Free Online Delaware City Directories

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: 

• Where to Find City Directories Online

Note: Some of the links listed 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 August 2023)

Delaware 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

•  Business Firms Directory of the Delaware Valley, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989
•  Business Firms Directory: Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, 1990
•  Dalton Philadelphia Metro Business Directory: Philadelphia/Suburbs/South Jersey/Delaware, 2000-2007, no images
•  Dalton Philadelphia Metro Directory, 1996, 1997
•  Dalton’s Delaware Valley Directory, 1982-1985, no images
•  Dalton’s Directory: Business and Industry, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981
•  Dalton’s Philadelphia Metropolitan Directory, 1986-1990, no images
•  Delaware Corporations, 1939-1969, Multiple Issues
•  Directory of Black Law Firms in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, 1986
•  Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Delaware, 1942
•  Directory of Delaware Schools, 1991
•  Directory of Educational Personnel, 1965-1973, no images
•  Directory of Federal and State Departments and Agencies in Delaware, 1938
•  Directory of Industry wage surveys, Jan. 1945 to June 1953; Middle Atlantic Region: Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, 1953
•  Directory of Insurance Companies and their Agents, 1916
•  Directory of manufacturers, State of Delaware, 1951
•  Directory of Social and Philanthropic Agencies of Delaware, 1922
•  Directory Relating to and Concerning Welfare Institutions and Laws of the State of Delaware, 1920, 1922
•  Educational Directory, 1940-1952, 1960, 1961, 1966 
•  Educational Directory. 1914/15
•  Governor’s Register, State of Delaware: Appointments and other Transactions by Executives of the State from 1674 to 1851
•  International Trade, State and Local Resource Directory, 1988-1989
•  Membership Directory and Buyers’ Guide, 1994, 1998, 1999, 2000
•  Membership Directory, Archaeological Society of Delaware, 1967, 1975
•  Membership List and Classified Trade Directory, 1915
•  Philadelphia Export Directory: a Guide to International Trade for the Greater Delaware Valley, 1984
•  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Delaware Insurance, 1912
•  Physicians’ and Dentists’ Directory of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, 1897-08
•  Physicians’ and Dentists’ Directory of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, 1907
•  Regional Industrial Buying Guide. Greater Delaware Valley, 1996
•  Roster of Registered architects in the State of Delaware / the State Board of Architects, 1967, 1968, 1969
•  State of Delaware thru Wilmington – July 1937 thru October 1913, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  The Delaware State Directory and Gazetteer, 1874
•  The Delaware State Directory and Gazetteer, 1874
•  The Delaware State Directory and Gazetteer, 1874-75
•  The Delaware State Directory and Gazetteer, 1874-75
•  The Delaware State Directory and Gazetteer, 1886
•  Thomson’s Mercantile and Professional Directory, for the States of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia, 1851

Delaware City

•  1885 Street Directory

DelMarVa

•  Delmarva Business Directory, 1931

Dover

•  October 1952 thru October 1954, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  October 1955 thru October 1960, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  September 1948 thru September 1951, White Pages and Yellow Pages

Georgetown

•  December 1956 thru April 1963, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  September 1947 thru September 1950, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  September 1951 thru October 1955, White Pages and Yellow Pages

Lower Delaware

•  August 1945 thru September 1949, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  October 1954 thru February 1960, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  September 1950 thru October 1953, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  Summer 1933 thru July 1944, White Pages and Yellow Pages

Middletown

• 1885 Street Directory

New Castle

•  1885 Street Directory

New Castle County

•  1914 – The Farm Journal Farm and Business Directory of New Castle County, Delaware: with a Complete Road Map of the County
•  The Farm Journal Farm and Business Directory of New Castle County, Delaware – 1914

Newark

•  Directory, Alumni and Alumnae of the University of Delaware, 1873-1930

Newport

•  1885 Street Directory

Odessa

•  1885 Street Directory

Wilmington

•  1814 Street Directory
•  1845 Street Directory
•  1853 Street Directory
•  1857 Street Directory
•  1859 Wilmington City Directory
•  1859/60 Street Directory
•  1862 Street Directory
•  1865-66 Street Directory
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1923
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1902
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1903
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1904
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1905
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1906
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1907
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1908
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1909
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1910
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1911
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1912
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1913
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1914
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1915
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1916
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1917
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1919
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1919
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1920
•  Philadelphia and Wilmington Social Directory, 1922
•  The Wilmington City Directory for 1890
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1957
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1958
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1959
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1960
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1961
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1962
•  White and Yellow Pages – October 1963
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – December 1949
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – December 1950
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – December 1951
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – December 1952 thru December 1953
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – February 1954
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – February 1955
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – February 1956
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – November 1946 thru November 1947
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – November 1948
•  White Pages and Yellow Pages – November 1956
•  Directory Search
•  January 1944 thru January 1946, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  November 1936 thru January 1940, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  October 1940 thru January 1943, White Pages and Yellow Pages
•  Wilmington City Directory, Boyd, 1859-60
•  Wilmington thru Dover – May 1914 thru September 1947, White Pages and Yellow Pages