City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and are what I consider another important set of information that can assist you in advancing your family history and genealogy research.
This activity of presenting links is a collaborative effort between The Ancestor Hunt and Miriam Robbins, who for years has made available the Online Historical Directories website, which presents links to directories of all types that are available online, including free collections as well as those available only via subscription. I wish to thank Miriam for her help in launching this category of records at The Ancestor Hunt.
So, what kinds of directories are available to the researcher? Naturally city and business directories, but also telephone directories, and alumni, farm, lodge, rural, and social directories.
What can you find in these records? How about:
- Full names, including middle names
- Spouse name
- Occupation
- Widows, working women, and adult children at home.
- Maps
- Businesses (and index to advertisers).
- Addresses and maps of churches, schools, funeral homes, cemeteries, post offices, courts, hospitals, benevolent associations, and newspapers.
- Whether a woman is a widow (including the name of her husband).
- List of marriages and deaths of the previous year.
- Death date.
- etc.
Here are a few good primers on the benefits of searching historical city and other directories:
- FamilySearch – United States Directories
- How to Use City Directories In Your Genealogy Research
- What’s In A City Directory? (a 10 article series about City Directories)
And here are various places where you can find other city directories online:
Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections’ images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital. To take full advantage, please make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
(Updated March 2024)
Arkansas City Directories
Links to these free collections are presented initially with statewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:
Statewide
- 1900 Business Directory of Arkansas
- 1952, Tri-State Chinese Directory of Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee
- Arkansas Post Offices from Memdag to Norsk, a Historical Directory, 1832-1990
- Arkansas, 1905 Community & Business Directory
- Directory of Arkansas Industries. 1924
- Directory of Federal and State Departments and Agencies in Arkansas, 1938
- From Memdag to Norsk: a Historical Directory of Arkansas Post Offices, 1832-1971
- Marketing and Industrial Guide, Directory of Manufactures, 1921
- Names and p. o. Addresses of Farmers in Arkansas, 1879
Arkansas County
Barling
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith thru Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling – April 1950 thru June 1953
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling – June 1954 thru June 1958
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling thru Fort Smith, Van Buren – June 1959 thru June 1962
Batesville
Benton County
Blytheville
- Blytheville – April 1953 thru July 1960, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Blytheville – October 1937 thru April 1952, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Blytheville City Directory 1993
- Blytheville, Arkansas Telephone Directory – Oct. 1941
Camden
- Camden – April 1955 thru April 1962, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Camden City Directory 1994
- Camden City Directory 1997
- Camden City Directory 1999
- Camden City Directory 2000
- Telephone Directory, Camden, Arkansas – May 1941
Caraway
Carthage
Clarksville
Craighead County
Crittenden County
Cross County
De Queen
- City Directory of De Queen, Arkansas – 1912
- City Directory of De Queen, Arkansas, 1912
- City Directory of De Queen, Arkansas, 1912
El Dorado
- El Dorado – December 1952 thru November 1957, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- El Dorado – March 1937 thru February 1951, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- El Dorado – November 1958 thru December 1963, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Fayetteville
- Fayetteville – December 1937 thru November 1954, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Fayetteville – November 1955 thru November 1961, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Fort Smith
- Fort Smith – April 1945 thru April 1949, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Fort Smith – August 1937 thru April 1944, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Fort Smith thru Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling
Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling
Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling thru Fort Smith, Van Buren
Greater Little Rock
- Greater Little Rock – April 1929 thru April 1935, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Greater Little Rock – January 1936 thru July 1939, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Greater Little Rock – January 1945 thru September 1947, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Greater Little Rock – July 1940 thru July 1944, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Greater Little Rock – June 1950 thru January 1952, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Greater Little Rock – May 1948 thru September 1949, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Greater Little Rock thru Little Rock, North Little Rock
Greene County
Helena
- Helena – November 1937 thru July 1958, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Helena-West Helena, Arkansas City Directory – 1955
- Telephone Directory, Helena, Arkansas – Aug. 1941
Hope
Hot Springs
- Directory of Hot Springs, Arkansas, 1881-2
- Hot Springs – February 1949 thru July 1955, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Hot Springs – January 1934 thru February 1948, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Telephone Directory, Hot Springs, Arkansas – 1941
- Telephone Directory, Hot Springs, Arkansas – 1957
Hot Springs, Jones Mills
Jacksonville
Jonesboro
Jonesboro, Nettleton
Jonesboro, Nettleton thru Jonesboro
- Jonesboro, Nettleton thru Jonesboro – September 1953 thru October 1959, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Jonesboro-Nettleton
- Telephone Directory, Jonesboro–Nettleton, Arkansas – 1941
- Leachville
- Leachville – April 1955 thru April 1963, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Lee County
Little Rock
- Little Rock and North Little Rock (Pulaski County, Ark.) City Directory – 1913
- Little Rock and North Little Rock (Pulaski County, Ark.) City Directory – 1915
Little Rock, North Little Rock
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1955 thru February 1956, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1957 thru March 1958, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1959, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1960, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1961, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1962, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Little Rock, North Little Rock – March 1963, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Lonoke County
Mena
Monette
Monroe County
Paragould
- 1920 Paragould City Directory
- 1920 Paragould City Directory
- 1920 Paragould City Directory
- Paragould 1939 Directory
- Paragould City Directory 1908
- Paragould City Directory 1916
- Paragould City Directory, Paragould Printing Company, 1923
Paris
Phillips County
Piggott
Pine Bluff
- 1917-1918 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1922-1923 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1927 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1929 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1931 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1936 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1953 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1958 Pine Bluff City Directory
- 1963 Pine Bluff City Directory
- Pine Bluff – August 1954 thru August 1958, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Pine Bluff – August 1959 thru August 1963, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Pine Bluff – September 1937 thru October 1947, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- Pine Bluff – September 1948 thru August 1953, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Prairie County
Randolph County
Russellville
St. Francis County
Stuttgart
Texarkana
- Business Directory of Texarkana, 1882-1883
- Texarkana City Directory 1899-1900
- Texarkana City Directory 1901
- Texarkana City Directory 1906
- Texarkana City Directory 1922
- Texarkana Classified Business Directory 1901
Van Buren
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith thru Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling – April 1950 thru June 1953
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling – June 1954 thru June 1958
- White Pages and Yellow Pages – Fort Smith, Van Buren, Barling thru Fort Smith, Van Buren – June 1959 thru June 1962
West Memphis
- West Memphis – June 1957 thru June 1958, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- West Memphis – June 1959 thru June 1961, White Pages and Yellow Pages
- West Memphis – June 1962, White Pages and Yellow Pages
Woodruff County
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
