Sherds and Shipwrecks

On this week’s show, we look at New Orleans’ history through the lens of the city’s material culture. We begin with Jim Bruseth and Toni Turner, who reveals a surprising turn of events that preceded the official founding of New Orleans. Evidently, if the French explorer La Salle hadn’t blundered in his attempt to form a colony here, the city would have celebrated its 300th birthday in 1988 instead of 2018.

The Historic New Orleans Collection has played host to an annual gathering of antique experts, collectors, and aficionados for over a decade. We speak to Philippe Halbert, who presented original research at the Antiques Forum centered on the material culture of the French Atlantic world.

And we spend some time with French furniture whisperer, Christophe Pourny, who evangelizes the gospel and history of dining room furniture in his new book, The Furniture Bible.