New Orleans Jazz Museum

Louis Armstrong's first cornet sits behind glass in a building that once stamped coins for three different governments. The 1835 U.S. Mint produced currency for the United States, the Confederacy, and the State of Louisiana — the only mint to serve all three. Now it houses the world's largest collection of instruments owned and played by the people who made jazz. The New Orleans Jazz Club began gathering this material in the years after its founding in 1948. Edmond "Doc" Souchon, Myra Menville, and Helen Arlt led the effort. The museum opened in 1961 at 1017 Dumaine Street with Clay Watson as curator, relocated twice, then closed due to bankruptcy. On September 15, 1977, the entire collection was donated to the people of Louisiana. In the early 1980s, the exhibit opened on the second floor of the Old U.S. Mint under curator Don Marquis. Hurricane Katrina damaged both building and collection in 2005; the Mint reopened in 2008. The holdings span trumpets, cornets, trombones, clarinets, and saxophones from Bix Beiderbecke, Edward "Kid" Ory, George Lewis, Sidney Bechet, and Dizzy Gillespie. A rare Adolphe Sax original saxophone anchors the instrument collection. Some 12,000 photographs document the early days of jazz. Over 4,000 78 rpm records date from 1905 to the mid-1950s, joined by thousands of LPs, 45s, and approximately 1,400 reel-to-reel tapes. Hundreds of sheet music examples span late 19th-century ragtime to 1950s standards, many first editions. Film rolls capture concert footage, nightclub performances, funerals, parades, and festivals. Architectural fragments salvaged from important jazz venues survive here. The third floor hosts live performances. Admission is free. Open Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 4:30pm.