Free Online Newfoundland and Labrador City Directories

City and business directories are available online from all over the U.S. and Canada 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 – Canada Directories
• How to Use City Directories In Your Genealogy Research 
• What’s In A City Directory? (a 10-article series about City Directories)

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. Please make sure that you are signed in to FamilySearch, in order to take full advantage of the collections that are available.

(Updated October 2022)

Links to these free collections are presented initially with countrywide and provincewide collections, followed in alphabetical order by city or county. Please note that many of the counties no longer exist, but are now districts or regional municipalities. Generally, the publishing company is included in the reference to the collection, along with the collection title, and the date(s) of the directory:

Countrywide

• Business Directory of Canada West Directory 1851
• Canada classified Directory 1865-66
• Canada Directory 1851
• Canada Directory 1857-58
• Canada Gazetteer and Business Directory 1864-1865
• Canadian Dominion Directory for Directory 1871
• Canadian Professional and Business Directory, Mackay, 1851
• Dominion Business Directory 1890 — From Internet Archive
• Halifax, Amherst, Charlottetown, Dartmouth, Chatham, Fredericton, Kentville, Moncton, New Glasgow, Sydney, N. Sydney, Pictou, Quebec, St. John, St. Stephen, Summerside, Yarmouth, Woodstock, Truro, Windsor Directory 1900
• Mitchell & Co.’s Canada Classified Directory for 1865-66
• Supplement to the Directory 1851 Canada Directory 1853
• The Canadian Legal Directory 1878

Provincewide

• Almanac of Newfoundland – 1891 (Postmasters – Community A-I),
• Almanac of Newfoundland – 1891 (Postmasters – Community J-Z)
• Almanac of Newfoundland – 1891 (Postmasters – Community Labrador)
• Business and general Directory of Newfoundland 1877
• Business and general Directory of Newfoundland, 1877
• Business and general Directory of Newfoundland, 1877
• Directory of Newfoundland, 1928
• Directory of Newfoundland, 1936
• Dominion of Canada and Colony of Newfoundland Gazetteer and Classified Business Directory, 1899
• Hutchinson’s Directory of Newfoundland, 1864-1865
• Hutchinson’s Newfoundland Directory for 1864-65
• Hutchinson’s Newfoundland Directory for 1864-65
• Lovell’s Directory for Newfoundland, 1871
• Lovell’s Province of Newfoundland Directory 1871
• Lovell’s Province of Newfoundland Directory, 1871
• McAlpine’s 1880 Maritime Business Directory, 1880
• McAlpine’s Directory for Newfoundland, 1870-1871
• McAlpine’s Directory of Newfoundland, 1894-1897
• McAlpine’s Directory of Newfoundland, 1898
• McAlpine’s Directory of Newfoundland, 1904
• McAlpine’s Gazetteer of Newfoundland, 1898
• McAlpine’s Gazetteer of Newfoundland, 1911
• McAlpine’s Gazetteer of Newfoundland, 1913
• McAlpine’s Maritime Provinces Directory for 1870-1871
• McAlpine’s Maritime Provinces Directory for 1870-1871 [Extract: Newfoundland sections only]
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1894 to 1897
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1894 to 1897
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1898
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1898
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1904
• McAlpine’s Newfoundland Directory, 1904
• Newfoundland Directory 1864
• Newfoundland Directory 1868
• Newfoundland Directory 1877
• Newfoundland Directory 1928
• Newfoundland Directory 1936
• Province of Newfoundland Directory 1871
• Rochfort’s Directory of Newfoundland, 1877
• Sharp’s 1885/86 Business Directory, 1885/86
• Smallwood’s Gazetteer of Newfoundland, 1941
• Telephone Directory, 1957: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1957: Western Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1959: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1960: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1961: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1962: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1963, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1964: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1965: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1966: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1967: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1968: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1969: Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1984, Eastern and Central Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1990, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1991, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1992, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1993, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1995, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1996, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1997, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1998, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1999, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 2001, Eastern Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 2002, Eastern Newfoundland
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1867
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1868
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1871
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1873
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1874
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1875
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1876
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1877
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1878
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1879
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1880
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1881
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1882
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1883
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1884
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1887
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1888
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1889
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1890
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1891
• The Newfoundland Almanac 1892
• The Newfoundland Almanac, 1849
• The Newfoundland almanac, for 1866

• The Newfoundland almanac, for 1869

Bell Island

• Bell Island Phone Directory, 1949
• Directory for Belle Island, 1919

Bonavista Bay

• Telephone Directory, 1961: Bonavista Bay and Central Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1962: Bonavista Bay and Central Newfoundland
• Telephone Directory, 1963: Bonavista Bay and Central Newfoundland

Carbonear, Harbour Grace, and The City of St. John’s

• Might’s 1890 Business Directory, Carbonear, Harbour Grace and The City of St. John’s, 1890

Conception Bay

• Telephone Directory, 1956: Conception Bay

Corner Brook

• Corner Brook Phone Directory, 1951

Gander

• Telephone Directory, 1954: Gander, Glenwood, Lewisport

Goose Bay

• Telephone Directory, 1958: Goose Bay and surrounding territory

St. Johns

• Devine and Omaras, City Directory of St. John’s Newfoundland, 1897
• Directory for the Towns of St. John’s, Harbor Grace, and Carbonear, Newfoundland, for 1885-86
• Directory of Busineses Burnt Out by the Great Fire of 1892, 1892
• McAlpine Directory for St. John’s and the Surrounding Areas, 1913
• McAlpine’s St. John’s city Directory, 1915 : comprising a Directory of St. John’s, a classified business Directory, a street Directory and Directory of Belle Isle, Carbonear and Harbor Grace.
• McAlpine’s St. John’s Directory 1908-09
• Might and Co.’s Directory, St. John’s, Harbor Grace and Carbonear, Newfoundland 1890
• St. John’s City Directory, 1919
• St. John’s City Directory, 1924
• St. John’s City Phone Directory, 1909
• St. John’s City Phone Directory, 1938
• St. John’s City Phone Directory, 1946
• St. John’s City Phone Directory, 1951
• St. John’s classified business and city Directory 1932
• St. John’s Newfoundland Directory 1913
• Telephone Directory, 1926: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1931: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1935: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1937: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1942: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1944: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1946: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1947, St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1948: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1950: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1951: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1953: St. John’s
• Telephone Directory, 1954: St. John’s

Stephenville

• Stephenville Phone Directory, 1948

Twillingate

• Interim Telephone Directory Twillingate 1964
• Telephone Directory, 1964, Twillingate