Women's History Month 2019: What is a Directory?

Welcome to Women's History Month 2019 on Gena's Genealogy! This year's theme is,  I'm in the Book!

So what does that mean?

For some of us, that phrase is reminiscent of  the telephone book. And yes, we will look at the telephone book. But I wanted the theme to cover directories of all kinds. As I wrote the posts for Women's History Month this year, I decided to be flexible about what "I'm in the book" meant and my definition of a directory. If we look at an "official" definition, in this case what I found on Google, a directory is:

 a book listing individuals or organizations alphabetically or thematically with details such as names, addresses, and telephone numbers.

That's pretty flexible because as genealogists that definition could go beyond a simple city directory or a phone book. For genealogy, a directory could provide a place and location for your ancestor. That's important as we trace our ancestors and try to find documents that link them to parents and children.

Yes, city directories are important. And we are going to discuss them but there are other types of books that include at least an individual's name and a location. Some of these might be more commonly labeled "lists" or "published sources." There's a lot out there for research and I hope to make that apparent as we continue through the month. All 30 posts.

Directories are an excellent source for documenting women's lives because they can provide everything from where she was during a specific time to  familial relationships, occupations, or volunteer group memberships. They are an important resource for genealogy.

You can prepare to follow along by picking a few of your female ancestors and jotting down some of the records and resources we will discuss. Create a research plan and then find your female ancestor! Don't forget that additional links to previous Women's History Month posts on the right-hand side of this blog provide even more resources.

Enjoy your discoveries!