Genealogy Guide: United States

Online Historical Directories

This website contains links to historical city directories for many U.S. cities and towns. These links include both free websites and subscription database websites.

New York City City and Telephone Directories

The Brooklyn Public Library has placed copies of the 1856 Brooklyn City Directory and of the following alphabetical and business (classified) telephone directories for New York City online:

• Alphabetical for all boroughs of New York City: 1909, 1910, 1914 (one copy incomplete, ending with company name “Richmond Produce” in the Staten Island section; another copy also incomplete, ending with last name “Roman”in the Brooklyn & Queens section & no Staten Island listings), 1915, 1917, 1920
• Alphabetical for Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens: 1910 (incomplete, ending with the last name “Trousdale” in the Brooklyn & Queens section)
• Alphabetical for Brooklyn: 1929-1932, 1934-1947, 1949-1967
• Alphabetical for Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island: 1924-1926, 1927 (first part of “A” section for combined Brooklyn and Queens is missing), 1928
• Classified business for Brooklyn: 1927-1929, 1931-1943
• Classified business for Queens: 1927, 1928

In addition, the New York Public Library has placed copies of the 1940 telephone books for all five boroughs of New York City: The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Staten Island, and Queens.

Subscription Databases

On Ancestry.com and Fold3.com, both of which require a paid subscription, you may search for name within historical city and telephone directories for many U.S. cities and towns and view images of the directory pages on which the name is found.

Note: Free access to Ancestry and Fold3 is provided at some public libraries, as well as at the Center for Jewish History. 

The Church of Latter-Day Saints’ Family History Library has microfilmed historical city and telephone directories from many towns/cities and counties across the U.S. To determine which microfilms are relevant to your research, search their catalog for the name of the town/city or county where you believe your ancestor lived and select the "Directories" category.