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Boston Lists of Residents

This is to provide links to scanned lists of residents, along with aids to using the set.

City of Boston Lists of Residents

The Boston Public Library holds a large collection of lists of residents for the City of Boston. Our first lists are from 1861, with the earlier years being on microfiche. They continue to the present with a slight lag and some gaps in our holdings. We are digitizing the hard copy volumes up about to 50 years ago, to allow for a level of privacy to the residents.

Until 1984, the listings were organized only by address. Therefore, it can be difficult to track down where a person lived. They are however still good sources of tracking down the people who lived in a certain area. Beginning in 1985, the City began publishing the listings alphabetically by name as well. With an address and the Boston Street Lists, one should be able to track down a location to see who lived there.

Lists on Microfilm

This file is an inventory of what the library has on microfilm for Boston Lists of Residents and related documents.