Genealogy: Records & Resources
Introduction
There are several different kinds of directories that can be useful for family history research. Directories can contain information about where an ancestor lived, what they did for a living, who they lived with, and more.
This section will provide an overview of some directories covering the Boston area and beyond that can be used for family history research.
- Genealogy: Using Directories to Research Your Ancestors (May 18, 2023)BPL online genealogy class (video)
City Directories
City directories are commercially published listings of the residents and businesses of a particular city/town. These directories contain the names, addresses, occupations, and sometimes places of employment of the individuals listed in them. They may also include the dates of death of people who were listed in them previously, and information about when and where someone may have moved when leaving the area covered by the directory.
Good Things to Know:
- The directories would primarily list only men for many years, women would be included only if they were considered the head of their household (which usually meant they were widowed)
- Married women started being included in the 1930s, in parentheses next to their husbands' names
- All adult women began to be listed under their own names around the 1950s
- Children were not listed at all
- What You Might Be Missing in City DirectoriesBy Professional Genealogist Amy Johnson Crow
1789: First edition published; sorted by first letter only- 1790-1795: None published
- 1796: Second published
- 1797 - 1819: Irregular publication; not issued every year
- 1804: South Boston annexed
- 1813-1848/49: People of Color listed separately
- 1820: Annual publication started
- 1836: East Boston annexed
- 1847: First complete separate business section organized by category
- 1868: Mission Hill & Roxbury annexed
- 1870: Dorchester & Mattapan annexed
- 1873: Brighton & Roslindale annexed
- 1874: Allston, Charlestown, Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury annexed
- 1912: Hyde Park annexed
- 1930: First to include a separate listing organized by address
- 1933: First to show the names of wives alongside their husbands
- 1961: Last edition to publish death dates
- 1968: First to include a numerical telephone directory
- 1978 & 1981: Last two editions published
The BPL has a large collection of city directories on microfilm and hard copy that can be requested from the Research Services desk, located on the second floor of the Central Library in Copley Square. For a complete listing of city directories held by the BPL, go to the City Directories section of the BPL's Directories research guide.
City directories can also be accessed via the databases below.
- Ancestry Library Edition This link opens in a new windowProvided by ProQuest and MyFamily.com, this genealogical collection covers U.S. and the U.K. census, vital, church, court, and immigration records, as well as record collections from Canada and other areas. It contains more than 4,000 databases, 1.5 billion names, as well as over 1,000 historical maps. Coverage:1300-present
No remote access. - Archives Unbound This link opens in a new windowAs a multi-disciplinary resource, Archives Unbound greatest value lies in the wealth of facts and insights that they provide in connection with the political and military, economic and business, literary, music, and social history of America and a whole host of foreign countries.
- Hathi Trust Digital Library This link opens in a new windowAs a digital repository for the U.S. research libraries, HathiTrust brings together the immense collections of partner institutions.
HathiTrust was conceived as a collaboration of the thirteen universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation and the University of California system to establish a repository for these universities to archive and share their digitized collections.
Learn more about HathiTrust. - HeritageQuest Online This link opens in a new windowHeritageQuest Online is the marriage of ProQuest's Genealogy & Local History Online, a collection of over 25,000 family and local histories, and genealogical-data content from HeritageQuest, such as the complete set of U.S. Federal Census Records, 1790-1930.
- Sabin Americana, 1500-1926 This link opens in a new windowBased on Joseph Sabin's landmark bibliography, this collection contains works about the Americas published throughout the world from 1500 to the early 1900's. Included are books, pamphlets, serials and other documents that provide original accounts of exploration, trade, colonialism, slavery and abolition, the western movement, Native Americans, military actions and much more. With over 6 million pages from 29,000 works, this collection is a cornerstone in the study of the western hemisphere.
Various editions of the Boston City Directory are available online at the links below:
Boston Directories, 1789-1900
From the Boston Athenaeum
- Boston Directories 1789 - 1970
Links compiled through Wikipedia
- Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data
From Tufts University (Includes 1845, 1855, 1865, 1870, 1872, 1875, 1885, 1905, and 1925)
- The Brookline, Jamaica Plain and West Roxbury directory
From 1871, via the Internet Archive
From the Internet Archive:
- 1789 Boston Directory
- 1803 Boston Directory
- 1805 Boston Directory
- 1825 Boston Directory
- 1831 Boston Directory
- 1832 Boston Directory
- 1834 Boston Directory
- 1835 Boston Directory
- 1836 Boston Directory
- 1848/49 Boston Directory
- 1849/50 Boston Directory
- 1852 Boston Directory
- 1855 Boston Directory
1856 Boston Directory- 1858 Boston Directory
- 1862 Boston Directory
- 1916 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1916 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1955 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1955 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1956 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1956 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1957 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1957 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1958 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1958 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1959 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1959 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1960 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1960 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1961 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1961 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1962 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1963 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1964 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1964 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1965 Boston Directory Part 1
- 1966 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1967 Boston Directory Part 1
- 1967 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1968 Boston Directory, Part 1
- 1968 Boston Directory, Part 2
- 1969 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1970 Boston Directory Part 1
- 1970 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1971 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1972 Boston Directory Part 1
- 1972 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1973 Boston Directory Part 2
- 1974/75 Boston Directory Part 1
- 1974/75 Boston Directory Part 2
City Directories from other places in the country are also available online, and many are hosted on the database Ancestry Library Edition as well as the Internet Archive. Below are links to just a few collections of digitized city directories from other cities in the U.S.
