Telephone and City Directories in the Library
of Congress:
Current Directories
By Barbara B. Walsh, Reference Specialist
Research Guide No. 42
The Library of Congress makes available
to the public an extensive collection of current and non-current
telephone, city, and reverse telephone (criss/cross) directories
for the United States and many foreign countries. These directories
are available in a variety of formats and locations. For information
on a particular type of directory, consult the table of contents
above and then refer to the appropriate section of the finding guide.
For further information, please consult the reference librarians
in the Local History and Genealogy Reading Room (LJ G42) or in the
Main Reading Room (LJ 100).
Current U.S. telephone directories
(white and yellow pages) are located on Deck 46 which is entered
through Alcove 4 in the Main Reading Room. They are arranged alphabetically
by state, shelved before the city and reverse telephone directories
for that state.
Since many of these directories contain listings for more than
one community, you may need to consult two reference tools in
order
to determine which telephone book contains the listings for a particular
community. The first tool to examine is the Community
Cross-Reference Index, found on the consulting table adjacent
to the U.S. directories. It consists of two sections: a "Community
Index" which identifies
the directory in which a specific community's listing can be found;
and "Directory Coverage", a list of all the communities covered
by a specific directory. If you cannot find a listing for a community
in the Cross-Reference Index, consult the card catalog,
which is located near the directory collection. The labels on
the catalog
drawers are color coded for easy identification: blue is for the
U.S. telephone directory catalog.
The latest editions of city directories
are located on Deck 46 which is entered through Alcove 4 in the
Main Reading Room. They are arranged alphabetically by state, shelved
after the telephone directories and before the reverse telephone
directories for that state.
Since many of these directories contain listings for more than
one community, you should examine the card catalog, which is located
near the directory collection on Deck 46, to determine which city
directory contains the listings for a particular community. The
labels on the catalog drawers are color coded for easy identification:
pink is for the city directory catalog.
City directories often provide additional
information about individuals such as place of employment and name
of spouse. The entries are arranged alphabetically by last name
and also by address and telephone number. City directories are compiled
through door-to-door surveys and are published at irregular intervals.
Researchers should be aware, however, that there are no current
city directories for many major U.S. cities--among them Washington,
D.C., New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Therefore, some editions
shelved on Deck 46 may be many years out-of-date.
Current U.S. reverse telephone
directories are located on Deck 46 which is entered through Alcove
4 in the
Main Reading Room. They are arranged alphabetically by state, shelved
after the telephone and city directories for that state. A list
of current reverse telephone directories is found in the card catalog,
located near the directory collection on Deck 46. The labels on
the catalog drawers are color coded for easy identification: green
is for the reverse telephone directory catalog. Reverse telephone
directories (often called street address or criss-cross directories)
are usually published annually for major metropolitan areas. Listings
are based on telephone directories and are arranged both by address
and telephone number. There is no listing by name. For an online
inventory of the Library's U.S. Criss Cross and Street Address
Directories, please consult Reverse
Directories in the Library of Congress:
A List of Holdings from the 19th & 20th Centuries.
Many current foreign telephone directories
are located on Deck 46 which is entered through Alcove 4 in the
Main Reading Room. They are arranged alphabetically by country,
and are shelved following the United States directories. An incomplete
list of current foreign telephone directories is found in the card
catalog, located near the directory collection on Deck 46. The labels
on the catalog drawers are color coded for easy identification:
yellow is for the foreign telephone directory catalog. Some recent
foreign directories are available in the appropriate area studies
reading rooms. For European telephone directories, please see European Address/Telephone Directories at the Library of Congress: Indexes and Digitized Versions.
The Library has a few current foreign
city directories. Unlike the directories described in previous
sections,
they are housed in the closed stacks and have call numbers. To
determine whether the Library has a directory for a certain city,
search in
the Main Catalog and the Library of Congress Online Catalog using
the following search strategy: NAME OF CITYand subdivision DIRECTORIES.
Then request
the directory in the Main
Reading Room or the Local
History and Genealogy Reading Room by filling out a call
slip. One should be aware, however, that for many foreign city
directories
the latest edition may be many years out-of-date. For European telephone directories, please see European Address/Telephone Directories at the Library of Congress: Indexes and Digitized Versions.
Directories for most Canadian cities
are treated differently from other foreign directories. Although
they are housed in the closed stacks, they do NOT have call numbers
and should be requested by filling out a call slip using "City Directory"
as the call number, the town and/or province and CANADA as the title,
and the years needed as the volume numbers. For specific information
about the Library's holdings of city directories for Canada, the
United Kingdom, and Switzerland, consult the City Directory Finding
Guide kept at the Reference Desk in the Local History and Genealogy
Reading Room.
An alternative to searching current
telephone directories is provided by numerous online databases
searchable
over the Internet. For the U.S., try Anywho.com or Switchboard.com.
A site called Infobel.com provides
links to many online foreign directories.
|
The
Library of Congress >> Researchers 
Top
of Page