Free Online Louisiana City Directories

City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another important set of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.

This activity of presenting links is a collaborative effort between The Ancestor Hunt and Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website, which presents links to directories of all types that are available online, including free collections as well as those available only via subscription. I wish to thank Miriam for her help in launching this category of records at The Ancestor Hunt.

So, what kinds of directories are available to the researcher?  Naturally city and business directories, but also telephone directories, and alumni, farm, lodge, rural, and social directories.

What can you find in these records? How about:

• Full names, including middle names
• Spouse name
• Occupation
• Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
• Maps
• Businesses (and index to advertisers).
• Addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, and newspapers.
• Whether a woman is a widow (including the name of her husband).
• List of marriages and deaths of the previous year.
• Death date.
• etc.

Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching historical city and other directories:​

• FamilySearch – United States Directories
• How to Use City Directories In Your Genealogy Research 
• What’s In A City Directory? (a 10 article series about City Directories)

And here are various places where you can find other city directories online: 

• Where to Find City Directories Online

Note: Some of the links listed take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.

(Updated August 2023)

Louisiana City Directories

Links to these free collections are presented initially with statewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:

Statewide

•  Bouchereau’s revised Directory for 1908-9,  of the sugar and sirup manufacturers and cane growers of Louisiana (arranged Alphabetically)
•  Church Directory Advertisement African American Churches 1979
•  Directory of Louisiana Cities, Towns and Villages,  1976 bicentennial Edition
•  First Baptist Church Directory, 1900 First Baptist Church (Baton Rouge, La.), LDL
•  Lloyd’s Steamboat Directory and Disasters on the Western Waters, 1864 In 1856

Algiers

•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861

Baton Rouge

•  1895 Baton Rouge City Directory
•  1895 Baton Rouge City Directory Baton Rouge (La.)
•  1915, Louisiana State University Directory
•  Old Directory Lists of Residents of Baton Rouge in 1856

Carrollton

•  Carrollton City Directory, Gardner, 1867-8
•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861

DeRidder

•  1925, Telephone Directory: DeRidder, La, Merryville, La
•  Telephone Directory, DeRidder, La, Merryville, La., 1925

Greenville

•  Greenville City Directory, Gardner, 1867-8

Gretna

•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861
•  Gretna City Directory, 1867

Jefferson City

•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861

Lake Charles

•  Worley’s Directory of Lake Charles, Louisiana – 1913

McDonough

•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861

Merryville

•  1925, Telephone Directory: DeRidder, La, Merryville, La

Monroe

•  1911, Monroe, Louisiana and West Monroe, Louisiana City Directory
•  Monroe, Louisiana and West Monroe, Louisiana City Directory

Natchitoches

•  Northwestern State College of Louisiana Alumni Directory, 1916
•  Northwestern State College of Louisiana Alumni Directory, 1921
•  Northwestern State College of Louisiana Alumni Volume 1916
•  Northwestern State College of Louisiana Alumni Volume 1921

New Orleans

•  1846 New Orleans City Directory 
•  1883, Soards’ New Orleans City Directory
•  1912 New Orleans City Directory
•  1913 New Orleans City Directory
•  1913, New Orleans City Directory
•  1920, Social Register, New Orleans
•  1922, Social Register, New Orleans
•  1941, Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in New Orleans
•  Cohen’s New Orleans Directory 1855
•  Edwards’ Annual Directory for New Orleans, 1870-1873
•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory
•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory 1861-69
•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1861
•  Gardner’s New Orleans Directory for 1866
•  Index of Spanish Citizens entering New Orleans
•  New Orleans City Directory, 1912
•  New Orleans City Directory, 1913
•  New Orleans City Directory, Edwards, 1870
•  New Orleans City Directory, Edwards, 1871
•  New Orleans City Directory, Michel, 1846
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1915
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1930
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1931
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1932
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1933
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1934
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1935
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1938
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1940
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1942
•  New Orleans City Directory, Soards, 1971
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1823
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1824
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1834
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1838
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1841
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1843
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1846
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1849
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1853
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1854
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1855
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1856
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1857
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1858
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1859
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1866
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1867
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1868
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1869
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1870
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1871
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1872
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1873
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1874
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1875
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1876
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1877
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1878
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1879
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1880
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1881
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1882
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1883
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1884
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1885
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1886
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1887
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1888
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1889
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1890
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1891
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1892
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1893
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1894
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1895
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1896
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1897
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1898
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1899
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1900
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1901
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1902
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1903
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1904
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1905
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1906
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1907
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1908
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1909
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1910
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1911
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1912
•  New Orleans City Directory, Unknown, 1914
•  New Orleans in 1805,  a Directory and a Census
•  New Orleans in 1805,: a Directory and a Census
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1874-1881
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1882-1883
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1884-1887
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1888-1890
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1891
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1892
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1894
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1895-1897
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory 1898-1900
•  Soard’s New Orleans City Directory, 1874-1900
•  Soards’ New Orleans City Directory, 1875
•  Soards’ New Orleans City Directory, 1878
•  Social Register, New Orleans, 1920
•  Social Register, New Orleans, 1922

Shreveport

•  Shreveport City Directory – 1917
•  Shreveport City Directory – 1921

West Monroe

•  1911, Monroe, Louisiana and West Monroe, Louisiana City Directory