The New Orleans Recreation Department (now known as the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission) was created by Mayor Morrison in 1946 as a city wide initiative to develop playgrounds, recreational facilities, and activities for the youth of the City. Records in this collection trace the origins, successes, failures, and reinvention of the department. The exhibit below, “A Place to Play,” documents the first year of NORD. While the department was featured in Life magazine as a model program for cities across the nation, NORD was created during segregation, and the records and photographs are testament to the unequal treatment of African Americans during that time.