The Ancestor Hunt regularly adds and updates new collection links, as well as searches for and fixes broken links.
(This page's most recent update is December 2024)
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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 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 make sure that you are logged in to FamilySearch. The results may be different if you are signed in, rather than not.
Idaho 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
- 1871 Rocky Mountain Directory and Colorado Gazetteer
- 1878 McKenney’s Pacific Coast Directory
- 1880 Pacific Coast Directory
- 1883 Pacific Coast Directory
- 1886 Pacific Coast Directory
- Farm and Ranch Directory Blaine, Camas, Gooding, Jerome and Lincoln Counties, Idaho – 1966
- Idaho State Gazetteer and Business Directory – V. 6 (1912-1913)
- Idaho State Gazetteer and Business Directory – V. 7 (1914)
- Idaho State Gazetteer and Business Directory – V. 8 (1916)
- Idaho State Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1914
- Idaho, Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations, 1940
- McKenney’s Pacific Coast Directory, 1883-1884
- McKenney’s Pacific Coast Directory – California, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Nevada, Utah, Idaho and Montana, 1878
- Oregon, Washington and Idaho Gazetteer and Business Directory, 1884-85
- Pacific Coast Business Directory, 1867
- Pacific Coast Business Directory, Langley, 1867
- Pacific Coast Grange Directory, Bancroft, 1875
- R.L. Polk & Co’s Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia Gazetteers and Business Directories, 1886-1902
- R.L. Polk & Co’s Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia Gazetteers and Business Directories, 1886-1902
- R.L. Polk & Co’s Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska and British Columbia Gazetteers and Business Directories, 1886-1902
- The Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1867
- The Pacific Coast Business Directory, 1876-78
- The Pacific Coast Directory
- The Pacific Coast Directory 1880
- The Pacific Coast Directory, 1871
- The Pacific Coast Directory, 1878
- The Rocky Mountain Directory,1871, including Colorado, Nevada, Idaho
- Wolfe’s Mercantile Guide, Gazetteer, and Business Directory, 1878
Ada County
- 1918, Boise City and Ada County Directory
- 1923, Boise City and Ada County Directory
- 1927, Boise City and Ada County Directory
Bannock County
- 1960, Farm and Ranch Directory Power and Bannock Counties, Idaho
- 1964, Farm and Ranch Directory Power and Bannock Counties, Idaho
Bingham County
Blackfoot
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1960
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1962
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1964
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1965
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1981
- Blackfoot (Bingham County) City Directory – 1993
- Blackfoot (Bingham County, Idaho) City Directory – 1966
- Blackfoot (Bingham County, Idaho) City Directory – 1969
- Boise City and Ada County Directory, 1918-1927
Blaine County
Boise
- Boise City and Ada County Directory – 1911
- Boise City and Ada County Directory – 1914
- Boise City and Ada County Directory – 1978
- Boise City and Ada County Directory – 1980
- Polk Boise, City Directory – V. 3 (1905)
- Polk Boise, Idaho, City Directory, 1905
Bonneville County
Butte County
Camas County
Canyon County
Cassia County
- 1964, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1966, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1967, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1978, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1980, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1981, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1983, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
Custer County
Garfield County
Gooding County
Idaho Falls
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1941
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1952
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1981
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1982
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1983
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County) City Directory – 1986
- Idaho Falls (Bonneville County, Idaho) City Directory – 1908
Jerome County
Kellogg
Kootenai County
Latah County
- 1921, Polk’s Whitman, Garfield and Latah Counties Directory
- Polk’s Whitman, Garfield and Latah Counties Directory – 1921-1922
Lewiston
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1953
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1956
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1958
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1959-1960
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1961
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1962
- Lewiston, Idaho, Clarkston, Washington City Directory – 1965
- Lewiston, Idaho; Clarkston, Washington, including Clarkston Heights North Lewiston and Lewiston Orchards, 1956
Lewiston County
Lincoln County
Minidoka County
- 1964, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1966, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1967, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1973, West End Fire Protection District Directory
- 1978, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1980, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1981, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
- 1983, Farm and Ranch Directory Cassia & Minidoka Counties, Idaho
Moscow
Mullan
Nez Perce County
- 1908, Lewiston and Nez Perce County, Idaho, Directory, Directories of Clarkeston, Wash., Culdesac, Ilo, Kamiah, Kippen Nezperce, Orofino, Peck, Reubens, Vollmer..
- 1956, Lewiston, Idaho; Clarkston, Washington including Clarkston Heights North Lewiston and Lewiston Orchards
Osburn
Owhyee County
- Owyhee County, A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory, 1898
- Owyhee County, A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory, January 1898
- A Historical, Descriptive and Commercial Directory of Owyhee County, Idaho 1898
- Owyhee County Business Directory, Owyhee Avalanche, 1898
Pocatello
Power County
- 1960, Farm and Ranch Directory Power and Bannock Counties, Idaho
- 1964, Farm and Ranch Directory Power and Bannock Counties, Idaho
Preston
Rexburg
Shoshone County
St. Anthony
Twin Falls
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1978
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1979
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1980
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1981
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1982
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1983
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1984
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1986
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1987
- Twin Falls (Twin Falls County, Idaho) City Directory – 1988
Twin Falls County
- Farm and Ranch Directory, for Twin Falls County, Idaho – 1965
- Farm and Ranch Directory, for Twin Falls County, Idaho – 1966
- Farm and Ranch Directory, for Twin Falls County, Idaho – 1967
- Official Farm and Ranch Directory Twin Falls County, Idaho – May 1965
Wallace
Whitman County
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!