East Baton Rouge Parish Library
Bluebonnet Regional Branch

With one of the finest genealogical collections in Louisiana, the
library is located at 9200 Bluebonnet Boulevard.

The Genealogy Department telephone is 225-763-2283.
Hours: 9-9 Monday-Thursday; 9-6 Friday-Saturday; 2-6 Sunday.

Library Holdings:

The genealogy department has on microfilm all available Federal census records from 1790-1900 for the entire United States.
The library also has federal census records for selected states from 1910 through 1930. The Soundex (census index on microfilm) is available for 1900 through 1930 for  selected southern states. Other microfilm in the collection includes Revolutionary War Pension, Bounty Land Records, some records of passengers into the Port of New Orleans, Census of the Five Civilized Tribes and other Native American records, assorted Baton Rouge newspapers from the 19th century, and Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for various towns in Louisiana. Please call and check availability before you come. 

In-house use of state purchased databases  makes searching any census record possible and fairly easy with every-name indexes
available for most census records at this time. There are three computers reserved for genealogy use. The databases may be
used at ANY of the many computers in the library. The advantage of the genealogy computers is a longer reservation time and
access to nearby staff help. 

The Bluebonnet Collection includes over 15,000 books, bound periodicals, a family vertical file, a family name index file,
over 400 maps, and a varied collection of genealogy CDs. The Catholic Church records by Father Donald Hebert, the Baton Rouge Diocese, and the New Orleans Diocese are particularly helpful to the Louisiana researcher. The collection also houses many indexes in book form as well.

The library also houses the Annie Moody Laurie Collection which belongs to the local Daughters of the American Revolution.
The Bluebonnet collection is available for browsing through the catalog found at the main website: http://www.ebr.lib.la.us/
The Annie Moody Collection may be viewed through the Genealogy links webpage. While the collection focuses largely on
the south and east, the midwest and north are represented but not as thoroughly covered. The genealogy department has a
large microfilm reading room with 10 stations, a reader/printer that makes microfilm and fiche copies and three photocopiers.
The room is frequently too hot or too cold so be prepared for either. The library can not make change, but the copiers will
take one dollar bills. There are a number of eating establishments nearby but no suitable place to eat onsite. No vending
machines are available.

Classes for beginning genealogy are held periodically. Check with the Library for date and time. Other genealogy programs
are presented on a regular basis. The staff is friendly and well qualified to help you find the tools needed to do your
research. The staff can assist newcomers with strategies to get started and the librarian is available to help with more
in-depth research problems.

Submitted to the LAGenWeb Archives
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