Thirty-two people died in the Upstairs Lounge Fire, making it the deadliest fire in the history of New Orleans. In the fire’s aftermath, many New Orleans residents revealed prejudice against LGBT people and culture. Survivor Stewart Butler recalls…

June 24, 1973 seemed like any other night at the Upstairs Lounge. The Metropolitan Community Church had just finished a worship service and was hosting a social event with free beer and food for about 125 people. As the night went on, this number…

In the early 1970s, LGBT culture in New Orleans remained hidden from the public eye. Instead of openly expressing sexuality and engaging in public displays of affection, most LGBT people were “in the closet” and would socialize in bars that catered…

During the Second World War, a labor shortage developed as men began to serve in the armed forces. Women were increasingly encouraged to take over responsibilities on the home front. Women took jobs of all types: skilled and unskilled, manual and…

Club My-O-My was a female impersonator club that originated and ended in the French Quarter. It flourished after first being kicked out of an informal, after-hours home in a fur warehouse in the Vieux Carre in the early 1930s, according to oral…

In 1897, Newcomb College was becoming cramped, and President Dixon found himself writing to the President of Tulane. He expressed the need for another dorm to house all the girls and accommodate the growing College. In response, the Gables was added…

Newcomb administrators and faculty members were rather unique in their ideas about the physical education of women, especially when compared to other schools at the time. Dixon hired Clara Baer to meet the challenge of winning over students and…

Built soon after the end of the Civil War, Warren House was later named after Mrs. Newcomb's deceased husband, Warren Newcomb. The building was secured by the Tulane Educational Fund for Newcomb College in 1903 and served as a residence hall for…

Purchased in 1901 by the Tulane Educational Fund for Newcomb College, the Morris Building became home to the School of Household Arts in 1909.

Under the guidance of Ellsworth Woodward, the Newcomb pottery program began flourishing in the mid-1890s. In 1896, the first public display of the pottery produced by the students was presented, to polite enthusiasm. In March 1900, the program…

Mrs. Newcomb bought this house across from the Washington Avenue campus for a residence hall for the growing school in 1894. The original Josephine Louise House was managed by Alice Bowman, who was charged with both running the household and…

The chapel held a particular spot in Mrs. Newcomb's heart, as she saw it as symbolic of her daughter, Sophie. Mrs. Newcomb ordered Tiffany windows for this building, as well as a specially built organ and a bronze memorial tablet for Harriott…

In 1909, Newcomb's School of Music building, which was built between 1850-60, was leased from the Tulane Educational Fund to house the new program. This building served as the home of the music program until 1918, when the college moved to…

In 1896, Mrs. Newcomb contributed to both a pottery building and an arcade to connect the high school with College Hall. The girls of Newcomb were thrilled with finally having their "missing link," as they called it, built to unite the…

College Hall was built by James Robb, a wealthy banker, between 1852 and 1854. After a series of personal and financial misfortunes, Robb sold the mansion to John Burnside, a merchant who died in 1881. The house was originally purchased to house…

After the completion of Josephine Louise House in 1895, Mrs. Newcomb attempted to live in the building with the students, but found that their chatter ill suited to her need for quiet. She moved to Newcomb House, on 1225 Fourth Street in 1897. …

After the 1889 purchase of the Burnside Place in the Garden District of the city, Mrs. Newcomb donated another $25,000 for repairs needed to make a home into a classroom building. By June 1890, renovations had progressed enough that the…

Newcomb College opened its doors in October 1887 to 59 students in a converted two-story brownstone building on the corner of Camp and DeLord (Howard Avenue) Streets, near what is, in 2012, Lee Circle. This, the former Hale Mansion, quickly was…

Originally built as a dormitory hall, Caroline Richardson was torn down to make room for Doris Hall. By 1958, there was no building called Caroline Richardson, though the original building was named after a member of the class of 1895, who also…

Much to the dismay of New Orleans women, management chose a northern celebrity to head the Woman's Department. However, Julia Ward Howe, author of the famed northern anthem, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," performed her role with…