LIST: Unfortunately, although a wonderful resource, I unsubscribed from this listserve years back as I can not devote the time to answer all queries, yet I do have many friends and fellow genealogist that use the site, one of which was kind enough to post this for me. First, I'd like to thank Ms. Riffel for a good assessment of how the vital records were originally index and for giving me an opportunity to respond. It seems that some are confused in regard to our new online vital records index. First, we do not intend nor are in competition with any "paid subscription" genealogical websites, yet in the spirit of public service we would like to give our patrons a wonderful tool for free online. The fact is that our vital records online index is not fully operational nor have we publicized such. There will be times when we have to take the site offline to load more data and to "fine tune" the site which was created entirely by our I.T. staff at the Louisiana State Archives, which was quite a feat in itself as they run the Computer Section of the entire Secretary of State Department. Yet we felt that as it is being fine tuned we would allow patrons to "test drive" it as it currently contains over 1.3 million vital records indices, most of which were never available online before. We are currently working on getting all of our indices online in cooperation with the N.O.V.A. Genweb Index Project which has many created many online vital records indices from the 1800s. If you are not familiar with the work of this group, they are a wonderful group of volunteers around the world, many whom have ancestry in Orleans Parish, who for years have graciously devoted their time and effort in a cooperative effort with the Louisiana State Archives Research Library in entering into electronic form our public vital records indices to put online for patrons around the world at the Orleans Parish NOVA webpage via GenWeb. We thank you for your patience as this is the most ambitious and useful online genealogical tool we have ever created to serve our patrons. And although there is no "wild card" search per say, our advance search does have capabilities that are unavailable on many other genealogical websites, especially ones that are "free" to the public for which most are not. And please note, any paid website must get their information second hand as we house the originals; therefore we feel that we are the "authority" on public vital records in Louisiana as we are the only true record custodians of the originals regardless of what any paid website may advertise. One more positive note about our online index, thanks to our diligent staff and NOVA volunteers, many errors from the original indexes have been found and corrected on our website as they have been painstakingly manually entered some from the indices and many directly from the original records over several years as we house and continue to receive the public vital records. We welcome your input, comments and criticisms, and again thank you for your patience in this regard. Please call me or my staff at the Archives if you have any issues with our website and feel free to contact me directly in regard to any other questions regarding the public vital records of Louisiana. Thank You, Bill Stafford Director of Reference Services Louisiana Secretary of State Archives Division Phone (225)922-1196 email:bstafford@sos.louisiana.gov _www.sos.louisiana.gov_ (http://www.sos.louisiana.gov/) _www.geauxvote.com_ (http://www.geauxvote.com/) -----Original Message----- From: Judy Riffel [mailto:riffelj@bellsouth.net] Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2008 8:37 AM To: laorlean@rootsweb.com Cc: Bill Stafford Subject: Re: [LAORLEAN] LA Archives, Search Vital Records Norm: There is no simple answer to the question at to how the Archives' index to the vital records was created. They started out with the printed indexes created and sent to them by Vital Records Registry. These are what the NOVA people and Ancestry input from. At some point, I'm not certain of the date, the Archives started indexing the vital records directly from the certificates as they received them from Vital Records. Now, every year when they get a new batch, they index them from scratch. So, there may be some discrepancies with the printed indexes that are available in the Research Room as of whatever that date was. The Louisiana Statewide Death index on microfilm in the Research Room goes up to 1959 even though the Archives has only received deaths through 1957 so far. There's also an Orleans Birth Index through 1914 even though they currently have births only through 1907. [As a side note, there is a little known collection of Statewide and Orleans Death Indexes on microfilm at the Louisiana State Library that goes through 1974. I use this frequently when doing research for heir searching companies.] Added to the Louisiana Death Index is a group of nearly 600 "delayed" deaths. Some of these date back to the 1800s. So the statement that the Louisiana Deaths begin in 1911 is not entirely correct (Note that I say "correct," not "true" because I would never imply that they are lying). Also, the earliest Louisiana Statewide Death is dated 1900, not 1911, and the earliest Orleans Birth is dated 1790 (a delayed recording). I have copied Bill Stafford on my response because he does not subscribe to this list. If he wants, he can post the "official" response. Judy Riffel Baton Rouge **************Wondering what's for Dinner Tonight? Get new twists on family favorites at AOL Food. (http://food.aol.com/dinner-tonight?NCID=aolfod00030000000001)