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"Along Those Lines"
6/15/2001 - Archive
City vs. Telephone Directories
Directories can be among the most valuable resources to a genealogical
researcher. There are many types of directories: city directories, telephone
directories, business directories, alumni directories, union membership directories,
professional directories, Who's Who, and a wide variety of others. They can
be invaluable in pinpointing the location of an ancestor or relative at a specific
point in time, especially in those years between the Federal population censuses
and in lieu of more recent censuses not yet released by the U.S. government
through the National Archives.
In the course of my own genealogical research, I have met people who won't go
near a telephone directory, thinking that it is contains less information than
a city directory and is therefore inferior or, worse yet, useless. As incredible
as that sounds, these researchers may unfortunately be missing some invaluable
information. This attitude is not unique among researchers. Unfortunately, some
libraries are losing or discarding their collections of old telephone and city
directories, and these resources are being lost forever. In "Along Those Lines
. . ." this week, let's compare city directories with telephone directories
and discuss why using both can be important. We'll also discuss the impact of
the loss of these resources in our libraries, why it is happening, and what
you might do to prevent it.
What is a City Directory?
City directories have been popular for nearly two centuries in the United States,
and longer in some foreign locations. Long before the telephone was invented,
there was a need to locate residents of a community for delivery of mail and
other goods, and governments certainly kept track of residents for taxation
purposes. The development of a printed directory became a convenience, and having
your name and/or your family included was often considered something of a status
symbol. It proved you were 'important,' a part of the community.
The typical city directory in the United States included both individuals
and businesses. City directories for one town in which I have done extensive
research reside in the public library. There are city directories there from
1873 through 1989, with some years missing. A directory for 1873 includes the
name of the head of household, the street address, the occupation of the person,
and perhaps his place of employment. A 1908 directory includes all the same
information, and a telephone number. Later directories often included names
of other residents in the household as well.
The information listed in a city directory can contain occupational and employment
clues that may be more precise or accurate than those found in a census. In
addition, if the information was incorrect in one year's directory, a person
had the opportunity to have it corrected in the next year's edition. With census
records, what was listed was not subject to correction, at least not for ten
years.
Listings for non-white persons were often separate in the older city directories.
While this reflects the deplorable societal segregation of the times, it can
be a boon to researchers, making it easier to differentiate between persons
with the same name in the community who were of a different race. Unfortunately,
though, the attention paid to the inclusion of non-white citizens was sometimes
not as thorough as it should or could have been.
Business listings in city directories were usually in a separate section.
Sometimes they were listed in both alphabetical order AND in street and street
number sequence. The latter order provides an interesting insight into the physical
makeup of the commercial area of town. Often the names of business owners, proprietors,
and other staff are listed. In one case, I found my great-grandfather as the
owner of a mercantile business with a son as treasurer and a daughter listed
as secretary. Next door was another son running a stationery store, and across
the street another son was owner of a coal business. Further investigation into
real estate records revealed that my great-grandfather owned all three of the
buildings, telling me that he probably leased the space to his two sons for
their businesses.
What is Different About a Telephone Directory?
With the invention of the telephone, it became important to disseminate numbers
and provide the convenience of a directory. The telephone companies got into
the business of printing directories early on, primarily to demonstrate value
of their service to customers and to develop additional advertising revenue
from business subscribers.
In the early days, not everyone could afford the luxury of a telephone. Therefore,
it was important to be included in the city directory because you weren't going
to be listed in a telephone directory. If you did own a telephone, you would
probably want to have the number added to your city directory listing because
some people used one directory and other people used the other directory. Some
people may have used both but may have had a preference for one versus the other.
Another difference in telephone directories in the early years was that the
telephone companies listed all of their customers. They seldom omitted anyone,
and unlisted numbers are a relatively recent service.
Another major difference about telephone directories, though, was their
composition. They were never intended for long-term use; they were meant to
be replaced annually. They therefore were printed on low grade paper, similar
to newsprint. The acid content of this paper has caused their deterioration
over time, and you will notice that the pages of older telephone directories
have yellowed and become brittle. As such, they are less durable than city directories
which, in many cases, were printed on higher grade, less acidic paper stock.
Why Use Both In Our Research?
