Current Special Exhibition
Friday, March 20, 2026
Holocaust Survivors in a New Land: The New Americans Social Club of New Orleans
“Holocaust Survivors in a New Land” tells the story of how those who suffered under the Nazi regime made it to the United States after WWII, were helped by local Jewish communities, and made new lives for themselves in the South.
Past Special Exhibitions
April 1, 2025
"Most Fortunate Unfortunates":
The Jewish Orphans’ Home of New Orleans
Based on author and historian Marlene Trestman’s critically acclaimed book of the same name, Most Fortunate Unfortunates: The Jewish Orphans’ Home in New Orleans explores this unique institution and the legacy it left for thousands of Jews across the South. The Jewish Orphans’ Home – known affectionately as “the Home” – opened in New Orleans in 1856 following a yellow fever epidemic, becoming the first purpose-built Jewish orphanage in the country. By the time it closed in 1946 had provided a nurturing home for more than 1,600 children, many who lived there for ten years or more
November 12, 2024
“Greetings from Main Street": Southern Jewish Postcards from Our Collection
These postcards attest to the presence of Jews across the South. They reveal how the non-Jewish population encountered the Jewish presence in their communities in ways large and small, often on a daily basis.
November 17, 2023
“A Better Life for Their Children": Julius Rosenwald, Booker T. Washington, and the 4,978 Schools that Changed America
This beautiful, evocative and moving series of black-and-white photographs by Andrew Feiler memorializes the Rosenwald schools, one of the most quietly successful Black education programs in American history.
May 27, 2021
“Shalom Y’all": A Snapshot of Southern Jewish Life
Over thirty years ago, the original Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in Utica, Mississippi, launched an ambitious initiative with project director Vicki Reikes Fox and photographer Bill Aron to capture images of rural and urban Southern Jewish communities.
Core Exhibitions
8,000 square feet of permanent exhibition space
Gallery 1
From Immigrants to Southerners
The story of the Southern Jewish experience begins thousands of miles from American shores. Tracing the major migrations of Jews to the American South beginning in the 1700s, this gallery explores how Jewish immigrants journeyed to American ports and navigated into the interior of the South. From establishing stores to synagogues, From Immigrants to Southerners touches on themes including merchant life, social institutions, and religious practice.
Gallery 2
Foundations of Judaism
Foundations of Judaism focuses on the diversity of Jewish beliefs and practices, from holidays and life cycle events to the values that are foundational from Jews from the American South and around the world. This interactive gallery includes an art installation of reproduction stained-glass windows from nearly twenty synagogues across the American South.
Gallery 3
Entering a New Era
The final core gallery investigates Southern Jewish experiences during World War II and the Holocaust, the Civil Rights movement, suburbanization of the rural American South, and Southern Jews in popular culture. The gallery concludes with a review of Southern Jewish life today and the Community Quilt Interactive, which provides a creative space where visitors can explore their own identity and community while reflecting on the diverse experiences of Jewish communities in the American South.
