City directory

Summary

A city directory is a listing of residents, streets, businesses, organizations or institutions, giving their location in a city. It may be arranged alphabetically or geographically or in other ways.

A list of persons by house number, on a street
1910 directory page for North Adams Street, Peoria, Illinois

Information edit

Antedating telephone directories, they were in use for centuries.[1] Many older directories have been digitized and are available on the open web and through subscription databases.[2]

Examples include Kelly's Directory, R.L. Polk & Company, the Boston Directory, and the New York City Directory. Henderson's Directories were available for several cities in Canada.

References edit

  1. ^ "City Directories". www.oberlinheritagecenter.org. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  2. ^ Moazeni, Sarah. "Research Guides: New York City: City Directories". guides.nyu.edu. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  • Richard Harris, Ben Moffat (June 1986). "How Reliable is the Modern City Directory?". Canadian Geographer. 30 (2): 154–158. doi:10.1111/j.1541-0064.1986.tb01040.x.
  • George G. Morgan. "City vs. Telephone Directories". Ancestry.com.
  • A. V. Williams (1913). The Development and Growth of City Directories. Cincinnati: Williams directory co.
  • Florence May Hopkins (1919). Reference Guides that Should be Known and how to Use Them: Atlases; City Directories; Gazetteers. The Willard Company.

Further reading edit

  • Philip Sutton (2012), "Direct Me NYC 1786: A History of City Directories in the United States and New York City", NYPL Blogs, New York Public Library

External links edit

  • Housing Authority Directory