What are Directories and how do I use them?
The historical books found within the Directories sub-collection are a helpful resource to use alongside our maps while conducting your family and town history research. The majority of the collection is comprised of city and town directories which were essentially precursors to the modern phone book that listed names, addresses, occupations as well as advertisements for the local businesses. We purposely collected city and town directories which are of the same geographic areas and years as our maps so that you can look up an individuals address within a directory to help you locate that person on a map. Some states will have professional directories that contains the name of every physician, lawyer, or musician contemporary to the publication date of that book. Also helpful to the researcher are books whose topics include members lists, yearbooks, and printings from social groups. You can browse a directory page by page or you can search for a specific page by exact keyword such as a
