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This is a "must-see" for war buffs, Louisiana historians, and anyone interested in the state of the nation in the 1850's. Memorial Hall (commonly referred to as the Confederate Memorial Museum) is an impressive structure in what is considered the Art/Warehouse District New Orleans. The Boston architectural firm of H. H. Richardson (including Louisiana native Richardson) designed the red brick building in the Romanesque style in 1888.
In 1891 confederate veterans founded Memorial Hall as a location to bring together their memorabilia from the War Between the World.
Between them and their families, the museum is supplied with 90 percent of its artifacts. Many of their war-related documents are on permanent loan at Tulane University for research purposes. Memorial Hall has the second largest collection of Confederate memorabilia in the U.S. and is the oldest continually-operating museum in Louisiana. In the collection you will find various documents, clothing, flags, and weapons. There are more than 125 original battle flags of the South and Louisiana; also uniforms of famous Confederate officers and common soldiers including the frock coats of P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg. For the gun collector there are rare Confederate guns made by LeMatt, Cook & Brother, and Tarpley; others will marvel at the swords of P.G.T. Beauregard and Braxton Bragg made by Louisiana manufacturers Dufilho, Thomas Griswald, and Praedel.
There are over 500 images - tintypes, ambrotypes, daguerreotypes - and southern artwork by famous painters such as William Buck and George Coulon.
There are several permanent exhibits and some traveling exhibits. Memorial Hall exhibits have gone on loan to the American Association of Museum affiliates. There are also rotating exhibits via the generosity of private collectors.
Upon his death in 1893, Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, lay in state in the large hall-like exhibition room with its exposed, oak-beamed ceiling. This is now the room called the Jefferson Davis Stage where the president's memorabilia are kept - such items as his evening coat, top hat, cane, saddle, personal bible, and a "crown of thorns" given to him by the late Pope Pius IX.
Among the many documents in Memorial Hall are several artifacts of the secession of Louisiana from the Union.
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