Louisiana Directories

Online Resources

 * US City Directories Louisiana
 * Louisiana Online Historical Directories - listed by parish

History
Directories of heads of households were published for major cities in Louisiana. Directories were created for salesmen, merchants, and other interested in contacting residents of an area. They are arranged alphabetically giving lists of names and addresses.

These are generally published annually and may include an individual's address, occupation, spouse's name, and other helpful facts. An individual's address can be very helpful when searching an unindexed census of a large city. See the wiki page United States Directories for more information.

Directories are particularly helpful for research in large cities, where a high percentage of the people were renters, new arrivals, or temporary residents. A directory may be the only source to list an ancestor if he or she was not registered to vote and did not own property. You can use a directory to learn the exact years your ancestor inhabited a place. Locate an ancestor in a census that hasn’t been indexed (esp. state census). Estimate the year of immigration. Learn occupation and employer as identifiers. Find other family members.

Libraries and Archives

 * The New Orleans Public Library collection holds New Orleans city directories for most years since 1805.

Directories Online

 * Fold3.com ($) has New Orleans City Directories 1861 and 1866-1923 (3 yrs. missing) available online.
 * Ancestry.com ($) has Louisiana directories available online in its U.S. City Directories collection.

The Family History Library
The Family History Library has city directories for various years from throughout the state of Louisiana including:

New Orleans


 * 1805-11, 1822-24, 1832-61
 * 1861-1935
 * 1874-1900
 * 1917, 1945, 1965

To find directories, consult the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under:


 * LOUISIANA, [COUNTY] — DIRECTORIES
 * LOUISIANA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — DIRECTORIES

Websites

 * The New Orleans Public Library web site has New Orleans city directories for most years since 1805.
 * US City Directories This web site identifies printed, microfilmed, and online directories and their repositories.