NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC)’s 26th Bill Russell Lecture returns April 8 with a spirited exploration of women’s musicianship and history at Preservation Hall. Part concert, part lecture, the annual event blends history and music to appreciate sounds from the past and the people who made them.
Co-presented with the Preservation Hall Archives, this dynamic program includes a lecture featuring guest speakers Kelly Porter, head of the Preservation Hall Archives; Sherrie Tucker, musicologist and professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas; and special guest Dodie Smith-Simmons, one of Preservation Hall’s earliest employees and one of the founders of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. The lecture will be followed by a performance featuring women who play at Preservation Hall who give voice to the deepest musical traditions of New Orleans, led by Mari Watanabe featuring special guests.
The Bill Russell Lecture honors the legacy of William “Bill” Russell (1905–1992), who devoted his life to the study of New Orleans jazz and related musical forms such as brass bands, ragtime and gospel music. In 1992, HNOC acquired his monumental collection which consists of thousands of photographs, books, pieces of sheet music, piano rolls, musical instruments, recordings, correspondence, films, ephemera and more. Past lecture subjects have included Scott Joplin, the Boswell Sisters, George Lewis and Louis Armstrong
The lecture will take place at the Williams Research Center at 6:00 p.m. followed by a performance at the Toulouse Theater at 7:30 p.m. Attendees are also invited to an informal “show-and-tell” that will showcase related archival objects from HNOC and Preservation Hall from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Support for the 2025 Bill Russell Lecture comes from The Derbes Foundation and the New Orleans Recreation and Culture Fund. Tickets are $20, $5 for students, and can be purchased at hnoc.org.
About Historic New Orleans Collection
The Historic New Orleans Collection is a nonprofit institution dedicated to preserving the distinctive history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Founded in 1966 through the Kemper and Leila Williams Foundation, HNOC operates as a free museum, research center and publisher spanning more than 15 historic buildings in the heart of the French Quarter.
