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Resources for Finding Passenger Arrival Records at the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana
Compiled by Joe Beine
New Orleans Passenger Lists - Immigration Records
This is a listing of sources online and off for finding passenger lists for the port of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is divided into two categories: "Before 1820" and "1820-1952." Some of the items listed may overlap within the two time frames so be sure to look at both categories. NARA=National Archives & Records Administraion; FHL=Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
New Orleans Passenger Arrivals Before 1820
- General Index: Passenger and Immigration Lists Index - Edited by P. William Filby. Although not specific to New Orleans, this index is the good source for finding immigration material for the pre-1820 time frame. It is available in a multi-volume book series or online. For more information see the first listing at the Finding Passenger Lists Before 1820 webpage.
- Book: New World Immigrants a Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature by Michael Tepper (Editor); GPC 1988. Includes "Ship Lists of Passengers Leaving France for Louisiana" (1718-1724) originally published in the Louisiana Historical Society Quarterly
New Orleans Passenger Arrivals 1820-1952
New Orleans Passenger Lists Indexes...
- Online Index: New Orleans Passenger Lists Index and Images 1820-1963 (with some gaps) (at Ancestry/requires payment) includes digitized images of the microfilmed passenger lists.
- Note: New Orleans ship passenger lists from July 1, 1948-Nov. 30, 1954 have not survived are not included in the above database. An index for part of this time frame is available at FamilySearch on digitized microfilm. See "Index to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans 1900-1952" below.
- Online Index: New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1820-1945 (with gaps) free with registration at FamilySearch; includes images of the passenger lists
Additional New Orleans Indexes...
New Orleans Passenger Lists on Microfilm...
Other Finding Aids...
- Microfilm: Work Projects Administration Transcript of Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, Louisiana, 1813-1849 (indexed) [with gaps*] (NARA Publication M2009/2 rolls).
These 2 microfilm rolls have the same material as the books listed just above, but coverage only goes to 1849. These records are only partially helpful for finding pre-1820 lists because of the gaps*. They do contain an index to the 1820-1849 lists (although it far from complete). They may also contain transcripts of passenger lists that have subsequently been lost so they should be checked if you cannot find your ancestor in the online indexes listed above. Both rolls have typewritten indexes. NOTE: for the period 1820-1849 this microfilm should be used as a supplementary resource only. The online index listed above is a better resource for this time frame.
- M2009-1 [FHL #2155567] contains...
- Vol. 1 (covers 1813-1837 with gaps*) [1834-1836 are missing, but are included in Vol. 2]
- Vol. 2 (covers 1834-1838) [1837 is in both Vols. 1 & 2 but each listing includes some different ships]
- M2009-2 [FHL #2155568] contains Vol. 3 (1839-1849)
- Online Transcriptions from this Series
*Known to be missing: all of 1814, 1816-1820; only 5 lists are included for 1815 for the months March & April (these have been transcribed and put on the Internet; all of 1813 has also been transcribed -- see above); other gaps
- Microfilm: (1822 & 1851 only) Title: Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans, 1822, 1851; Author: United States Bureau of Customs
- Passenger lists 1822 - FHL Microfilm Roll #906363 Item 1 - this material was originally kept by the New Orleans Office of the Mayor.
- Passenger lists 1851 - FHL Microfilm Roll #906709 Item 7 - covers April & May 1851 only - all ships listed on this microfilm roll are also included in the NARA microfilm publication listed above (Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New Orleans 1820-1902) except these two: Schooner Union (arrived 20 April 1851 from San Juan de Nicaragua) and Bark Cora (arrived May 9, 1851 from Richmond)
- Books: New Orleans Ship Lists 1820-1823, 2 vols; Edited by Milton P. Rieder, Jr. & Norma Gaudet Rieder; Metairie, Louisiana, 1966. Volume 1 covers January 1820 to May 1821; Volume 2 covers June 1821 to June 1823. Each volume is arranged chronologically with an index in the back. You might try your local library.
New Orleans Passenger Departures
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