Genealogy: Vital Records

What if I need a record from out of state?

Check online resources to determine current laws and fees. Order forms can be downloaded and emailed or printed and mailed.

What do you have at the Main Library that might help me locate a vital record?

We have parish and county name indexes for marriages, like the popular Hunting For Bears series. Refer to the Diocese of Baton Rouge records (encompassing most of the Florida parishes), the Archdiocese of New Orleans records, or the Southwest Louisiana Records by Father Donald Hebert for Catholic Church records.

How much do I need to know to get a record?

A full name and approximate year of the event (birth, marriage, death). 

How will obituaries help me?

Obituaries give date of death and next of kin. Click here for a how-to guide for locating Obituaries.

Vital records are those documents which are concerned with birth, marriages, and deaths. Births for Louisiana have been officially registered since 1918. New Orleans started keeping records much earlier.

Louisiana State Archives

• Orleans parish birth records for 1819-1912 (births over 100 years ago) (Index for 1790-1819, but no records)
• Orleans parish marriage records for 1870-1962 (Orleans parish marriages over 50 years ago) (Index for 1831-1869, but no records)
• Orleans parish death records for 1819-1962 (deaths over 50 years ago) (Index for 1804-1818, but no records)
• Statewide death records for 1911-1962 (deaths over 50 years ago)

Marriage Licenses (1840-Present)

Please call the parish clerk of court's office.

Vital Records Registry: Department of Health and Hospitals

For births less than 100 years and deaths less than 50 years visit the Vital Records Registry through the Department of Health and Hospitals.