(US-NYC) New York Public Library Digitizes City Directories 1786 through 1922/3

[Jan Meisels Allen janmallen@att.net]

X-No-archive: yes
The New York Public Library announced this week that they are digitizing its
collection of New York City Directories 1786-1922/23. Using City Directories
is a wonderful genealogical tool as it gives us perspective of where our
ancestors were at a specific time and place. Prior to telephone directories,
city directories were the way to locate people. The information in the
directories include: name, address, profession and sometimes marital status
(listing a woman as a widow). As the city directories lists addresses, they
are helpful when searching for people in the census. Unlike telephone
directories, one did not require a telephone to be listed. The city
directories began in the United States after the Revolutionary War. In some
instances they provide history of the area and era. One had to subscribe
(pay) to be included. The directories were available to those who were not
included, again for a fee.

The first of the city directories to be digitized are 1849/50 through 1923,
the next being scanned are 1786-1848/9. The entire collection will be
completely online in the coming months.

You may access them free from the New York Public Library Digital
Collections portal at: http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/. Type New York
City Directories into the search bar.

To read more about the New York Public Library digitization of city
directories see:
https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/09/21/new-york-city-directories-free-online

The New York Public Library encompasses, Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island.
The boroughs of Queens and Kings (Brooklyn) each have their own library
systems. In 2015 the IAJGS Records Access Alert posted the Brooklyn Public
Library digitizing city directories.

Thank you to Teven Laxer, member, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring
Committee for informing us about this new free online genealogical research
tool.

Jan Meisels Allen
Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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