This calamity took place at the corner of Esplanade and Rampart, at the edge of the French Quarter. Although increasingly replaced by motorized vehicles, mule-drawn wagons were in use in New Orleans into the 1950s, when the city’s garbage department finally switched to a motorized fleet. Poor drainage remains a familiar driving hazard for New Orleanians today. Esplanade Avenue wagon accident, George François Mugnier, ca.1920. Louisiana State Museum 09813.0020.

Lens to the Past: The Photographs of George François Mugnier

Tue, May 25, 2021 - Sat, May 25, 2024

The prolific work of George François Mugnier (1856–1938) is one of the Louisiana State Museum’s most treasured photography collections. Produced primarily between 1880 and 1920, it offers a glimpse of New Orleans cityscapes, southeast Louisiana landscapes, and people at home and work.

Lens to the Past features Mugnier’s twentieth-century Kodak camera, backlit glass plate negatives, stereographic cards, vintage prints, and forty-three modern prints created from the original glass plate negatives. Don’t miss this opportunity to see the first exhibition focused on the Mugnier Collection in more than four decades.