Holidays in New Orleans
December is a month of celebrations when New Orleans lights itself up and good cheer and good will prevail. This month we bring you images of the city in this celebratory mood. And now that Winter is truly here, we also recall several of the rare occasions when snow fell in the Crescent City–the great snowfall of 1895, the record-breaking snowstorm of December 31, 1963, when we almost had a white Christmas, and finally, images of the New Orleans Public Library in the snowfall of 2008. We also showcase materials from the City Archives celebrating the holidays, through municipal holiday cards, decorations on display in various city buildings, and a few holiday themed city publications. From the City Archives & Special Collections, we wish you a Happy Holiday!
Images of New Orleans
From Canal Street lit up for holiday festivities to department store displays and a few snowy images, we have collected a few images of New Orleans to celebrate the holiday.
Mr. Bingle first appeared in a Maison Blanche Christmas display in 1948. Created by window display designer Emile Alline, Mr. Bingle quickly captured the hearts of New Orleanians, and continues to live on as a New Orleans holiday icon, even after the closing of Maison Blanche in 1998. Read more about the History of Mr. Bingle.
Believe it or not, the City of New Orleans has seen snowfall on several occasions! In 1895, New Orleans received over 8 inches of snow on Valentines day, as pictured in the postcard of Canal Street at the beginning of this exhibit. Here are a few images of the December 1963 snowfall in New Orleans from the Archives’ General Interest Photograph Collection.
Hover over images to learn more
Tulane Stadium
On December 31, 1963, New Orleans saw another great snowstorm, which broke the records set in 1895 and gave us a white New Year's Eve, if not quite a white Christmas. Pictured here in a Times-Picayune photograph is Tulane Stadium--the old "Sugar Bowl"-- covered in a different kind of white stuff.
New Orleans Public Library
December 11, 2008 was a snowy day in New Orleans. Here are images of some of the New Orleans Public Library branches during the snowfall! To the right is the Latter Memorial Library on St Charles Avenue. This historic home was built in 1907 and was donated by the Latter family in 1948 to the City for use as a Public Library. in 1976, The Latter Memorial Library was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Below are pictured the Main Library, the Hubbell Branch, and the Children's Resource Center. Hubbell and the CRC (formerly called the Napoleon Branch) are both original Carnegie Libraries, the only two still in operation today in New Orleans.
And who could forget the record-breaking snowfall of January 2025? New Orleans was blanketed in 8-10 inches of snow, shutting down the city for days. Images from library surveillance cameras are shown to the right, capturing the epic snowfall.
A big thank you to NOPL staff who shared photos from the snowfall with the Archives. We have included some of our favorites shots from around the City below. Do you have pictures of the snowfall you want to donate to the Archives? Contact us here.
City Holiday Cards
Enjoy these City of New Orleans issued holiday cards from past Mayors. Many of the cards echo the major events of the time, such as Mayor Morrrison’s card showing the new Civic Center in 1954, and the depictions of city accomplishments in both 1960 and 1962 holiday cards. A personal favorite is Mayor Schiro’s 1962 holiday card depicting Santa at the newly constructed Michoud Assembly Plant for NASA, pictured to the right.
1954
Mayor deLesseps S. Morrison used this view of the new Civic Center under construction for his holiday card from ca. 1954.
1958
Mayor Morrison used this view of Jackson Square during the snowfall of February 1958 for his holiday card later that year.
1960
Mayor Morrison celebrated the City's recent accomplishments, as well as its international ambitions, on his holiday card from ca. 1960.
City Celebrations
Photographs of City Employees enjoying the holiday season.
Miss Betty Finnin served as the official City Decorator from 1933 to 1970 (the position was not funded in the 1970 city budget). Among her duties was the responsibility for designing decorations for Canal Street during the carnival and Christmas seasons. Here are photographs of Miss Finn designing and putting up holiday decorations with other city employees. View the full City Decorator Photograph Collection.
We are also featuring “The New Orleanian,” a private publication in the style of the New Yorker, focused on all things New Orleans. It began publication in the Crescent City as a weekly magazine on September 6, 1930. It billed itself as “a magazine that really reflects the life of New Orleans, what is going on here, up town, down town, back of town–in art, literature, society, on the stage and screen.” By December the magazine had cut back to a “fortnightly” schedule, but continued to cite its purpose as to serve “its home, the city of New Orleans, with its environs … long … recognized as an area addicted to culture and appreciative of the finer things in life.”
The magazine itself did not survive the 1930s, a victim, no doubt, of the Great Depression. The surviving issues held in the City Archives & Special Collections are available for interested readers.
Bernard and Grunning’s jewelry store was well located near the ever-popular Roosevelt Hotel. The firm gained considerable fame later in the 1930s for its design of the exquisite monstrance created for the Eighth National Eucharistic Congress in New Orleans. After several moves along Baronne Street, the store closed for good in the early 1970s.
In closing, we present The Legend of the Christmas Snail, originally featured as the View Carre Commission’s holiday card in 1979. Happy Holidays from us at the City Archives & Special Collections!
This exhibit includes some images and descriptions previously featured as “Images of the Month.” It was edited, designed, and written by Brittanny Silva in 2024