Colonial Records in the Americas

The Louisiana State Museum is interested in linking the French Superior Council and Spanish Cabildo records in its possession at the Louisiana Historical Center with other related records in the Americas in order to better facilitate research of the era. Please find a list below of partner archives.

Repositories of French and Spanish Colonial Records in the world:

Canada:

• Ottawa, National Library and Archives of Canada, Documents and maps of Louisiana

Cuba:

• Havana, Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Correspondence of the governors and other officials, documents relating to general administration, commerce, finances, trade, Indians, land concessions, the conquest of West Florida, censuses, letters from commandants of posts, customs, tariff, sale, lease and repair of state and church property (1737 – 1823)

France:

• Aix-en-Provence, Archives Nationales d’Outre-Mer, Archives des Colonies, Correspondence
• Nantes, Centre des archives diplomatiques, Correspondence and archives of the French consulate in New Orleans
• Paris, Archives Nationales, Centre d'accueil et de recherches des archives nationales, Archives de la Marine, Correspondence
• Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Maps and manuscripts related to the French Louisiana

Mexico:

• New Mexico, University Libraries, Colonial Spanish Manuscripts

Spain:

• Madrid, Archivo Histórico Nacional, Documents concerning the cession of Lousiana by Spain to France
• Sevilla, Archivos General de Indias, Maps and archives of the Spanish period of Louisiana
• Tenerife, Documentation Center of the Canary Islands and America (CEDOCAM), Documents concerning the Spanish period

United States:

• Archives of the University of Notre Dame Archives
• Atlanta, Emory University, Voyages: the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
• Austin, University of Texas, Documents and early manuscripts of Louisiana (Parsons collection), The Black Diaspora Archive, The Texas Domestic Slave Trade Project https://www.utexas.edu/
• Baton Rouge, Library of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Department of Archives and Manuscripts, Documents related to the French period
• Berkeley, Bancroft Library of the University of California, Correspondence of governors and lieutenant governors with officials in Spain and with commandants of outlying posts in Louisiana (1764 – 1809)
• Chicago, Newberry Library, Memoirs relating to the Mississippi Valley
• Chicago, Newberry Library, University of Toronto et al., French Renaissance Paleography
• Jefferson City, Missouri State Archives, Land Records of French and Spanish, Papers of Original Claimants, Private Land Surveys, Record of Land Title Books 1777-1857
• Greensboro, University of North Carolina, Race and Slavery Petitions Project
• Greensboro, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and University of North Carolina, North Carolina Runaway Slave Advertisements Project
• Miami, University of Miami, Collaborative Archive from the African Diaspora
• New Orleans, Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Registry of the Archdiocese
• New Orleans, Historic New Orleans Collection, Archives related to the French administration in the late 18th century
• New Orleans, New Orleans Public Library, Deeds and deliberations of the Cabildo (1769 – 1803)
• New Orleans, Research Center, Notarial archives
• New Orleans, Tulane University, Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Manuscripts and documents related to the building of New Orleans
• New York, City College of the University of New York, CUNY Dominican Studies Institute, First Blacks in the Americas: The African Presence in the Dominican Republic and Spanish Paleography Tool
• New York, New York Public Library, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division Digital Collections
• New York, New York University, Digital Aponte
• Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame, Archives of the University of Notre Dame, Records of the Diocese of Louisiana and the Floridas (1576-1803)
• Archdiocesan Archives & Records, Archdiocese of St. Louis
• Missouri State Archives
• St. Louis City Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar
• St. Louis, Archdiocese of St. Louis, Archdiocesan Archives & Records, Records of the St. Louis Archdiocese (1816 – )
• St. Louis, Recorder of Deeds and Vital Records Registrar, St. Louis French-Spanish Civil Records, transcriptions on microfilm
• Tulsa, Thomas Gilcrease Institute of American History and Art, Materials on Spanish explorations
• Washington D. C., Library of Congress, Documents, maps concerning the French Louisiane, the Spanish Luisiana and the American Louisiana
• Washington D. C., National Archives, Department of State, General Records of the Department of State (Record Group 59), Louisiana Territory Papers, 1796-1812

Below you will find a viewable GoogleDoc that is regularly updated with citations and references made to this collection by other published works:

• Louisiana Colonial Documents | Further Reading