Louisiana Archives and Libraries

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Louisiana Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful for genealogical research in Louisiana.

Wiki Articles on Major Repositories in Louisiana[edit | edit source]

National Archives at Fort Worth · Dallas Public Central Library

Archives[edit | edit source]

Archdiocese of New Orleans - Archives and Records
7887 Walmsley Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70125
Telephone: (504) 861-6200
Website
Sacramental records such as Baptism, Marriage, and Burial are available.

Division of Archives, Records Management, and History
3851 Essen Lane
Baton Rouge, LA 70809
Telephone: 225-922-1000
Fax: 255-922-0433
Website
Website
Website
WebsiteLouisiana Lousiana Digital State Archives Official State Archives, Media State Archives and much more.

Serves Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.[3] Includes federal censuses of all states, 1790-1930 (and indexes for 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920); military service records, pension and bounty land warrant applications; passenger arrivals; Dawes Commision for the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma. Manuscripts, photos, maps received from federal district and bankruptcy courts and 85 federal agencies in four states. Subjects emphasized are regional and national history, westward expansion and Southwest settlement, American Indians (especially Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), Revolutionary War, American Civil War and Recontruction, slavery, Chinese exclusion, segregation, World War I, World War II, economic development, oil, U.S. space program, public administration, political science, law, ethnology, and U.S. diplomacy.

National Archives at Fort Worth
501 West Felix Street, Building 1
Fort Worth, TX 76115-3405
Telephone: 817-831-5620
Fax: 817-551-2034
Website
Email

Louisiana Digital Library (LDL)

Serves Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.[3] Includes federal censuses of all states, 1790-1930 (and indexes for 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920); military service records, pension and bounty land warrant applications; passenger arrivals; Dawes Commision for the Five Civilized Tribes in Oklahoma. Manuscripts, photos, maps received from federal district and bankruptcy courts and 85 federal agencies in four states. Subjects emphasized are regional and national history, westward expansion and Southwest settlement, American Indians (especially Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles), Revolutionary War, American Civil War and Recontruction, slavery, Chinese exclusion, segregation, World War I, World War II, economic development, oil, U.S. space program, public administration, political science, law, ethnology, and U.S. diplomacy.

Louisiana Genealogical and Historical Society
P.O. Box 82060
Baton Rouge, LA 70884-2068
Telephone: 504-766-3018
Website

The Society carries out its functions through member volunteers rather than a paid staff. Although it cannot conduct individual research in response to queries, it strives to assist individuals by publishing queries free of charge in its journal and by providing direction, whenever possible, to other sources of assistance.

Louisiana State Library
760 Third Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
Telephone: 504-342-4913
Fax: 504-342-3547
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 131
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-0131
Website

The State Library’s comprehensive collection of Louisiana materials includes the following genealogical resources:

•Census records for the southeastern U.S.

•Ship passenger lists for the Port of New Orleans

•Military service and parish records on microfilm

•Current and historical city directories and telephone books for Louisiana cities and towns

•Journals published by state genealogical and historical societies

•Louisiana and southeastern U.S. genealogy and family histories

Louisiana Secretary of State, Click on Locate Historical Records to search indexes to death records (mostly 1804-1965), birth records (mostly 1790-1915) and Orleans parish marriages (1831-1965). Other online databases cover passenger lists from January to July 1851 and Confederate pension applications.

Louisiana Historical Association
University of Southwestern Louisiana
929 Camp Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Telephone: 318-482-6871
Fax: 318-482-6028
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 42808
Lafayette, LA 70504
Website

Historic New Orleans Collection
William Research Center
410 Charter Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
Telephone: 504-598-7171
Fax: 504-598-7166
Website
Email

Louisiana State Museum
Louisiana Historical Center Library
400 Esplanade Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70176-2448
Telephone: 504-568-8214
Fax: 504-568-4995
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 2448
New Orleans, LA 70176
Website

The Louisiana State Museum will house its online exhibits, searchable databases, permanent collections, publications and board meetings/agenda archives here at this new website
Website

Hill Memorial Library
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803-3300
Telephone: 504-388-6551
Fax: 504-344-6773
Website

More than 5000 manuscript groups encompassing over 10 million items are preserved in LLMVC. Recognized as one of the nation's premier repositories for materials relating to the antebellum plantation, Civil War, and Reconstruction South, LLMVC includes the papers of individuals and families, records of plantations, merchants and financial institutions, and the records of political, social, and labor organizations.

Howard Tilton Library
Manuscripts & Rare Books Department
Tulane University
7001 Freret Street
New Orleans, LA 70118
Telephone: 504-865-5131
Fax: 504-865-6773
Website

Information mainly about prominent people in early America and during the Civil War.

Le Comité des Archives
P.O. Box 1547
Baton Rouge, LA 70821-1547
Website
Email

Linus A. Sims Memorial Library
Southeastern Louisiana University
1211 SGA Drive
Hammond, LA 70402
Telephone: 985-549-3860; after 4:30, weekends 985-549-2027
Online list of free databases for Louisiana genealogy

New Orleans Public Library
219 Loyola Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70140-1016
Telephone: 504-596-2612
Fax: 504-596-2609
Website

An inventory of the records in this important collection is Collin B. Hamer, Jr., Genealogical Materials in the New Orleans Public Library(New Orleans, Louisiana: Friends of the New Orleans Public Library, 1984;FamilySearch Library book 976.3 D23h 1984).

Orleans Parish Notarial Archives
Civil Courts Building
421 Loyola Avenue, Room B-4
New Orleans, LA 70112
Telephone: 504-568-8578
Fax: 504-568-8599
Website

A helpful guide to Louisiana libraries is Resources in Louisiana Libraries: Public, Academic, Special and in Media Centers (Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State Library, 1971; FamilySearch Library FS Catalog book 976.3 A3re; film 896543; fiche 6019941).

To learn more about the history and record-keeping systems of Louisiana parishes, use any of the 22 inventories of the parish archives produced by the Historical Records Survey about 1940. The library has most of these inventories.

Louisiana Online Records[edit | edit source]

Louisiana Online Genealogy Records

Links to online databases and indexes that may include vital records, biographies, cemeteries, censuses, histories, immigration records, land records, maps, military records, naturalizations, newspapers, obituaries, or probate records.