- New York City Directories (1786-1923)From the New York Public Library
- Philadelphia City Directories (1785-1867)From the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Baltimore City Directories (1816-1923)From the University of Maryland
- Washington, D.C. City Directories (1860-1909)From the University of Pennsylvania Libraries
Society Directories
Society directories are commercially published listings of the wealthiest residents of a city/town. They primarily only give the addresses of the people listed, and very little if any other information.
Good Things to Know:
- Many of these directories were biased and would exclude certain sections of the population based on race, religion, or other perceived differences
- Names were frequently shortened to initials, i.e. Mr. J.M. Smith
- Married women were frequently listed under their husbands' names, i.e. Mrs. John M. Smith or Mrs. J.M. Smith
- Unmarried women would be listed with the formal title Miss, i.e. Miss Jane Smith
- Listings could be organized by address or alphabetically by last name, depending on the directory
Clark’s Boston Blue Book included residents from Boston who lived in “selected” districts, as well as those who permanently resided in hotels. Early volumes are organized by address, later volumes in alphabetical order by name. Later volumes also expanded to include residents from selected districts in Brookline, Cambridge, Chestnut Hill, and Milton.
The BPL has the Boston Blue Books in hard copy from 1876-1937, they can be requested at the Research Services desk located on the second floor of the Central Library in Copley Square.
They are also available online at the links below:
- 1876
- 1877
- 1878
- 1879
- 1880
- 1881
- 1882
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1895
- 1896
- 1897
- 1898
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1908
- 1909
- 1910
- 1911
- 1912
- 1913
- 1914
- 1915
- 1916
- 1917
- 1918
- 1919
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1923
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
- 1927
- 1928
- 1929
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1933
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
- 1937
The Social Register began publication in 1887, when it covered prominent members of New York City’s social elite. Editions covering other cities, primarily in the Northeast, were also produced in the following years. In 1977 the different city editions were consolidated and one volume covering the entire country was published.
Early editions listed married women under their husband’s names, with their maiden name in parentheses. The register would eventually include the names, addresses, educational information, and social club memberships of those that were listed.
The BPL holds the Boston edition of the Social Register in hard copy covering from 1890 to 1976 (with gaps) as well as the national edition from 1977 to the present. They can be requested at the Research Services desk located on the second floor of the Central Library in Copley Square.
Some editions of the Boston Social Register are also available online at the links below:
Some editions of society directories covering other cities are available online at the links below:
National:
New York City:
- New York Social Register, 1887-1925
- New York Social Register, 1889
- New York Social Register, 1896
- New York Social Register, 1897
- New York Social Register, 1900
- New York Social Register, 1901
- New York Social Register, 1902
- New York Social Register, 1903
- New York Social Register, 1909
- New York Social Register, 1910
- New York Social Register, 1911
- New York Social Register, 1916
- New York Social Register, 1918
Philadelphia (includes Wilmington):
Washington, D.C:
Some editions of the Brookline Blue Book are available online at the links below:
- 1885 (Includes Longwood)
- 1887 (Includes Longwood)
- 1888
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891 (Includes Allston)
- 1892 (Includes Aberdeen & Allston)
- 1894 (Includes Aberdeen, Allston, & Brighton)
- 1895 (Includes Allston & Brighton)
- 1897 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1898 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1899 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1900 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1901 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1903 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1905 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1906 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1907 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1908 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1909 (Includes Aberdeen, Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1910 (Includes Aberdeen, Allston, Brighton, Cambridge, Chestnut Hill, Milton, Newton, & Wellesley)
- 1912 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1914 (Includes Aberdeen, Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1915 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1916 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1917 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1918 (Includes Allston, Brighton, & Chestnut Hill)
- 1919 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1920 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1921 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1923 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1924 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1926 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1928 (Includes Chestnut Hill)
- 1932 (Includes Aberdeen, Chestnut Hill, & Longwood)
- 1941 (Includes Chestnut Hill, Longwood, Wellesley, & Weston)
Some editions of various society directories from other places in Massachusetts are available online at the links below:
Cambridge:
- Blue Book of Cambridge, 1904
- Blue Book of Cambridge, 1905
- Blue Book of Cambridge, 1906
- Blue Book of Cambridge, 1907
Newton:
North Shore (lists of residents of the summer resorts located along the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay):
- North Shore Blue Book, 1915
- North Shore Blue Book and Social Register, 1922
- North Shore Blue Book and Social Register, 1926
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1908
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1912
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1913
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1914
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1915
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1916
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1917
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1919
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1920
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1921
- Who's who along the North Shore, 1922
Springfield:
Other Directories
Telephone Directories
The Research Services department at the BPL holds a large collection of telephone books in microfiche and microfilm format, primarily covering the Boston area. For more information, see the Telephone Directories section of the Directories (People) @ the Boston Public Library research guide.
Boston Lists of Residents
The BPL has a collection of Boston Lists of Residents covering from 1909-2014, many volumes have been digitized and are available online. For links to the online versions and for more information, see the Boston Lists of Residents research guide.
Other Lists of Residents
The BPL also has a limited collection of lists of residents covering other cities and towns in Massachusetts. Please contact Research Services via ask@bpl.org to ask about a specific place and year.