Reverse Directories
in the Library of Congress

A list of holdings from the 19th & 20th Centuries

The Library of Congress holds substantial collections of historical reverse crisscross and street address directories, some dating back to the late 19th century. Unlike telephone directories, these directories are arranged by telephone and/or street address, and, as such, may be of use both to genealogists as well as to business researchers doing historical research.

This guide contains two lists - one of volumes in the United States Criss Cross Directories Collection held by the Library of Congress, as compiled as part of a special inventory project in 1997, the other of the holdings of the United States Street Address Directories Collection, as inventoried in September 2002. For information on holdings of directories received after these inventories were completed, please consult with library staff.

Both inventories are arranged alphabetically by the name of the city or town. Patrons with valid reader registration cards, who are on site at the Library of Congress, may request volumes from either collection at the Book Service Desk in the Science and Business Reading Room on the fifth floor of the Adams building.

Table of Contents

Overview
Criss Cross Directories
Street Address Directories

Image: (Above) Outdated directories in the stock room of a Philadelphia paper mill, ca. 1940-1946
Photographed by Alfred T. Palmer
From the collections of the
Prints and Photographs Division (Library of Congress)
Digital ID: fsa 8b00983

For information on other telephone and city directories in the Library of Congress, please see the following guides:

• U.S. City Directories on Microfilm in the Microform Reading Room
• Telephone and City Directories in the Library of Congress: Current Directories.