Both city directories and telephone directories are useful in our quest
to locate family members. These two types of directories do not always duplicate
one another, and discrepancies can provide new information, corroboration of
evidence already in your possession, or contradictions to other evidence. As
mentioned before, not everyone had a telephone in the early days, and you may
find your only listing in a city directory. On the other hand, in later years,
a person or family arriving in a location after the cut-off date for the production
of an annual or biannual city directory may be included in the telephone directory
only. Using the two together can be important in fine-tuning the arrival date
of your family in an area and in evaluating other evidence.
Another misconception is that, once found in one city directory or telephone
directory, the information will be the same from edition to edition. Not true!
Listings may have been different, may have used initials rather than names (or
vice versa). People changed residence, occupations and employers, heads of household
died, and even the names of streets and numbering changed. I found evidence
of this with one ancestor whose street number changed twice between 1908 and
1910, and the street name itself changed in 1920. In his case, he never moved;
the town renamed and renumbered. Knowing these facts can be essential in locating
land and property records, voter registration, tax records, and even the correct
census enumeration district.
City directories exist in other forms as well. Ancestry.com, for instance,
has produced an excellent collection of CD-ROM products, concentrating on the
years surrounding the 1890 Federal census, which was almost totally destroyed
by fire in 1921. (Visit The Shops @ Ancestry.com at shops.ancestry.com/main.asp
and search for "city directories.")
Why Are Libraries Losing Their Resources?
I belong to an electronic mailing list for genealogical librarians, and
there has been discussion over the past two weeks about city directories and
telephone directories. There seems to be a general consensus that they complement
one another in a good historical or genealogical collection. However, contrary
to what you may believe, libraries emphatically do not have unlimited budgets
for space, shelving, cabinets, microfilming, and other resources to house and
preserve all the materials in their possession. (Even the venerable Library
of Congress cleans out old materials periodically.) As a result, sometimes difficult
decisions must be made concerning the need to retain materials such as telephone
directories. Sometimes these decisions are forced by the same governmental officials
who fund the library, and they may not have been inside the library for a long
time and may have no concept of what goes on there these days.
As "ephemeral materials," telephone directories are difficult to preserve and
store. They occupy a great deal of shelf space that might be allocated to new
items for the collection. If they are not used (and libraries do maintain usage
statistics), the decision must be made as to whether to continue using the space
for such materials.
When it comes down to it, city directories are considered better quality resources
for library collections than telephone directories. They tend to be considered
as more "historical" material, while telephone directories are considered more
commercial and less historical. As genealogists, we can certainly see the fallacy
of this argument, but not all library directors, administrators, and government
officials who appropriate funding for the libraries necessarily see this point.
And the more fallacious argument put forth by government officials is that "Well,
it's all on the Internet anyway." When was the last time you tried to locate
your aunt Katie's telephone listing from St. Petersburg, Florida, from 1956
on the Web and what was the result? Not only would you not find it, most contemporary
online directories are filled with errors, and they omit vast quantities of
names, addresses, and phone numbers.
What You Can Do
As a conscientious genealogical researcher, it is important that you be thorough
in your quest for data. That means reviewing BOTH city directories AND telephone
directories for all years in which your ancestors or relatives may have lived
in an area. Gather the information, arrange it chronologically, and review it.
Look for patterns. Look for changes in names, addresses, street names, occupations,
and other data. If you find an occupation listed for an ancestor in a city directory,
look for the listing of the businesses in that area for which the ancestor may
have worked. You may find he/she is listed as a proprietor, clerk, staff member,
or other employee. Use the facts you find in both types of directory as pointers
to other record types that may expand your knowledge and may be used as corroborating
evidence.
In the course of your research, be sure to let the library staff and the director
know that you do, indeed, use both city directories and telephone directories
in your work. Express your interest in both being maintained as essential parts
of the library's collection, both for historical and genealogical purposes.
Find out who is responsible for funding your library, and let him/her/them know
you want their continuing and increased financial support for this important
service in your community. Your voice is important. Let it be heard.
Happy Hunting!
George
George G. Morgan is a proud member of the International Society of Family History
Writers and Editors, Inc. (ISFHWE) at: www.rootsweb.com/~cgc/cgc2.htm.
He would like to hear from you at atl@ahaseminars.com
but, due to the volume of e-mail, he is unable to answer every e-mail message
received. Please note that he cannot assist you with your individual research.
Visit George's Web site at ahaseminars.com/atl
for information about speaking engagements.
Copyright 2001, MyFamily.com. All rights reserved.
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