New Orleans Collection
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Abstract
The New Orleans Collection documents the expansion, maintenance, and administration of the city during the antebellum period, especially 1804-1836. The bulk of the collection is in French; items are also in English, and, occasionally, Spanish. Included in the New Orleans Collection are numerous contracts and surveyor reports; financial documents; petitions, reports, and financial documents of the Spanish Cabildo; letters and petitions to the mayor and the City Council; City Council resolutions; payroll records for city workers; levee dues records, cargo manifests, and bills of lading; license bonds; tax receipts and reports; property and land records; depositions given before the mayor; Garde de Ville and commissary reports; fire company rosters; medical reports; and correspondence. Many of these items are contemporary copies.
Historical Note
(Events in the city's history most relevant to items in collection)
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(Sources: Herbert Asbury, The French Quarter; Henry Rightor, ed., Standard History of New Orleans, Louisiana (1900); Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins, The New Orleans Cabildo: Colonial Louisiana's First City Government, 1769-1803; Louisiana State Museum, The Cabildo: Two Centuries of Louisiana History [http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cabildo.htm]; Kimberly Hanger, A Medley of Cultures: Louisiana History at the Cabildo.)
French words frequently found in collection:
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Mayors of New Orleans, frequently found in collection:
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(Source: New Orleans Public Library, City Archives and Louisiana Division Special Collections, Fact Finder, http://nutrias.org/~nopl/facts/mayors.htm)
Arrangement
The New Orleans Collection is organized into nineteen series:
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- Series I. Cabildo Records, 1770-1819, undated
- Series II. Mayoral Records, 1804-1854
- Series III. City Council Records, 1805-1858, undated
- Series IV. Public Works Records, 1804-1861 (bulk 1820s)
- Series V. Shipping Records, 1802-1875, undated
- Series VI. License Bonds, 1816-1861 (bulk 1836)
- Series VII. Financial Records, 1803-1883 (bulk 1820s)
- Series VIII. Property Records, 1807-1888
- Series IX. Legal Records, 1807-1868
- Series X. Police Department Reports, 1808-1825
- Series XI. Fire Department Rosters, 1861-1862 (bulk Oct. 1862)
- Series XII. Medical Reports, 1813, 1817, 1830
- Series XIII. Correspondence, 1805-1879, 1904
- Series XIV. Freemason Documents, 1868
- Series XV. Education Records: Invoices for School Books, 1841, 1848
- Series XVI. Poetry, undated
- Series XVII. Military Certificate, 1859
- Series XVIII. Railroad Images, undated
- Series XIX. Fragments, undated
Scope and Content Note
The New Orleans Collection documents the expansion, maintenance, and administration of the city during the antebellum period, especially 1804-1836. The bulk of the collection is in French; items are also in English, and, occasionally, Spanish. Included in the New Orleans Collection are numerous contracts and surveyor reports that detail the construction and repair needs of bridges, streets, levees, canals, sidewalks, and buildings in the Vieux Carre, Faubourgs Marigny and St. Mary, and Bayou St. John. Financial documents for city accounts, such as bills, receipts, and promissory notes, further itemize construction work completed and materials used.
Also included in this collection are petitions, reports, and financial documents of the Spanish Cabildo; letters and petitions to the mayor and the City Council; City Council resolutions; payroll records for city workers; levee dues records, cargo manifests, and bills of lading; license bonds; tax receipts and reports; property and land records; depositions given before the mayor; Garde de Ville and commissary reports; fire company rosters; medical reports; and correspondence. Many of these items are contemporary copies.
This collection supports research in the history of New Orleans, particularly in the physical expansion and maintenance of the antebellum city, and in the regulation of public life and work. As the majority of material is municipal, few items are personal in nature. However, citizens' private concerns and activities are expressed in letters and petitions to the mayor and City Council, in depositions given before the mayor, and in reports of the Garde de Ville. Items relating to the yellow fever outbreak of 1817, hospital administration, and the Board of Health can be found among the letters and petitions to the mayor and City Council, and in a small series of medical reports.
Few items in the New Orleans Collection deal directly with slavery or free persons of color, with social or religious organizations, or with military activities.
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Access Restrictions
Materials in this collection may be stored offsite. For more information on making arrangements to consult them, please visit www.nyhistory.org/library/visit.
Use Restrictions
Taking images of documents from the library collections for reference purposes by using hand-held cameras and in accordance with the library's photography guidelines is encouraged. As an alternative, patrons may request up to 20 images per day from staff.
Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.
Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions
Preferred Citation
This collection should be cited as BV New Orleans, The New-York Historical Society .
Location of Materials
Provenance
Purchase, Charles F. Heartman, 1943