French-Language Manuscript Materials
The imprint of French culture on Louisiana and the Lower Mississippi Valley has been deep and long lasting. French explorers and colonists were among the earliest Europeans to arrive in the region, beginning in the seventeenth century. Louisiana, named for Louis XIV, belonged to France for much of the 1700s and again from 1800 until it was sold to the United States in 1803. French settlers came to Louisiana both directly from France and indirectly from other areas. The latter included Acadians expelled from present-day Nova Scotia in the mid-eighteenth century and refugees from St. Domingue (present-day Haiti) in 1804. Some followers of Napoleon arrived in Louisiana after their leader's defeat in 1814. Other French immigrants came to Louisiana for a variety of reasons throughout the nineteenth century.
The French-language manuscript resources in the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections (LLMVC) at LSU touch upon all these sources of French cultural influence. This guide to these resources includes descriptions of the papers of early colonists, French-speaking planters and free people of color in the nineteenth century, and residents of cities and towns like New Orleans and Natchitoches. The documents it describes came from farmers and merchants, writers and artists, women and men, the famous and the anonymous.
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Bourcier, Catherine Silly. Document, 1840. 1 item. Location: Misc.:B. Widow of Fran?ois C. Bourcier. A document signed by the recorder of mortgages in New Orleans, certifying the non-encumbrance of a slave belonging to Madame Catherine Silly. In French. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 36. |
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Bourcieu, Duree. Document, 1764. 1 item. Location: Misc.:B. Land conveyance by Duree Bourcieu, also spelled Bourcier, to Collet. Signed copy with signature of a New Orleans Notary. In French. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 35. Referenced in Guides: New Orleans to 1861, French
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Bourgeois, Louis Alexander. Certificate, 1788. 1 item. Location: Misc.:B. Louis Alexander Bourgeois was born and baptised in 1762, the son of James Henry Bourgeois and Marie Anne Belamy. Copy of his baptismal certificate made from original records in the archives of the Parish of St. Roche, Paris, France (1788). In French. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 893. Referenced in Guides: French
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Bourgeois, Pierre. Family Papers, 1771-1821. 3 items. Location: Misc.:B. Papers include a land transfer (1771), a property sale (1775), and a petition regarding ownership of slaves (1821). Partly in French and in Spanish. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 37. |
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Boutte, Baptiste. Papers, 1764, 1790-1791. 3 items. Location: Misc.:B. Papers include an original land deed (1764) and two promissory notes (1790 and 1791). New Orleans. In French. For further information, see online catalog. Mss. 38. Referenced in Guides: New Orleans to 1861, French
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