The Lost Friends database provides access to more than 2,500 advertisements placed in the Southwestern Christian Advocate in the decades following the Civil War by individuals searching for loved ones lost in slavery. Published in New Orleans from 1877 to 1929, the Advocate reached readers across the South via a broad network of black churches and other subscribers. Digital reproductions of the Lost Friends ads are courtesy of Hill Memorial Library, Louisiana State University Libraries, and the Bridwell Library, Southern Methodist University.