Spanish Louisiana Land Grants Virtual Archive
The Spanish Louisiana Land Grants Virtual Archive brings together over a thousand documents—grants, surveys, and acts of sale—created by numerous Louisiana surveyors between 1767 and 1840. Written in Spanish, French, English, or sometimes in a mixture of two or three languages, these archives are evidence of Louisiana’s cultural past. The surveys document each recorded party’s place in society (e.g., widow, free person of color, Native American), illustrate the relationship of the land to adjacent and nearby bodies of water, and often indicate the types of flora found in the vicinity of the measured parcels: with trees of various species serving as boundary markers, it allows for a comparison between the region’s botanical past and present.
Dancing in the Streets Club Narratives
These narratives were compiled from interviews conducted by the Neighborhood Story Project, a collaborative ethnography organization in partnership with the University of New Orleans, for The Historic New Orleans Collection. The interviews were done in connection with THNOC’s 2021 exhibition “Dancing in the Streets.” They included more than 30 club founders, presidents, and longtime members of African American social and pleasure clubs and benevolent associations, and shed light on the history, traditions and practices of second line parades.
The New Orleans Cemetery Database
The New Orleans Cemetery Database, created in collaboration with Tulane University and Save Our Cemeteries, provides digital access to an expanding set of resources centered on data contained in the Survey of Historic New Orleans Cemeteries—including names engraved on tombs, historical and contemporary condition reports, and photographs. The first cemeteries included here are St. Louis No. 1 and St. Louis No. 2. This project was made possible through the Christovich Excellence Fund for Historic Preservation and in partnership with Tulane School of Architecture's Master of Preservation Studies program and Tulane University Law School.
The Historic New Orleans Collection on Google Arts & Culture
Hundreds of artifacts from The Historic New Orleans Collection can be viewed online on Google Arts & Culture by people around the world due to a new partnership between the Google and THNOC.
About Google Arts & Culture
Google Arts & Culture is a new, immersive way to experience art, history, culture and world wonders from over a thousand organizations worldwide. Google Arts & Culture has been created by the Google Cultural Institute and it is available for free for everyone on the web, on iOS and Android. Read more here.
The Artist Database serves as an index to The Collection's files on more than 15,700 artists and art organizations that were or are active in New Orleans and the surrounding region. Information from The Collection's publication Encyclopedia of New Orleans Artists 1718-1918 is also contained within the database.
The Collins C. Diboll Vieux Carré Digital Survey
The Collins C. Diboll Vieux Carré Digital Survey allows users to access property data, photographs, plans, chain of title records, and citations, with the option to search by keyword, owners’ names, architectural rating, and even whether the owner was a free person of color. Begun in 1960 to bolster local historic preservation efforts, the Vieux Carré Survey is an extensive study of the properties within the French Quarter, referencing essential historical, architectural, legal, and sociological data on individual lots and structures from the French colonial period to the present. The survey has information on every block of the French Quarter—maps, major site plans, old drawings, engravings, sketches, paintings, newspaper clippings, property records, photographs, and more. This project was made possible in part through the generous financial support of the Collins C. Diboll Private Foundation.
A Guide to French Louisiana Manuscripts is an electronic version of Nancy Miller Surrey’s Calendar of Manuscripts in Paris Archives and Libraries Relating to the History of the Mississippi Valley to 1803, published in 1926. This online guide details not only documents concerning the French experience in the Mississippi Valley in Paris repositories described in Surrey's 1926 publication, but also appropriate materials found throughout France. Additionally, there are links to French institutions containing Louisiana materials, North American institutions holding French Louisiana materials, and related electronic resources.
Decorative Arts of the Gulf South
The Decorative Arts of the Gulf South (DAGS) research project at The Historic New Orleans Collection, formerly known as the Classical Institute of the South (CIS), is dedicated to documenting and sharing information about historic decorative arts in the Gulf South. Its cataloging field work focuses on objects made or used in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama from the 18th century through the Civil War. These artifacts, usually located in private residences or smaller local museums, enhance our understanding of life in the past. DAGS staff and graduate fellows conduct field work around the region every summer, documenting new objects to add to the database.
Lost Friends: Advertisements from the Southwestern Christian Advocate
The Lost Friends database provides access to more than 2,500 advertisements placed in the Southwestern Christian Advocate in the decades following the Civil War by individuals searching for loved ones lost in slavery. Published in New Orleans from 1877 to 1929, the Advocate reached readers across the South via a broad network of black churches and other subscribers. Digital reproductions of the Lost Friends ads are courtesy of Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University Libraries, and the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University.
The Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index
The Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index is a joint endeavor of The Historic New Orleans Collection and the New Orleans Public Library. The Louisiana Biography and Obituary Index references obituaries and death notices published in New Orleans newspapers from 1804 to 1972 as well as biographical information published in older Louisiana collective biographies.
Guide to Louisiana Resources in Spanish Archives
Guia de Fuentes Históricas Españolas Relativas a Luisiana
Compiled by Guadalupe Fernández Morente and Esther González Pérez, this extensive guide provides information about Louisiana-related holdings in Spanish archives. For each of more than 20 repositories, the authors include institutional information, detailed descriptions of relevant holdings, and suggestions for researchers. An introduction from Williams Research Center Director Alfred Lemmon provides context for the guide's development. The guide and introduction are available as PDF files in both English and Spanish.
Colonial Louisiana Bibliography Database
The Bibliography of Colonial Louisiana aims to be an essential guide to available published resources on colonial Louisiana (1682-1803) covering works published between 1900 and the present day. It contains citations of books, book chapters, articles, conference papers, printed documents, facsimile editions of manuscripts, and reprints of earlier publications, regardless of language or place of publication.