Louisiana Colonial Records

History
Louisiana was claimed by France in 1682. Fort Mississippi was built in 1699, but there was little European settlement until after 1713. Louisiana was owned by private companies from 1712-1731, when the colony reverted to the French Crown. Upper and Lower Louisiana, west of the Mississippi, were ceded to Spain in 1762, while the rest of Louisiana was ceded to Great Britain and became parts of East and West Florida. Britain ceded the Floridas back to Spain in 1780, and the government was administered by the Captaincy General of Cuba. In 1802, Louisiana transferred back to the French, and then sold to the United States in 1803.

Ecclesiastical Records and Sources
Catholic church records in Louisiana date back to 1720, with the first church having been founded in 1700. The Diocese of New Orleans (previously called the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas) was organized in 1793. The diocese covered French territory from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Some of the original records are available at the Notre Dame Archives, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, and the Archivo Nacional de Cuba in Havana, Cuba. Catholic church records from the French administration period are located at the French National Archives, Section Outre-Mer, Paris and the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario.
 * Paroisse de Nouvelle-Orléans. Registres paroissiaux, 1720-1734 (film 0959147). Parish Registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials for New Orleans, 1724-1730; Biloxi, Mississippi, 1720-1722; and Kaskaskia, Illinois, 1723-1724 by Église Catholique.
 * Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Records of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, 1576-1803 by Thomas Timothy McAvoy, (South Bend: University of Notre Dame Archives, 1967).
 * Marriage Dispensations in the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas, 1786-1803 by Shirley Chaisson Bourquard, (New orleans: Polyanthos, 1980).
 * Diocese of Baton Rouge, Catholic Church Records: 1707-1882, 15 Vols., (Baton Rouge: Diocese of Baton Rouge, Department of Archives, 1978, fiche 6093541).
 * Sacramental Records of the Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of New Orleans [1718-1912], by Earl C. Woods, (New orleans: Archdiocese of New Orleans, 1987-1995).
 * A Guide to Church Records in Louisiana, 1720-1975 by Donald J. Hebert, (Eunice, LA: n.p., 1975, fiche 6051420). This index lists records for Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish congregations.
 * Natchitoches: Abstracts of the Catholic Registers, 1729-1803, abstracts of the Catholic Church registers of the French and Spanish post of St. Jean Baptiste des Natchitoches in Louisiana by Elizabeth Shown Mills, (New Orleans: Polyanthos, 1977).
 * Natchitoches, 1800-1826 : translated abstracts of register number five of the Catholic Church Parish of St. François des Natchitoches in Louisiana by Elizabeth Shown Mills, (New Orleans, Louisiana : Polyanthos, 1980).

Civil Records and Sources
From 1699-1805, military and local censuses were kept in Louisiana. The originals of these records are located at the Archivo General de Indias in Seville, Spain; the French National Archives, Section Outre-Mer, Paris; and the Archivo Nacional de Cuba in Havana, Cuba. The Louisiana State Archives in Baton Rouge, LA has copies of some of these records.