When Alex Friedlander’s article on directories appeared in the Avotaynu Guide to Jewish Genealogy, it was accurate and covered many of the resources then available. Much more has become known on the subject, however, and some changes have occurred. Today, some city directories appear online. The 1890 city directory for New York City, for example, is available at Ancestry.com, and an 1835 Posen, Prussia (today in Poland), directory may be searched by name, location, and profession, free of charge, at <www.polishroots.org/databases/posen_1835. htm>. In the United Kingdom, the University of Leicester makes many English city directories available at <www. historical directories.org/hd/index.asp>.

This article focuses primarily on how to find 19th-century American directories, but many of the techniques for finding them are applicable to later times and other countries. At a minimum, the directories mentioned below provide a name and a location for a specific date.

Databases and Directories for Finding Locations

Apart from city directories, the category of directories likely to be most useful are those that list all locations of a type useful to genealogists. One example is “Jewish Cemeteries Throughout the World,” created by the Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies in 1995 and available at <www.jewishgen.org/cemetery>. A current listing of schools is another example. This type of directory is useful for locating extant records or gravestones. For a print compilation of virtually all currently functioning cemeteries in the United States, plus a few cemeteries overseas but under American control (mostly connected with war dead), see Cemeteries of the U.S.: A Guide to Contact Information for U.S. Cemeteries and Their Records, published by Gale Research in Detroit in 1994 and every three years since.

A search of the subject heading “Cemeteries–United States–Directories” in the U.S. Library of Congress catalog <www.loc.gov> reveals other choices as well. In some cases, listings are by a smaller geographical area, such as for New York State.¹ Sometimes listings of cemeteries in other countries are available.² For an incomplete listing of a large number of digital collections online, see Digital Libraries-Online Publications, Exhibits, Documents, & Journals maintained by AcademicInfo.³ For other countries, check the national library website, which usually has a page in English for searching for digitized holdings. Sometimes, the collections are maintained by other entities, such as in Poland, where some of the digitized titles are maintained for large research libraries by the Digital Libraries Federation of Poland.⁴ The Digital Libraries Federation of Poland has a significant number of city directories and other directories on its websites and is adding a large number of additional digital resources weekly.

One online source for locating contemporary American schools, synagogues, cemeteries, and other institutions is <www.yellowpages.com>. A good print source for existing synagogues and cities and towns worldwide with Jewish communities is The Jewish Traveler’s Guide, published annually by the London Jewish Chronicle.

Diligent research has not yielded any book purportedly listing all of the currently functioning synagogues in the United States, although there are a number of other directories with out-of-date listings of synagogues.⁵ Interestingly, no directory was discovered listing all known synagogues at any given period in the history of the United States. Some books on early America, basically dealing with other issues, may list all known synagogues of that time period as part of the discussion on Jews, usually for the colonial period and shortly after Independence. Most or all of these same early congregations are the subject of individual books in their own right. For those who can read Yiddish, the New York Public Library holds Simon Drukerman’s Direktori fir Nyu York, Bruklin un Bronzvil, Nyu York, “containing description & location of cars, elevators, ferries, subways, hospitals, dispensaries, cemeteries, markets, courts, piers, railroads, and steamship depots for United States and Europe. Also all charitable, educational, religious, and social institutions, synagogues, asylums, sanitariums, and homes.” It is alternatively known at Druckerman’s Guide and Business Directory for New York, Brooklyn, and Brownsville. Finally, the New York Municipal Archives holds many manila folders on synagogues existing in the late 1930s.⁶

Professional Directories

A number of professions maintain current lists of members. The current version of the Martindale-Hubbel Law Directory appears online at <www.Martindale.com>, but only a large reference library, such as the U.S. Library of Congress, maintains older editions to search for persons no longer in practice. These directories have appeared annually since 1868 and are available on microform in the Library of Congress Law Library. Each issue is organized by state and may be many volumes in length. Most bar association and law school libraries maintain only the current edition of the Martindale-Hubbel Law Directory.

