Telephone Directories at The New York Public Library: City Directories

NYC Directories Available on-site at NYPL

In addition to the directories freely available online through NYPL's digital portal, NYPL provides on-site access to directories through subscription databases, on microfilm, and in print (note that to preserve our print directories, they are only made available when not accessible online or on microfilm).

Subscription Databases

Digital copies of early New York City directories can be accessed through several subscription databases that are available on-site at NYPL:

Ancestry Library Edition  -- available at all NYPL locations. There is a link to City Directories on Ancestry Library Edition home page (or use Ancestry card catalog to find "U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995"). Can search by name or browse by years.

Fold3  -- available at NYPL Research Libraries. Not keyword searchable, but easier to browse than on Ancestry

Microfilm 

If you are looking for later directories, or can’t find the specific year you are looking for online, NYPL holds a nearly complete collection of New York City directories on microfilm.
New York City directories [microform]. (1786 - 1933/34) City directories for New York City were not published after 1934.

City Directories of the United States (1861 - 1960)
More than 1200 cities, towns, and counties are represented in microfilm format.
Search the catalog by city name + directories (keyword search). 
To request, use call number *ZAN-G67 + City + Years being requested.
Guide/Index to City Directories of the United States - Detailed list of localities including suburban areas.
U.S. City Directories on Microfilm  - Library of Congress - Quick guide for coverage by state and date.
Many but not all of these directories are online in Ancestry Library Edition.

Print

NYPL also holds print copies of many early NYC directories. To locate these in our online catalog, it is useful to know the main directory publishers, which include the following:

• Hodge, Allen and Campbell, New York directory and register for the year . . . [1789-1796]
• Longworth, The American Almanak, New-York register, and city directory [1797-1842] (some years available online through HathiTrust)
• Doggett, Doggett’s New-York City directory for . . .  [1845-1851] (some years available online through HathiTrust)
• Trow, Trow’s New York City directory [1853-1897], Trow’s general directory of the borough of Manhattan and Queens [1898-1913] (some years available online through HathiTrust)

You can also try searching for New York City directories in our online catalog with the following subject headings:

• New York (N.Y.) -- Directories.
• Manhattan (New York, N.Y.) -- Directories.
• [BOROUGH] (New York, N.Y.) -- Directories.

Directories for Other Cities

Directories for cities and towns outside of New York City are also available, both online and at NYPL.

Free Online Sources

• the free digital libraries HathiTrust, Internet Archive, and Google books have digitized early directories for many cities other than New York.
• note that these sites are all keyword searchable so you can search for the name of a specific person directly. Just make sure you are searching "full text" rather than the "catalog" or "metadata"

Available at NYPL

• the subscription databases Ancestry Library Edition  (available at all NYPL locations) and Fold3 (available at NYPL Research Libraries) include directories for many a number of cities
• print copies: try searching our online catalog with the keywords “[name of city or area] Directories”