Using the microfilm, we found that these mnemonic aids were still being used as late as 1971, the most current year in our holdings. SLS Reference Service is currently indexing these reels of microfilm so that if a researcher provides us with the year of residence and the name of the suburb, we can immediately pull the correct reel. If your patron simply wants to check one or two names in a known suburb over a short span of years, we would be glad to do so. We soon learned that there are others. Suzanne mentioned that the editions from the 1930s and 1940s also included listings from Burnham, Illinois.
City directories can be invaluable, particularly for family history researchers.
Using these directories I was able to trace my grandfather s home and business addresses, as well as his marital status, throughout a 20-year period in late 19th and early 20th century Chicago. May other library users enjoy the same success with these and other city directories.