The National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland, maintains a large card file of deceased physicians. This collection, maintained by the American Medical Association until 1994, measures 275 linear feet and includes biographical information for about 350,000 19th- and 20th-century physicians in the United States and Canada, including physicians who did not belong to the American Medical Association. The National Library of Medicine currently has no particular policy for searches or photocopies other than levying a charge for photocopies in most cases. Frequently, genealogically valuable information appears on both sides of the card, so any request should ask for a copy of both sides. Many libraries hold an earlier print version covering physicians in the United States for the years 1804 to 1929.⁷ The Library of Medicine also has considerable additional genealogically relevant information in its general card file at <www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/genealogy/ama biopage.html>. For a more general discussion of genealogical resources at the National Library of Medicine, see <www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/genealogy/resources_HMD. html>.

Similarly, the University of Michigan library system maintains an early publication on dentists, Dental Cosmos: A Monthly Record of Dental Science, in electronic searchable form at <http://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/dencos>. The series offers an excellent way to search for early dentists in the United States. Because the publication is from the 19th century and provides information in articles, reviews, obituaries, and other sources, genealogical data is diverse and variable.

The American Association of Social Workers issued a Membership Directory from September 1923 through 1952. As with many other similar publications, the directory first listed names and addresses by state; later editions listed all members alphabetically, but also included geographical location.

Typical of a largely Jewish occupation was the “Directory of the Hat, Cap, and Fur Trades, United States and Canada,” found in the Hat, Cap and Fur Trade Review, 1880 and later dates, but no longer published.

Finally, two caveats. Not all professions had a strong central organization that issued directories. Saloon-keeping was a typical Jewish profession in the mid- to late-19th century in American cities, but no general listing of saloon keepers appears in the holdings of the Library of Congress, and I have found none in WorldCat <www.worldcat.org>. However, the Free Library of Philadelphia does hold Dunlap & Clarke’s Official Directory of the Licensed Wholesale and Retail Liquor Dealers, Brewers, Bottlers, Hotels, Cafes, and Saloon-keepers of Philadelphia and the Principal Cities and Towns of Pennsylvania; also, the Amended Retail License Act and New Wholesale License Act.

Thus, no general directory for the United States as a whole may exist, at least for the time period of interest. Secondly, a researcher should maintain some perspective on the information likely to be derived from such a directory. For example, directories exist of owners who maintained “bawdy” houses in given cities, but such directories will probably be valuable only to reveal exact addresses. The owners were unlikely to have revealed their true names or much other identifying information. A far better source for such information would be reports of arrests or exposés in the news media.

Some Rare Occupational Directories
At the Library of Congress

Among the other professions with directories is a printed list of early American accountants.⁸ Another publication, first published in 1861, lists musicians in the United States with their addresses. The U.S. Library of Congress holds several years through the 1910/1911 issue.⁹ In its Rare Book Room, Toner Collection, the Library of Congress holds The Druggists’ Legal Directory for 1895; many of the druggists listed were Jewish. In 1895, A.H. Mackenzie published Importers and Exporters of the United States of America; its listings include a large number of firms and individuals in New York City as well as some in other large U.S. coastal cities. Additionally, Bacharach’s Laundry Directory: The Power Laundries of America lists what purports to be all of the laundry, dyeing, and dry cleaning establishments in the United States and Canada in a book issued each year from 1911 through 1929. The book includes the name and address of the laundry, dyer, or dry cleaner and, often, the name of the owner or manager, a significant number of whom were Jewish, especially in large cities.

Some directories do not deal with professions or occupations but with associative situations, such as membership in a fraternity or charitable entity and frequently at least list officers, if not all members. See for example, Brennan, Joseph Fletcher, A General Register of All the Lodges and Grand Lodges of Freemasons in North America Which Maintain Mutual Correspondence and Recognition, Cincinnati: American Masonic Publishing Association, 1871. The publication lists secretaries of lodges and grand lodge officers, but not many were Jews. Nevertheless, it is illustrative of publications by such organizations. Many Jewish organizations published similar directories at other times.

Subject Searches for Specific Types of Directories

Many types of directories exist. The researcher who wants to find specific directories or other materials for research on individuals probably would do best to start with a Google or Yahoo search online, using the profession/occupation of interest and/or the location of interest plus the word “directory” and perhaps some other limiting search word.

