City Directories

As well as the alphabetical name listing, most city directories have a business section classified by occupation, grocers, physicians, etc.

The major online sources are:

Ancestry Library Edition includes many city directories.  Open Search in top black band, and choose Card Catalog. Then  choose Schools, Directories & Church Histories, then City & Area Directories. Then refine by geography and/or date. There are UK as well as American directories... Many of the directories can be browsed (on the right).  For example;  U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995

Tufts Boston City Directories

The Boston Directory, 1789 to 1900 (Boston Athenaeum)

HathiTrust   In Advanced Catalog search try:

  • Title: Boston [etc.] – Subject: Directories
  • Also try Title: Boston Directory

These produce overlapping but different results.

Internet Archive. Put in “city directory” your city.

Digital Public Library of America. Put in “city directory” your city

Other sources:

Some directories are available only on microfiche or microfilm:

City Directories of the United States of America identifies holdings of paper and microform copies. Includes many small cities.  Use map to start.

American directories through 1860. 6820 microfiches
HOLLIS Record 
Guide: Bibliography of American directories through 1860, by Dorothea N. Spear. Worcester, Mass., American Antiquarian Society, 1961, 389 p.
HOLLIS Record

Continued by
City directories of the United States. Harvard only has these directories for Boston (1861-1960), Cambridge (1902-1935) and Columbus, Ohio (1861-1901), all of which are available online.

For cities we don’t have use U.S. City Directories on Microfilm in the [Library of Congress] Microform Reading Room (bottom of page) to specify the reel, then Interlibrary Loan.

This book offers an appendix on the biases and limitations of city directories:
The plain people of Boston, 1830-1860: a study in city growth, by Peter R. Knights. NY: Oxford University Press, 1971, 204 p.
HOLLIS Record

Additional resources for directories

Cyndi's List

For rural districts see Landownership Maps and Atlases. Available via Ancestry Library Edition: choose Card Catalog in the Search menu, then under Filter by collection, hit Maps, Atlases and Gazetteers, then North America.

Great Britain

Historical Directories of England & Wales (1760s-1910s)

Overview of British directories: Directories in England and Wales. For other countries, change the country name in the url.