Friday, September 2, 2011

Finding City Directories

Salt Lake City, Utah 1869 Directory by Smith
Genealogists are adept at using federal and state census records, but often stop short of continuing their research in city directories.  Taken at various years and locations, city directories can supply interesting information, plus fill in gaps between census years.  There are many in transcription and/or digital format on Internet.  You can also find them in libraries, historical societies and archives.  The trick is to find them!

Miriam Midkiff's Online Historical Directories Website is a great place to start when looking for online directories.  There you will find links to city directories for the United States and other countries.  Not all states have complete listings because it is a work in progress.  Some of the links will take you to free sites for city directories and others to subscription sites.  The city directories are for a variety of years and may be city, county, town directories, as well as business and farm directories.

Doniphan County, Kansas Directory, 1868-1869 by Smith
When using the website, be sure you read Miriam's blog, Online Historical Directories,  for updates and interesting information about directories.  Her web page is always under construction as directories are located.  It's one of those you bookmark and remind yourself to check frequently.




1 comment:

Miriam Robbins said...

Thanks so much for the shout out about my site, Ruby! I do encourage your readers to return frequently, as I am always finding more directories to link to. They are a wonderful resource to help fill in those between-census years in finding elusive ancestors!

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