Philadelphia Directories

This research guide provides quick links to historical Philadelphia directories and some of the work done on them in the recent historical area of study called geohistory.

Physical directories held at Temple University Libraries

Temple University Libraries hold many historical Philadelphia directories, usually in the Special Collections Research Center or the Blockson Collection.

1797 Directory (C. W. Stafford)

1798 Directory (C. W. Stafford)

1807 Directory (James Robinson)

1810 Directory (James Robinson)

1811 Directory (James Robinson)

1814 Directory (Kite)

1825 Directory (Wilson)

1828 Directory (Desilver)

1829 Directory (Desilver)

1842 Directory (McElroy)

1844 Directory (McElroy)

1848 Directory (McElroy)

1849 Directory (McElroy)

1850 Directory (McElroy)

1851 Directory (McElroy)

1852 Directory (McElroy)

1853 Directory (McElroy)

1857 Directory (McElroy)

1858 Directory (McElroy)

1869-1878 Directories (Gopsill)

1871 The Philadelphia medical register and directory

1884 The Medical Directory of Philadelphia

1878-1887 Co-partnership and residence business directory (Boyd)

1900 The financiers of Philadelphia and gallery of men of affairs

1905 Directory (Gopsill)

1907 Directory (Gopsill)

1908 Colored Directory of Philadelphia (Wright)

1908 Philadelphia combined city and business directory (Boyd)

1909 Philadelphia combined city and business directory (Boyd)

1911-1918 Philadelphia combined city and business directory (Boyd)

1923 Colored Directory of Philadelphia (Wright)

Microfilm directories held at Temple University

United States city directories 1861-1881, Philadelphia, PA. Microfilmed by Research Publications Inc.

United States city directories 1882-1901, Philadelphia, PA. Microfilmed by Research Publications Inc.

Sources of other physical or microform directories

Philadelphia Directories at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania
H.S.P. holds considerable numbers of directories, including many that are not yet digitized and online. Among these are specialized directories, such as business directories and The Philadelphia Colored Directory for 1908, 1910, and 1914.
Microfilm directories in the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress has many Philadelphia directories on microfilm.
City Directories of the United States (Gale Group microfilm)
City Directories of the United States, a microform collection published by Primary Source Microfilm, an imprint of the Gale Group, represents one of the most comprehensive sources of information about U.S. city dwellers available to researchers today. Temple does not have direct access to these, but they may be available by interlibrary loan.

Last Updated: Feb 16, 2021 8:50 PM
URL: https://guides.temple.edu/philadirectories
Print Page

Subjects: History

Tags: american history, directories, gis, history, philadelphia