Posts Tagged ‘City directories’

26th August
2011
written by Richard

Back in December 2010 we talked about digitization of San Diego Directories from the San Diego Public Library.  One glitch in the link above is that most of the directories are not dated on the web site.  I’ve listed these directories below.  Just find the year you need and click on the corresponding title.  I hope that will make it a bit easier.

 1887- 88               Maxwell’s Directory of San Diego City and County for 1887-88

1889-90                 Monteith’s Directory of San Diego and Vicinity for 1889-90

1892                       Directory of San Diego City, Coronado and National City

1893-94                 Directory of San Diego City and County for 1893-94

1895                       San Diego City and County Directory 1895

1897                       San Diego City and County Directory

1899-1900            San Diego City and County Directory 1899-1900

1901                       San Diego City and County Directory

1903                       San Diego City and County Directory

1904                       San Diego City and County Directory

1905                       San Diego City and County Directory

1906                       San Diego City and County Directory

1907                       San Diego City and County Directory

1908                       San Diego City and County Directory

1909                       San Diego City and County Directory

1910                       San Diego City and County Directory

1911                       San Diego City and County Directory

1912                       San Diego City and County Directory

1913                       San Diego City and County Directory

1914                       San Diego City and County Directory

1915                       San Diego City and County Directory

1916                       San Diego City and County Directory

1917                       San Diego City and County Directory

1918                       San Diego City and County Directory

1919                       San Diego City and County Directory

1920                       San Diego City and County Directory

1921                       San Diego City and County Directory

1922                       San Diego City and County Directory

1923                       San Diego City and County Directory

1924                       San Diego City and County Directory

1925                       San Diego City and County Directory

28th December
2010
written by Richard

Last May I wrote a post on City Directories: their value to historical researchers and the need for digitization.    These books list personal and business names, addresses, and occupations for most of San Diego County.  Now some great news to report.  Nearly 40 years of San Diego directories are available online from the Internet Archive. 

Several months ago, the Special Collections department of the San Diego Public Library accepted an incredible offer from the Balboa Park Online Collaborative to have these important volumes digitized.  The years from 1887 to 1925 were scanned, page by page through the services of  the BPOC.  Volumes once available only in the California Room at the downtown library,  can now be viewed and searched online, or downloaded in a variety of formats. 

Click here for  San Diego Directories.

Probably the easiest way to use the directories is to read them online.  You can flip through the pages or do a search by name.   One problem, unfortunately, is that the directory titles don’t always show the year.  So here’s a hint.  If you look on the right side of the search results you’ll see “sort results by.”  Click on “Date” and the volumes will be sorted by year.

If you don’t want to rely on your Internet connection you can also download the entire volumes in pdf, full-text, or other formats.  You can even download the directories to a Kindle.