SEARCH the holdings of the Louisiana Division/City Archives & Special Collections

The Louisiana Division is a reference division which collects 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.


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

archivist@nolalibrary.org
504 596-2610

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Search & Copy Services:
Requesting Searches & Copies
General Guidelines

Louisiana Division:
General Information
Louisiana Division Fact Finder
Index to the Louisiana Division Vertical Files

City Archives:
City Archives Finding Aids & Inventories
Orleans Parish Courts Finding Aids & Indexes
Orleans Parish Finding Aids & Inventories
Synopsis of Ordinances, 1841-1937
Digest of the Acts and Deliberations of the Cabildo, 1769-1803
New Orleans Mayors, 1803 - Present
Administrations of the Mayors of New Orleans, 1803-1936
New Orleans City Council Members, 1954 - Present
New Orleans Parks and Squares, Openings, Name Changes, Etc.
Publication Dates of City Ordinances in the Official Journal, 1992-2006

Photographs and Digital Galleries:
Photograph Collection
Exhibits and Digital Galleries
Obtaining Reproductions and Permission to Reproduce

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

Genealogy:
Louisiana Biography/Obituary Index
Index to the Justices of the Peace Marriage Records, 1846-1880
Guide to Genealogical Materials
New Orleans Newspaper Marriage Index, 1837-1857
New Orleans City Directories
NOVA Transcriptions of City Archives Records
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

Property Research:
Sources for Researching the History of Your House...
Building Plans in the City Archives
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, 1885-1909
Underwriters Inspection Bureau of New Orleans, Street Rate Slips, 1897
Index to Architectural Art and Its Allies
James Harrison Dakin Collection

Newspapers/Serials:
Newspapers on Microfilm in the Louisiana Division
Miscellaneous African American Newspapers
Miscellaneous Louisiana Newspapers
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

For City Agencies:
Information for City Agencies on Transferring Records to the City Archives


Links to Related Sources Outside Our Walls:
Archives | Genealogy | Local Government
Louisiana | New Orleans
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Updated 1/9/2017