For published, rather than online sources, the most efficient way to search is by subject heading if the exact title of the work is unknown. To begin such a search, choose a known publication that most closely approximates the type of occupation being researched. One example is the Directory of the Hat, Cap, and Fur Trades. Once that work is selected, go to the Library of Congress catalog website at <http://catalog.loc.gov> and search for that periodical. Once found, click either on “Subject/Contents” or “Full Record.” Both will display subject headings for that publication. Then substitute the desired location, profession, or other criteria for the similar words in the subject heading for the publication displayed. Search again for all publications meeting the new subject criteria. Once found, search in WorldCat¹⁰ or Google Books¹¹ or a local library catalog for the desired publication. Research librarians can be helpful in formulating subject searches.

Finally, remember that many different kinds of directories exist, and this article can only suggest some of them. Someone might not think of a listing of locations in an atlas or gazetteer as a directory, but that is what it is.¹² Similarly, an index to any book on a given subject can function as a kind of directory. For example, if interested in importers of ostrich plumes in the 19th century, try Stein, Sarah Abrevaya, Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce.¹³

Some directories are difficult to categorize. For example, although the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has many resources, a published one from 1945 is Register of Jewish Survivors.¹⁴ It includes 58,000 names and is in both Hebrew and English.

Notes

1. Association of Municipal Historians of New York State, compiler, New York State Cemeteries Name/Location Inventory, 1995–1997. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, 1999. Organized both alphabetically and by county.
2. See, for example, Rosenstein, Neil, Polish Jewish Cemeteries, Elizabeth, NJ: Computer Center for Genealogy, 1983.
3. <www.academicinfo.net/digital.html>

4.<http://fbc.pionier.net.pl/owoc>. The Digital Library Federation at <www.diglib.org/collections.htm> lists the digital collections of the most important libraries in the United States, plus a few overseas.

5. See National Directory of Churches, Synagogues, and Other Houses of Worship, Detroit, Washington, DC, London: Gale Research, Inc., 1994. This is a one-time four-volume collection based upon geographic area and then by state, city, and name of the institution, with the town, postal code, and sometimes telephone number and size of membership (in broad categories); and Directory of Synagogues, Omaha, NE: American Brusiness Directories. The lastest issue was for 1995 with 3,226 listings, not all of them synagogues and based upon Yellow Pages listings. It contains the name, address, telephone number, and number of employees. Oscar Israelowitz’s United States & Canada Jewish Travel Guide, Brooklyn, NY: Israelowitz Publishing, ©2007, 9th ed., is being claimed by the Library of Congress. This writer has not seen a copy, which can be ordered from the website, <www.israelowitz publishing.com/item11420.ctlg>. The number of pages is not stated.
6. Works Progress Administration: Historical Records Survey, “Inventory of Synagogues in New York City.” Unpublished manuscripts. New York: Municipal Archives, 1939
7. <www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/genealogy/resources_HMD. html>
8. Littleton, Ananias Charles, Directory of Early American Public Accountants, Urbana: University of Illinois, 1942, 39 pp. Series: University of Illinois Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 8, University of Illinois, College of Commerce and Business Administration, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, No. 62. The lists are chronological for 1850–69 and alphabetical for 1850–99 and cover New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
9. American Musical Directory, New York, Thomas Hutchinson, later editions published by C. F. King. Reprint of the 1861 edition, 1980. Only the 1861 volume and its reprint list all musicians and allied professions, often with an address in large cities. From 1899 onward, only societies and their officers are listed. No index is provided.
10. <www.worldcat.org>.
11. <http://books.google.com> and then click on “More” and select “Books.”
12. For example, see Graber, Erich, and Ruppersberg, Otto, Verzeichnis der Ortsnamen–Aenderungen in der Provinz Posen. Nach amtlichen Quellen im Auftrage der historischen Gesellschaft für die Provinz Posen, Posen: J. Jolowicz, 1912, 155 pp. <www.wbc.poznan.pl/Content/3678/verzeichnis_der_39989. djvu>.
13. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008.
14. Jewish Agency for Israel, Search Bureau for Missing Relatives, Register of Jewish Survivors, Jerusalem, 1945. Vol. I lists by location, including concentration camps and towns; Vol. II has an alphabetical index of the names of survivors and their locations.
    • Edward David Luft is a frequent contributor to AVOTAYNU. A list of his publications appears at <www.GetCited.org/mbrx/PT/99/MBR/11078005>.