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 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 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 September 2021)
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
- Fox’s Who’s Who among South Dakotans : a Biographical Directory, 1924-25
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 1
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 2
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1880-81 Part 2
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1882-83 Part 1
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1882-83 Part 2
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 1
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 2
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 3
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1888-89 Part 4
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 1
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 2
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 3
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 4
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 5
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 6
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory, 1906-07 Part 7
- Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Montana gazetteer and Business Directory. 1882-83 Part 3
- South Dakota City Directories, Miscellaneous Indexes by County
- South Dakota State Business Directory – 1909-1910
- South Dakota state gazetteer and business directory, 1921
Aberdeen
Anchor City
Beadle County
- 1882-3 Huron Business Directory
- 1905-06 Sand Creek Township Residents
- 1913 Patron’s Directory
- Beadle County 1931 Phone Book
- Huron City Directory
Brookings County
Central City
Crook City
Deadwood
Deuel County
Galena
Gayville
Golden Gate
Huron
- Huron City Directory, unknown, 1926
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1914 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1919 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1920 January
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1920 November
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1921 November
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1922 May
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1923 May
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1923 November
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1924 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1924 May
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1925 August
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1925 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1926 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1926 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1927 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1927 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1928 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1928 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1929 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1929 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1930 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1930 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1931 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1931 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1932 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1933 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1934 September
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1935 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1936 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1937 June
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1941
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1941 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1942 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1943 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1944 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1945 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1946 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1947 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1950 January
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1951 February
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1952 March
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1953 March
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1954 December
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1954 February
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1956 January
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1957 March
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1958 May
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1959 May
- Huron Telephone Directories, 1960 June
Huron and Beadle County
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1905
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1907-1908
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1909-1910
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1911-1912
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1913-1914
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1918
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1922
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1924
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1926
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1928
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1930-1931
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1932-1933
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1934
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1936
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1938
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1940
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1942
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1945
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1948
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1950
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1953
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1955
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1957
- Huron and Beadle County City Directory, 1960
Hutchinson County
Kingsbury County
Lawrence County
- Lawrence County, 1909 – 1910 Gazetter Publishing Co. Business Directory
- Lawrence County, 1916 – 1917 R. L. Polk Business Directory
Lead
McCook County
Rapid City
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, First Semester 1936-37
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, First Semester 1937-38, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, First Semester 1938-39, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, First Semester 1939-40, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, First Semester 1940-41, Student
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1936-37
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1937-38, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1938-39, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1939-40, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1940-41
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Second Semester 1940-41, Faculty and Administration, Students
- South Dakota State School of Mines, Directory, Summer 1942, Faculty and Administration, Students
Robert County
Sioux Falls
South Bend
Vermillion
For other Free South Dakota Links, click on the category of interest:
Newspapers
Yearbooks
Births
Marriages
Deaths
BMD Records
Alumni Records
Cemetery Records
Church Records
Coroner Records
Criminal Records
Directories
Divorce Records
Immigration Records
Military Records
Mortuary Records
Naturalizations
Obituaries
Photos
Probate and Wills
School Records
Tax Records
Voter Records
