[UPDATED] The Historic New Orleans Collection shared this amazing photo today of Mac Rebennack, a.k.a. Dr. John, as a Mardi Gras page during a Carnival children’s ball in 1947. HNOC says Rebennack is second from the left in the photo, in the shorts. Born in November 1940, Rebennack would have been six and a half years old at the ball.

The Historic New Orleans Collection’s next exhibition, “Furnishing Louisiana: 1735 – 1835”, opens February 24, after Mardi Gras, celebrating the craftsmanship of early Creole furniture makers. For more photos from old New Orleans, follow HNOC on Facebook.

Update, 2/9/12, 3 p.m.: The Historic New Orleans Collection did not actually “unearth” this photo. It was first made public in Dr. John’s 1995 autobiography, Under a Hoodoo Moon: The Life of the Night Tripper. Still—thanks to HNOC for sharing.