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The Louisiana State Archives, established 1956, is the agency under the Secretary of State of Louisiana "designated to fulfill the function of directing a program of collecting, preserving, and making available for use the state's historical records" Located in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the archives house records from the Spanish, French, and early American past of the state, including vital records, immigration, military, and legislative documents ranging back into the 18th century. The five-panel facade on the building, sculpted by Baton Rouge artist Al Lavergne, offers a panoramic "study in stone" of Louisiana's unique history both as a colony and as a state. The archives also feature an exhibit gallery with changing displays of art from its collections, and a permanent exhibit of posters from World War I. The Archives building and exhibits are open Monday-Friday from 8:00am until 4:30pm. Exhibits are also open on Saturday from 9:00am until 5:00pm and on Sunday from 1:00pm until 5:00pm. The Research Room is open on the same schedule.
[edit] Research LibraryBooks on general histories, census indexes, immigration schedules, church records, and family histories are available in the library. The library, located on the the first floor, has often been referred to as the "heart and soul" of the State Archives because it is the public's primary link to the latter. It is within this library that patrons are provided access to the thirty thousand cubic feet of records stored in the State Archives. Whether a novice researcher or a veteran genealogist, one can usually find among the State Archives repository records that shed light upon their ancestral history. Some of the more popular records requested by patrons utilizing the research library are assessment records, colonial documents, passenger manifests for the Port of New Orleans, military service records, Confederate Pension Applications, and records from the State Land Office, to name but a few. Some of these records are maintained on microfilm which can be viewed in the research library's microfilm reading section. Copies of documents on microfilm can be made at a minimal cost to the patron within the library. Those patrons who cannot visit our library may obtain some of our records via mail. Please refer to the Fee Schedule [a PDF file at the website] for a complete list of the records that are available by mail. Those records not on microfilm can also be viewed by patrons in the library. Access to these records is made possible via a dumb waiter that connects the library with the archival stacks on the second and third floors. Due to an increase in requests for archived Campaign Finance Reports, we may require at least 24 hours notice to pull reports for review. [edit] Vital RecordsAlso found in the research library is the state's archival vital records program. Here patrons can view selected marriage, death, and birth records for Orleans Parish and death records for the remainder of the state. Death records cover the period up to 1957 whereas information on New Orleans births is for the period through 1907. Marriage records for New Orleans like death records are at least fifty years old. These records contain information vital to ancestral research such as parents names, place of birth, cause of death, age and occupation of deceased persons, location of burial, and official performing wedding. Researchers may obtain any of the following vital records by visiting the Louisiana State Archives Research Library or may request the records by mail. The Archives maintains the following:
[NOTE 1] The only birth records that are currently available at the Archives prior to 1907 are from Orleans Parish. The only death records currently available prior to 1911 are from Jefferson and Orleans Parishes. Records from Orleans are filed separately from the combined statewide listing of all the other parishes in the state. Records prior to the dates listed above are probably nonexistent unless the parish where the birth or death occurred kept such a record. If the person being researched was Catholic, birth and death information would probably be shown in the records of the church or diocese where that person lived. [NOTE 2] All marriage records, other than Orleans Parish, are maintained by the office of the Clerk of Court in the parish where the marriage license was purchased. The Archives charges $5.00 for a certified copy which includes a three-year search per surname. Fees must be retained for both successful and unsuccessful searches. Searches are processed by a given year; therefore, a name, place, and date, or a span of three years is required to research a request. Patrons can also obtain a non-certified copy for 50 cents if they conduct their own research at the Archives. Please see mail-in application form available as a PDF file on the website. You can search the Louisiana Death Records Database and order certified copies of death certificates for deaths that occurred in Louisiana over 50 years ago. Certified copies of death certificates are delivered by mail for $5.00 USD. (This service only issues certified copies of microfilmed death certificates for deaths that occurred in Louisiana between 1911–1956. The database also contains older death records for some parishes, such as deaths that occurred in Jefferson parish before 1911, and deaths that occurred in Orleans parish as early as 1804. Microfilmed death certificates may not be available for many of these older records. For example, searching for a death that occurred in Orleans parish between 1804–1818 may produce results taken from the official Orleans parish death index, but individual death certificates for this period do not exist in the archives. We regret that we cannot issue certified copies of death certificates for deaths that occurred in Orleans parish during this period.) You can search the Louisiana Birth Records Database and order certified copies of birth certificates for births that took place in Orleans parish over 100 years ago. Certified copies of birth certificates are delivered by mail for $5.00 USD. (This service only issues certified copies of microfilmed birth certificates for births that occurred in Orleans Parish between 1819–1907. The database also contains birth records for births that occurred in Orleans parish as early as 1790; however, microfilmed birth certificates may not be available for many of these older records. For example, searching for a birth that occurred in Orleans parish between 1790–1819 may produce results taken from the official Orleans parish birth index, but individual birth certificates for this period do not exist in the archives. We regret that we cannot issue certified copies of birth certificates for births that occurred in Orleans parish during this period.) Note: New records are added to the database every morning between 4:00 and 5:00 AM CST. Complete results may not be available during this period. You can search the Orleans Parish Marriage Records Database and order certified copies of marriage licenses for marriages that took place in Orleans parish over 50 years ago. Certified copies of marriage licenses are delivered by mail for $5.00 USD. (Searching for marriages that took place from 1831–1869 may produce results with dates and names of spouses taken from the official marriage index, but individual marriage records for this period do not exist in the archives. We regret that we cannot issue certified copies of marriage licenses for marriages that took place during this period.) For more recent records, contact Vital Records Registry, PO Box 60630, New Orleans, LA 70160; Phone 504-568-5152 or visit their web site for more information. [edit] New Orleans Ship Passenger List Online Index -- January - July 1851This is an online index to a portion of the New Orleans ship passenger lists available on microfilm in the Research Room at the Louisiana State Archives. This index covers the roughly six-month period from January 1 to July 7, 1851. Also available on microfilm in the Research Room are card indexes of the ship passenger lists for the port of New Orleans. These indexes cover the years 1820 to 1850 and 1853 to 1952. The indexes are found on the following three series of microfilm: 1820 to 1850 - National Archives Microfilm M334 (Accession Number N1994-21) 1853 to 1899 - National Archives Microfilm T527 (Accession Number N1994-22) 1900 to 1952 - National Archives Microfilm T618 (Accession Number N1998-25) This online index is an attempt to fill in the previously unindexed two-year period of 1851 and 1852. Information provided in this database includes passenger name, date of arrival, name of ship, and port of departure. With the date of arrival and name of ship, researchers can then locate on microfilm the ship manifest listing all passengers on that particular ship. Information available on these lists includes age, sex, occupation, country to which the passengers belong, country to which they intend to become inhabitants, and the number that died on the passage. The Research Room has microfilm copies of the ship passenger lists for New Orleans for the period of 1820 to 1903 (Accession Number P1990-22) and 1903 to 1921 (Accession Number N2000-01). These microfilm are available in a number of other repositories including the National Archives. [edit] Confederate Pension Applications Index DatabaseThe database may be searched online.
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