Police Department and Correctional Institutions
New Orleans Police Department
The Archives holds records of local police agencies dating from as early as the 1820s. It was not until the 1880s, though, that the records included any information that might be considered to be useful for genealogical researchers. Keep in mind that not all persons who were arrested were really criminals – some were taken into custody by mistake, some were accused of minor crimes or misdemeanors, and some were guilty of such “crimes” as “insulting a white person” or “singing and dancing with slaves.” The following series of police, fire, and correctional institution’s records will be of interest for at least some family histories.
Correctional Institutions
The Archives holds records for several of New Orleans’ correctional institutions from the antebellum period. Genealogy researchers should be aware that not everyone incarcerated in these jails, prisons, and other facilities was a criminal; vagrants, troubled children, and slaves being rented out to the city all spent time in the custody of municipal wardens and other correctional officers.
The rosters include all or part of the following information: name, age, height, complexion, nationality, occupation before joining the Department, marital status, grade within the Department, date appointed and assigned, date(s) of transfer(s), date(s) of promotion(s) or reduction(s), date of death, resignation, or dismissal, and cause of dismissal. The dates shown for the individual volumes are approximate.
v. 1 – 1889-1914
v. 2 – 1882-1896
v. 3 – 1889-1929
v. 4 – 1906-1946 (A-L)
v. 5 – 1906-1946 (M-Z)
v. 6 – 1906-1946 (M-Z)
- New Orleans Police Department Rosters are available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: TP430 1882-1946.
The City Archives holds a small collection of New Orleans Police Department arrest records available on microfilm. The microfilm volumes for 1881-1947 are unavailable due to condition issues. These are in the process of being digitized and will be available through Ancestry.com in the near future. The remaining microfilm volumes for 1948-1966 are unavailable to the public due to condition issues, but may be accessed and searched by staff. Email archivist@nolalibrary.org to request a search.
The request must include:
- Name of individual
- Date of arrest
- Time of arrest (if known)
- Item number (if known)
(Arrests made prior to the formation of the NOPD may be included, in a limited capacity, in the Early Police Records.)
The mug shots are 2 ½” x 4” cards with a photograph of the arrestee on one side and the following information on the reverse: identification number (this appears on both sides of the card), name, alias(es), date photograph taken, residence, occupation, criminal occupation, nativity, age, height, complexion, eyes (color), hair (color and appearance), beard, name of arresting officer(s), and other distinguishing features (scars, moles, teeth, and other observations, e. g., “bites nails.”).
The Bertillon cards are larger (6” x 6 ½”, 8” x 8”, and other sizes). They include the same information as the mug shots along with detailed facial measurements and descriptions. Later Bertillon cards also include fingerprints. Both series of records are arranged alphabetically by name of arrestee.
Mugshots and Bertillon Cards are available to search online.
Additional records from the New Orleans Police Department and its predecessors are available in the City Archives, including photographs, warrants, and offense reports.
The Police Jail was the facility designated for the incarceration of enslaved individuals who were accused of criminal acts (including runaways), who were being “hired out” to the city for the public works, who were being held at the request of their masters “for safe keeping,” etc. While not of direct genealogical use, some of the records do link the given names of enslaved individuals to the surnames of their masters. The documents also place individuals in the city at specified time periods; this could be especially useful in tracing the movements of persons who “ran away” from rural locations.
- Records of the Police Jail are available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number TX205, TX420, and TX430.
Record of Vagrants Entering the Workhouse, First Municipality, 1842- 1852
White offenders were incarcerated in workhouses, where they were put to useful employment while paying their “debt to society.” The volume records the names and birthplaces of the facility’s inmates.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number TXA420 1st Mun.
Register of Persons Committed to the Third Municipality Workhouse, 1844-1851.
This volume records for each individual prisoner his number; name; age; height; complexion; color of hair and eyes; marks; place of birth; whether or not naturalized, educated, or married; habits; and occupation (also included in the volume are statements of the sick persons admitted to the hospital in 1847; and a record, by name, of the persons dying in the hospital during the same year).
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number TXA420 3rd Mun.
Record of the Medical Care Administered to the Inmates of the New Orleans Workhouse, 1854-1856
Records treatments administered to inmates in both the male and female departments of the institution. The names of the prisoners and the remedy prescribed are noted, and in some cases the illness being treated is also indicated. The records are very brief and written in pencil.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number TXA205m 1854-1856
Records of facility for juvenile offenders. In addition to the proceedings of Board meetings, the 2 volumes of minutes also contain copies of various committee reports, financial reports, and narrative reports of the superintendent. These latter reports include the names of those being admitted and discharged, the medical condition of the inmates, the names of individuals to whom inmates were indentured, details of the work performed by the inmates, etc.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: TT300, 1856-1870.
Record of Releases from the Boys’ House of Refuge, 1866-1867
This brief, four-page volume records indentures as well as releases. Individual entries show name of inmate, date of release/indenture, name of party authorizing release, and the name and address of the person to whom the inmate was released or indentured.
- Available on microfilm in the City Archives, call number: TT410, 1866-1867.
Records of the House of Detention include annual and monthly reports, a medical report, and a record of the release or transfer of federal prisoners.
- Records of the House of Detention, 1918-1954
- Available to registered researchers by appointment.
- Unfilmed materials should be requested according to our Materials Request Guidelines.
