Publication Date
January 2000
Abstract
The Historic New Orleans Collection, as a museum and research center, seeks to document the developing profile of New Orleans. Awalk through the fabled cemeteries or "Cities of the Dead" in New Orleans reveals the French and Spanish colonial demography. While the German, Irish, French, and Italian immigrants received the most attention during the nineteenth century, there were also Belgian, Hungarian, Yugoslav, and Dutch immigrants. The 1850 census indicates that Louisiana had a significant foreignborn population even then. Immigrants accounted for 26 percent of the population in Louisiana, far greater than that of neighboring states. During the twentieth century, Louisiana opened its arms to immigrants-especially Vietnamese, and Hispanics primarily from Central America.