Mail requests should be directed to:

Louisiana Division

New Orleans Public Library

219 Loyola Avenue

New Orleans, LA 70112

Please note that these requests must come to us by regular mail. We are unable to take requests for photocopies by email.

General Guidelines

The Louisiana Division provides the following search services for the indicated fees.

Louisiana Biography/Obituary Index – $3.00 per name

Note: If you are requesting an obituary or biographical reference that you located in the online Obituary Index, the fee is $2.00 per obituary listed (not $2.00 per name). Please send the exact reference that you found online. The fee is $2.00 in this case, rather than $3.00 because by including the exact reference with your request, you are saving us the step of having to check the index.

Link here for additional information on ordering obituaries found in the online index.

Louisiana News Index – $3.00 per name

Times-Picayune Index [1922-1944] – $3.00 per name or subject

Bell and Howell/UMI Times-Picayune Index [1972- ] – $3.00 per name or subject, per year

Note: The Times-Picayune is indexed by a number of online services. Check locally before requesting a search through New Orleans Public Library.

Indexes to Louisiana naturalizations – $3.00 per name

Justice of the Peace marriage index [1846-1880] – $3.00 per name

New Orleans city directories [1805- ] – $3.00 per name, per year

Orleans Parish court records – See below

In your letter to us, please indicate the type of search that you wish us to undertake and list the name(s) or subject(s), and relevant dates.

Please limit your request to 5 names or subjects at a time.

You must enclose a check or money order to cover the total fee for the search(es) requested or your request will be returned. DO NOT SEND CASH! Please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope for the return of your copies.

Single photocopies will be made of each article or record found for no additional charge, unless multiple references are found, in which case we will inform you of the total amount due for photocopying.

Ordering Orleans Parish Court Records

Ordering a court record by mail is a two-step process:

1. If you locate a court record in one of our online indexes or if you would like us to search for a record in one of the courts that is not indexed online, you must send your request by regular mail to the address above with payment of $3.00 per record. For this initial fee, we will locate the record, count the number of pages, and report back to you on the cost of copying the record in full. Our copy fee is $2.00 per page.

2. Once you have received our report on the cost of copying a record, resubmit your request by regular mail, authorizing us to copy the record and enclosing the copy fee we have quoted.

Please Note:

If you are ordering records from the Court of Probates (1804-1846), the fee is $3.00 to search each type of probate record you are seeking (i.e., succession, will, or inventory). In other words, if you request a copy of the succession of John Doe, the fee is $3.00. If you are also seeking his will and inventory, you need to send an additional $3.00 for each.

If the record has been filmed, copies will be made from the microfilm. If the record has not been filmed, we will copy from the original. We reserve the right, however, to refuse to copy very fragile records that would be further damaged by the copying process.

Not all of the courts are indexed. We cannot take orders for copies of records from unindexed courts.

Most of the genealogically useful court records in our collection were microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah. Therefore, copies can be obtained from any Mormon Family History Center. If the court record you are seeking is lengthy, we strongly recommend that you order the film from the GSU and make your own copies.

For mail orders, we cannot copy selectively from court records. We will copy the entire record only.