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Louisiana Division/City Archives/Special Collections - New Orleans Public Library


Rex receiving the keys to the city at Gallier Hall,
Lundi Gras, sometime early in the twentieth century
(John N. Teunisson Collection)

The Louisiana Division is a reference division which collects all types of printed, manuscript, graphic, and oral resources relating to the study of Louisiana and its citizens and to the city of New Orleans and New Orleanians. Other areas of concentration are the Mississippi River, the Gulf of Mexico, and the South. Included within the Division's collections are books by or about Louisianians; city, regional, and state documents; manuscripts, maps, newspapers, periodicals, microfilms, photographs, slides, motion pictures, sound recordings, video tapes, postcards, and ephemera of every sort.

The Louisiana Division also houses the

City Archives, the official repository for the records of New Orleans municipal government (1769-present), and holds on deposit the pre-1927 records of the civil courts and the pre-1932 records of the criminal courts of Orleans Parish.

Special Collections maintained by the Division are the Rare Vertical File, the Carnival Collection, the Louisiana Photograph Collection, the Map Collection, the Menu Collection, the Postcard Collection, the Manuscript Collection, and the Rare Book Collection.

The Division's extensive Genealogy Collection contains books, periodicals and microfilms with emphasis on New Orleans, Louisiana, the Southeast United States, Nova Scotia, France, and Spain.

The fourth edition of the guide to our genealogical materials is now available. LINK HERE for purchase information or HERE to view the guide online.


To insure timely access to non-microfilmed original materials, researchers should contact one of the archivists before visiting the Library:

Wayne Everard, Archivist | weverard@gno.lib.la.us
or Irene Wainwright, Assistant Archivist | iwainwri@gno.lib.la.us
504 596-2610

Louisiana Division:
General Information
Fee-based Search Services
Louisiana Division Fact Finder
Index to the Louisiana Division Vertical Files
Louisiana State Documents

City Archives:
City Archives Finding Aids & Inventories
Orleans Parish Courts Finding Aids & Indexes
Orleans Parish Finding Aids & Inventories
Synopsis of Ordinances, 1841-1937 [in progress]
Digest of the Acts and Deliberations of the Cabildo, 1769-1803
Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans, 1803-1936
New Orleans Parks and Squares, Openings, Name Changes, Etc.

Special Collections:
Louisiana Photograph Collection
Manuscripts Collections
Carnival Collection
Rare Vertical File
Map Collection
Friends of the Cabildo Oral History Program
Online Pamphlets
Louisiana Scrapbook Collection
Early Sheet Music Collection
Early Recording Collection
WPA Materials at NOPL

Genealogy:
Louisiana Biography/Obituary Index
Guide to Genealogical Materials     NEW EDITION now available!
Digging Up Roots in the Mud Files
NOVA Transcriptions of City Archives Records
Index to Deaths in the Daily Picayune, 1837-1857
Index to the Justices of the Peace Marriage Records, 1846-1880
New Orleans Newspaper Marriage Index, 1837-1857
Passenger Arrivals at the Port of New Orleans
Naturalization Records in New Orleans
Birth Records for New Orleans
Hints on Using the 1850 Census
Hints on Using the 1860-1920 Censuses
New Orleans City Directories
African-American Genealogical Sources

Property Research:
How to Research the History of Your House ...
Index to Building Plans
Alphabetical and Numerical Index to Changes in Street ... Numbers ...
Alphabetical Index of Changes in Street Names ...
Index to Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for New Orleans, 1885-1896
Underwriters Inspection Bureau of New Orleans, Street Rate Slips, 1897
Index to Architectural Art and Its Allies
James Harrison Dakin Collection

Newspapers/Serials:
Newspaper Collection, 1787-1974--Holdings by Year
Local Serials in the Louisiana Division
Index to the Etches of Ebony Louisiana calendars
Index to the Riders' Digest, 1956-1976
Index to the Roosevelt Review


Links to Related Sources Outside Our Walls:
Archives | Genealogy | Local Government
Louisiana | New Orleans

Revised 6/29/2005