By: Allison Botelho, Local History Librarian
City directories hold a trove of information on New Haven, its households, organizations, and businesses. Issued yearly, most of ours were published by the Price & Lee Company. Similar to phone books (if you remember those), they are a yearly snapshot showing every entity that had an address, making them invaluable to researchers. Although it’s impossible to list all the information included in all the directories here, here are some highlights.
Seasoned genealogists already know how useful city directories are, but if you’re new the hobby, let us introduce you to this goldmine of local facts. Directories aimed to list every head of household; depending on the year, they often include spouse’s name, occupation, workplace, and address of their workplace. You can trace a family back through the years and find out when they arrived in New Haven, and if they moved out of the city you can find when they left (and often where they went next). If you can’t find a death date of an ancestor, some directories often list that as well.
Do you live in New Haven and want to see who’s lived at your address? Back to about the 1920’s, directories include an address section that you can check to see the names of people who lived there through the years (check the alphabetical section by name to find more about that person).
Easily trace the history of a business by searching alphabetically or by category. The owner/managers are listed along with address and type of company or line of work. As with households, you can follow a business through the years, and track name and ownership changes. Finally, many years include a section of elaborately illustrated ads, which can provide more details on products or services (and are just fun to look at!)
NHFPL has directories from 1840 through about 1990 (a complete set on microforms from 1840-1960 and good coverage in books from 1880’s to about 1990). This collection is available during all library hours in the reference area of Ives building.
Allison Botelho is the Local History Librarian at the Ives Main Branch of NHFPL. For more information on the Local History department, click this link.