Can someone tell me the difference between Philly City Directories and Philly Telephone Directories? The city directories starting in 1880 (the first year that I know about) seem to run every year, but the old telephone directories seem to run every five years. When I asked the Philly Free Library to search city directories, they actually searched telephone directories, so I am unsure about what is what. Can someone bring me some light? Thanks. Paul

City directories started in the last 1700's and continued through 1935. They listed names--usually men's, occupations--usually, and addresses. Frequently, after a man died his wife was listed as widow of so-and-so. I don't know when phone directories started, but, obviously, they included phone numbers. Merle -----Original Message----- From: eile <eile@comcast.net> To: PAPHILAD-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 13:38:22 -0800 Subject: [PAPHL] City Directories and Telephone Directories Can someone tell me the difference between Philly City Directories and Philly Telephone Directories? The city directories starting in 1880 (the first year that I know about) seem to run every year, but the old telephone directories seem to run every five years. When I asked the Philly Free Library to search city directories, they actually searched telephone directories, so I am unsure about what is what. Can someone bring me some light? Thanks. Paul ==== PAPHILAD Mailing List ==== To leave the list, send only the word UNSUBSCRIBE to mailto:PAPHILAD-L-request@RootsWeb.com for list mode or mailto:PAPHILAD-D-request@RootsWeb.com for digest mode ============================== Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx

City Directories stopped either in 1935 or 1937. Since then telephone directories have been used. Part of the problem is the number of people who had phones back then. My parents did, because we had a store, but many did not. City directories tried to cover everybody and may have made it. Elizabeth C eile wrote: > Can someone tell me the difference between Philly City Directories and > Philly Telephone Directories? > > The city directories starting in 1880 (the first year that I know > about) seem to run every year, but the old telephone directories seem > to run every five years. > > When I asked the Philly Free Library to search city directories, they > actually searched telephone directories, so I am unsure about what is > what. > > Can someone bring me some light? > > Thanks. > > Paul > > > ==== PAPHILAD Mailing List ==== > To leave the list, send only the word UNSUBSCRIBE to > mailto:PAPHILAD-L-request@RootsWeb.com for list mode or > mailto:PAPHILAD-D-request@RootsWeb.com for digest mode > > ============================== > Census images 1901, 1891, 1881 and 1871, plus so much more. > Ancestry.com's United Kingdom & Ireland Collection. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13968/rd.ashx > > >