City maps, with ward boundaries, are sometimes included. When the names of a street changed, the next year s directory listed the change an important aid when trying to prove that a family is the same family despite a different address. Sometimes an addenda lists persons whose entries were too late for insertion or lists deaths in an epidemic year. Directories for smaller communites often give individual dates of death and names children with years of birth. Cite Directory Fully Full citations, including the names of publishers, can be critical.
Some cities have more than one directory per year, published by different companies.
The contents of this page were originally published in OnBoard, Newsletter of the Board for Certification of Genealogists. Individuals may download and print copies for their personal study. Educators are granted permission to provide copies to their students as long as BCG, OnBoard, and the appropriate author are credited as the source of the material. Republication elsewhere is not permitted. For more information about BCG, please see the other material available here at our website or contact the Board at the address given above.