I did research at the Birmingham Library in 1997-98 and as I recall, the directories were originals, complete with all the wonderful old advertisements. I don't remember the dates of the oldest ones, but 1890 was a treasure since there are few census records for that date. But I do remember that the directories were discontinued during the World War 2 years, so the year 1942 may be one of those. Another possibility is phone directories, but I don't know what is available. RAdams