The Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz supports the research and study of New Orleans music and culture of the late 19th and 20th centuries forward.

Overview and History

The Hogan Archive was originally founded in 1958 as the Archive of New Orleans Jazz when Richard B. Allen, a Tulane University graduate student, embarked on a jazz oral history fieldwork project for his thesis. Dr. William Ransom Hogan, the chair of the Department of History at the time, wrote the initial Ford Foundation grant proposal that funded the project. Tulane administered the formation of the Archive of New Orleans Jazz as part of the Department of History. In 1965, the Archive became a department within the Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, and in 1974, following Dr. Hogan’s death, it was renamed the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive. It was renamed in 2020 to the Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz. To learn more about the name change and new collection development policy, please see the 2020 news release. 

Hogan holdings include archival collections, business papers, personal papers, sound and video recordings, sheet music, photographs, ephemera, and various printed materials. The musical cultures of New Orleans represented include, but are not limited to, jazz, ragtime, rhythm and blues, blues, gospel, Creole songs, and other forms of Black American popular music. All materials highlight the culture and communities of the New Orleans region from a music-based perspective, but also comprise multidisciplinary subjects such as American history, ethnic studies, gender studies, architecture, sociology, race and representation, anthropology, cultural studies, marketing, media, and much more.

For questions and assistance, please contact TUSC Research Services at specialcollections@tulane.edu or Hogan Archive curator Melissa A. Weber at mweber3@tulane.edu.

Hogan Archive Holdings

Manuscript Collections

Primary source materials, whose finding aids can be searched online.

Digital Collections

Oral Histories

Oral history interviews with musicians, family members, and observers that document the stories surrounding the emergence of jazz in New Orleans from the late 19th century forward. Including over 2,000 reels of taped interviews, the Hogan Archive holds the largest collection of jazz oral history extant. Digitized oral histories represent 1948-1997, and can be accessed via websites for the Tulane University Digital Library.

Vertical Files

Vertical files contain information on people, bands, and subjects relevant to New Orleans music and history. They include items such as newspaper clippings, correspondence, unpublished writings, ephemera, and journal articles, as well as public documents and official records.

Sound Recordings

Including over 40,000 vinyl LPs, 45s, 78s, audio cassette tapes, CDs, reel-to-reels, and cylinders.

Publications: The Jazz Archivist

From 1986-2019, The Jazz Archivist (ISSN: 1085-8415) served as a newsletter and non-peer-reviewed journal covering jazz and New Orleans music. Published by the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive, the publication featured articles and updates written by Hogan Archive staff, as well as independent researchers and scholars. The Jazz Archivist ceased publication after its 2019 issue.