Last week, I wrote about one of my favorite sources,
city directories. City directories aren't the only type of directory you should be searching for. There are so many more kinds of directories available but they can be more difficult to find.
Directories are published for membership organizations, churches, occupations and more. Directories have at the very least contact details, names and addresses. But they also provide information about affiliations, family information, and various roles held in the organization and maybe even the community.
It would be impossible for me to list every kind of directory but here are a few examples.
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| From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega |
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| From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega |
What organizations did your ancestor belong to? Good chance that group put together some sort of directory. I have several of the directories for the LA County California Federation of Women's Clubs and they have great information including details about meetings. A researcher could use these directories to learn more about their ancestor's life.
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| Photo by Gena Philibert-Ortega |
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| Photo by Gena Philibert-Ortega |
Social registers are similar to city directories and list more than just contact details. This social register and many more are located at the library of the
Southern California Genealogical Society.
One more example is
Who's Who. Various types of
Who's Who books exist and they are yet another "names list" that can be helpful to your genealogy. In the case of Marquis'
Who's Who books, they even offer an institutional subscription to their
database of biographies starting from 1899.
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| From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega |
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| From the collection of Gena Philibert-Ortega |
So where do you look for these types of directories? Always check out digitized book websites like
Google Books and
Internet Archive. Don't forget to check online digital collections like the
Digital Public Library of America. Then look to the library where your ancestor lived. Don't forget about genealogy libraries and society libraries. In some cases subscription websites can also have these books in their directory or digitized book collections.
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