Telephone Directories at The New York Public Library: United States

Current Year: Reference Solutions  - Online with library card. Residential and business,
USA and Canada. Includes historical file for businesses starting with 2003.

Current Year: Verizon Directories Map - Print directories. Freely available online. Yellow pages, business and residence listings.

U.S. Telephone Directory Collection (1900 - 1999) Library of Congress 
Freely available online. 3500 directories. 

Ancestry Library Edition (in library only)
City directories and telephone directories are intermingled. Search just directories or browse digitized directories by selecting state, city or county and year. Examples of coverage:
Boston 1823 - 1981
Chicago 1839 - 1947
Houston 1877 - 1959
Philadelphia 1861 - 1950
San Francisco 1861 - 1970

Phonefiche Collection (microfiche) 1975 - 2005
The Library also has a large collection, about 20,000 localities, of United States telephone directories on microfiche. These are not listed in the catalog. Requests can be placed at the Reference Desk or by email using the call number: Phonefiche + City and State + years.

The Phonefiche Community Cross-reference Guide for this collection is available at the reference desk in the Rose Main Reading Room. Use this if you don't know what directory a locality, like a town or suburb, is listed in. 
Also available online in CRL Digital: Community cross-reference guide to Phonefiche
 

United States Telephone Directories (1883 - 2010)
Call number: ReCAP 12-29922
The Library also has a large collection of print United States telephone directories stored offsite in numbered boxes. You can locate the box number you need using the collection guide (above) and then place your request for delivery through the Research Catalog. Please contact staff for scanning requests from this collection. 
Collection Guide (detailed description)
United States telephone directories. Boxes 1-1000
United States telephone directories. Boxes 1001-2000
United States telephone directories. Boxes 2001- 

Many localities are cataloged separately. We suggest you search by city + directories (keyword search). Example searches:
Baltimore telephone directories
Boston telephone directories
St. Louis telephone directories
Philadelphia telephone directories

First, view the catalog record and check the item's location. 
If the location is listed as offsite:
Click on "Request" for the item and select a location for delivery.
If the location is listed as Schwarzman Building or SASB:
Two or more days ahead, please use this form: Advance Request of Research Material
Less than two days, please email us: generalresearch@nypl.org.  
Request in the Library
Requests can also be placed in the Rose Main Reading Room, room 315. Delivery time is about an hour. We recommend requesting in advance. After items arrive, they are held for two weeks. Please email us if you have questions or need assistance.