Manuscript collections include letters, diaries, land tenure records, financial and legal documents, records of community organizations, and annotated printed items. In addition to original materials, the division has a large collection of microforms, including New Orleans newspapers (1803 - present). Family papers as well as the records of local organizations, such as the YMCA and the Arts and Crafts Club, form a large part of the holdings. Together they illuminate life in urban New Orleans and southern social and cultural history in the surrounding rural area during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Finding aids for catalogued manuscript collections usually provide an inventory or calendar with a chronological listing of each item in the collection. Uncatalogued collections are usually arranged chronologically at the time of accession unless a prior arrangement or inventory exists. More detailed information on many of the manuscript collections is available in the Manuscripts Division Update, vols. 1-13.

The Survey of Historic New Orleans Cemeteries, a project sponsored by the Collection in conjunction with Save Our Cemeteries, is housed at the Collection. This survey includes inscriptions, photographs, general descriptions, and condition reports of tombs in nine historic New Orleans cemeteries: St. Louis I & II, Lafayette I & II, St. Joseph I & II, Cypress Grove, Odd Fellows Rest, and Greenwood.

Nearly 2,000 reels of microfilm from the Archives Nationales de France (ANF) and the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) make available the bulk of those institutions' holdings on colonial Louisiana. The ANF materials contain correspondence from Louisiana to the secretaire d'etat de la Marine; within the AGI are large collections entitled the Santo Domingo Papers (1757-1810) and the Cuban Papers (1762-1824), reflecting the Spanish administrative provenance of the documents. The Santo Domingo Papers contain information on commerce, smuggling, religion, immigration, diplomatic relations, financial affairs, government correspondence, and native Americans. The Cuban Papers contain official correspondence between governors and district commandants about Indians, commerce, census records, and Acadians; economic data from reports and account books and maritime information on the port of New Orleans; and correspondence touching all aspects of the colony's economic life and development.

Census records, passenger lists, Civil War service records, as well as six collections of Louisiana materials in the National Archives microfilmed in 1988 are also available. The latter films are accompanied by descriptive pamphlets (a joint publication of the National Archives and the Historic New Orleans Collection): Records of the Federal Writers' Project, Works Projects Administration, Relating to Louisiana, 1935-1943 (M1366); Selected Documents from the Louisiana Section of the Works Projects Administration, General Correspondence File ("State Series"), 1935-1943 (M1367); Selected Documents from the Records of the Weather Bureau Relating to New Orleans, 1870-1912 (M1379); Bound Records of the General Land Office Relating to Private Land Claims in Louisiana, 1767-1892 (M1379); Unbound Records of the General Land Office Relating to Private Land Claims in Louisiana, 1805-1896 (M1385); and Records of the New Orleans Field Offices, Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, 1865-1869 (M1483).

In 1992, the collection of noted jazz historian and collector William Russell was acquired. It is still in the process of being catalogued. All collections in the William Russell Jazz Collection are now open to the public.

For questions regarding the Manuscript Collections, email us at wrc@hnoc.org
Email research requests require full name, institutional or business affiliation, address, and phone number.

Manuscripts Division Update
An annual publication from 1982 to 1994, describing selected collections pertinent to a specific topic or field of study. Volumes published are:
1 no. 1, Family Papers
1, no. 2, New Orleans Sheet Music
2 Papers Relating to the Battle of New Orleans
3 Germans in Louisiana
4-5 Civil War
6 Papers Relating to the Visual Arts
7 Microforms at the Historic New Orleans Collection
8 Microfilm from the National Archives
9 Land Records
10 Papers Relating to Colonial and Territorial Louisiana
11 Papers Relating to Religion
12 Papers Relating to Antebellum Louisiana
13 Papers of Individuals, Families, and Organizations

The Manuscript Division Update is available online as a pdf file. You will need Acrobat Reader version 4.0 or above to view.
The Collection regularly adds to its holdings through purchase and tax-deductible donation.