The 1912 City Charter set up a commission form of government for the city of New Orleans, consisting of a mayor and four councilmen elected at-large. The executive and administrative powers of the city government were divided among five departments, each with its own commissioner, designated from among the mayor and councilmen by majority vote of the Council. The commission council government remained in effect until the passage of the Home Rule Charter in 1954.

The Department of Public Safety, one of these five departments, was responsible for fire prevention and relief, police, health, and charity and relief. The Commissioner of Public Safety also served on the Board of Commissioners of the Police Department, the Board of Commissioners of the Fire Department, and the Board of Health.

The surviving records are 5 manuscript volumes and 3 cartons of general correspondence/subject files.

The manuscript volumes are as follows:

Livery Permit Register, 1925 (TC670l)

For each applicant, lists name, address, race, license plate number and livery license number.

Chauffer's Register, 1918-1919 (TC670)

For each applicant, lists name, address, race, and "remarks" (e.g., "badge lost, new license number issued). Also included at the back of this volume is a fragment of an earlier Livery Permit Register, 1920.

Docket, new barroom licenses, 1912-1919

Lists action taken by the City Council and the Departmen of Public Safety in granting or refusing applications for barroom licenses.

Docket, continuance of licenses on existing barrooms, 2 v., 1912-1919

Similar to above, but involving renewals of licenses already granted.

The correspondence/subject files have been reconstructed from records separated into general subject files by previous custodians. Very little has survived, and what is documented is generally limited to only a few pieces or to only a short span of time. Among the Public Safety agencies covered most substantially are the Police Department (files of citizen complaints referred from Public Safety to the Police Department, 1940-42) and the New Orleans Safety Council (correspondence and minutes, 1928-30). Also of interest are invitations received by Commissioner Frank Gomila for the years 1934-1941, correspondence concerning the Louisiana Leprosorium at Carville, La., testimony in two court cases involving the Police Department, a variety of material connected to a ca. 1929 traffic survey of the city, and a large file of letters offering sites for the construction of new fire houses.

The following men served as Commissioners of Public Safety during the years covered by these records:

• E.J. Glenny (1916-1920)
• Stanley W. Ray (1920-1925)
• Paul B. Habans (1924-1930)
• Dr. Frank R. Gomila (1930-1946)

---

INVENTORY

Box 1

"A" Miscellaneous

Archdiocese of New Orleans

Aviation

"B" Miscellaneous

"C" Miscellaneous

Citizens' Committee on Traffic

City Attorney

City Planning and Zoning Commission, Traffic Committee

Court Records

Engineering Traffic Survey (Miller McClintock)

Fire Stations, Suggested Sites

First Recorder's Court

Forest Park Improvement Committee

"G" Miscellaneous

"H" Miscellaneous

Health Department

Hyman, Alex & Co.

Invitations (1934)

Invitations (1935)

Invitations (1936)

Box 2

Invitations (1937)

Invitations (1938)

Invitations (1939)

Invitations (1940)

Invitations (1941)

Invitations (n.d)

"J" Miscellaneous

"K" Miscellaneous

"L" Miscellaneous

Louisiana Leprosorium (Carville, La.)

"M" Miscellaneous

"N" Miscellaneous

New Basin Canal & Shell Road, Board of Control

New Orleans Association of Commerce

New Orleans Board of Trade

New Orleans Fire Department

New Orleans Police Department (1920-1939)

New Orleans Police Department (1940)

Box 3

New Orleans Police Department (1941)

New Orleans Police Department (1942)

New Orleans Police Department - Testimony, murder of Superintendant of Police

James W. Reynolds, 1917

New Orleans Police Department - Testimony, trial of police officers Reyer,

Victory, and Milliet, 1923

New Orleans Safety Council

Ninth Ward Improvement & Protective Association

"P" Miscellaneous

Parker, Walter

Parolees - Report to Commission Council, 1922

Personnel Department

"R" Miscellaneous

"S" Miscellaneous

Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans

Traffic Division

U.S. Corps of Engineers

"V" Miscellaneous

"W" Miscellaneous

---

• Back to City Archives Finding Aids and Inventories

• Back to City Archives and Special Collections