NOPL DOES NOT HAVE BIRTH CERTIFICATES!

Birth information in the New Orleans newspapers is limited to paid birth announcements (similar to obituary notices and usually found on the same page as the obituaries) and the report of births carried in the "Records of the Day" column. The Louisiana Division does not have an index to either source.

The data published in the "Records of the Day" column was supplied to the newspaper by the Recorder of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, a city agency under the New Orleans Board of Health. When the city's separate vital records registry was taken over by the State Vital Records Office in 1974, publication of the "Records of the Day" column was discontinued. Within the last several years, though, publication of some birth data has been resumed by the Times-Picayune, usually in the Thursday or Sunday "Our Town" or "Picayune" section. These birth listings are irregular, and date of birth is not given. Even in the pre-1974 publication, dates of birth were not listed. One should not assume that a birth listed in the newspaper of October 11, 1947, for example, took place on October 10. The "Records of the Day" column generally did not appear in the Sunday or Monday editions of the newspaper.

The Louisiana Division will photocopy the "Records of the Day" column for specific dates requested for a fee of $3.00 per date. If we do not find a column on a given day (because it was a Sunday, Monday, or for whatever other reason), there will be no refund due. Please, limit these requests to five dates at a time.

All official New Orleans birth certificates over 100 years old have recently been transferred to the custody of the Louisiana State Archives. For further information contact:

Louisiana State Archives
Archives and Records Section
P.O. Box 94125
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9125

An Index to Orleans Parish Birth Records, 1790-1897 [FF655i] is available on microfilm and at US GenWeb's Orleans Parish website and at Louisiana State Archives' Vital Records Records Search (and on Ancestry.com -- subscription only).

Copies of official New Orleans birth certificates less than 100 years old can be obtained only from:

Louisiana State Registrar & Vital Records
P.O. Box 60630
New Orleans, La. 70160

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Form L12 (Rev. 7/12/2016)