the history of Jazz at the Old U.S. Mint.
• Colonial Documents Digitization Project: The museum is working to make over 70,000 old French and Spanish documents available online. These documents are from Louisiana's colonial past. They are getting a grant to put these records into an online database that anyone can use for free!
• Lunchtime Lagniappe Summer Lecture Series at Capitol Park: This is a weekly series of talks about Louisiana's culture and history. They happen every Wednesday in March and October at the Capitol Park Museum in Baton Rouge.
• Capitol Park & Spanish Town Walking Tours: The Capitol Park Walking Tour explores the history of Capitol Park. The Spanish Town Walking Tour shares information about the historic Spanish Town Neighborhood.

See also

• Louisiana History Museum – Alexandria