San Francisco Genealogy - City Directories

City Directories

with Research Tips

This web page was mentioned in Matthew and April Helm's book,
Genealogy Online for Dummies

Introduction

This is a miscellaneous collection of information, research tips, and a list of some of the locations where you can find San Francisco City Directories.

(Please note that this page is by no means a complete list of locations!)
Thank you to the volunteers who provided tips and lists for this page!

Some of the City Directory locations and collection lists on this page were submitted by volunteer researchers, and were current at the time of submission, but you may wish to contact the various respositories to be sure they still have the directory you need before you make your trip.

Please help by submitting locations and collection lists to this page!

If you know of the locations of any books or microfilms of San Francisco City Directories that are not yet listed, or would like to correct any of the listings, please let us know.

If you've solved a unique genealogical puzzle by using City Directories and would like to share any helpful hints with us, tell us about it so that your experience can benefit other researchers.

General Information and Tips on using City Directories in your research
by Pamela Storm

San Francisco City Directories are a great and often overlooked resource for finding information about your San Francisco ancestors. They can be very helpful in estimating what year a family first settled in San Francisco, especially if they came here in between census years. You can often discover unknown relatives by looking through all the listings for a given surname, paying careful attention to similar addresses. Listings in City Directories can be of help in narrowing down an approximate year of death in some cases. For example, you may find a husband's listing for a number of consecutive years, and the following year, find his wife listed under her own name with the notation "widow". In some directories after 1913, a wife's name is listed in parentheses next to the husband's entry. Quite often, a person's occupation, and/or their place of business is mentioned.

In the back section of most City Directories, you'll usually find a "business directory", which is similar to what we now refer to as the "yellow pages" of our current telephone books. If your ancestor had a business, this listing may provide further useful information. In the front section, you'll usually find a great deal of interesting and helpful information on organizations such as houses of worship, schools, fraternal organizations, hospitals, governmental departments, etc. You can sometimes find cross street directories, maps, names of current government agencies and officials, legislative district boundaries, historical information, and much more.

Caution: Use care in drawing conclusions about your ancestors from listings you find in City Directories. While they can provide excellent leads to further research, be cautious about making assumptions regarding dates of settlement or death, etc. Such information should always be verified by other means whenever possible. Directories often contain typographical errors in names and addresses, and just like our current telephone directories, information for any given year may be several months' out of date by the time a directory was printed. City Directory listings can provide wonderful information on your ancestors, but keep in mind that they are just a piece of your genealogical jigsaw puzzle.

Some repositories actually have the old books right on the shelves for you to use. Some have microfilm and microfiche collections, or a combination of these. There's something "magical" about actually handling the old books, but as they become too fragile, they're gradually being retired in favor of the microfilm and microfiche. If you are fortunate enough to be able to handle and view the actual books, please help preserve these fragile, older volumes by handling them carefully with clean, dry hands, turning the pages very gently, and follow any restrictions posted regarding photocopying. They'll last awhile longer if we treat them all as if they were our own Great-Grandmother's family Bible!

Index to Locations of San Francisco City Directory Collections
(If you know of more, please share them with us!)

ONLINE!

Your local FHC

CA--Los Angeles
CA--Oakland
CA--Sacramento
CA--San Bruno
CA--San Francisco
CA--San Jose
CA--San Rafael
CA--Santa Rosa
NV--Reno
NY--New York City (Manhattan)
WA--Seattle
Washington D.C.

Your local Family History Center

The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has the following directories on microfilm and/or microfiche. Your local Family History Center can order them for you to view.

1850-1861: FHL microfilm numbers 6044468 through 6044483
1862-forward: FHL microfiche numbers 1,377,422 through 1,377,449

(Thank you to Lee Neilsen for helping with these film/fiche numbers!)

CA--Los Angeles

Los Angeles Public Library Central Branch (Downtown)

Microfilm:

1861/62-1865/66, 1867/68-1869/70, 1871/72-1905, 1907-1945/46, 1948/49, 1951, 1953-1954, 1955-56, 1957, 1958-1959, 1960

Paper:

1874, 1877, 1880, 1888-89, 1907, 1938, 1961-1978, 1980-81

Notes
1871/72 microfilm shelved as: "San Francisco, CA and Nevada Territory"
1874 paper shelved as "California, Orgeon, & Nevada trades guide"
1877 paper (business directory - 2 c.)
1880 microfilm also shelved as: "Oakland, CA"
1888-89 paper shelved as: "Pacific Coast directory"
1938 paper (the San Francisco & Oakland Chinese telephone directory [loose sheets in envelope])

(Thank you to J Tortarolo for this information!)

CA--Oakland

California Genealogical Society

1868 to 1980 (San Francisco)
1887 to 1969 (Oakland)

Oakland Main Library

125 Fourteenth St.

Oakland, CA

hours

Oakland History Room, 2nd floor:

1850, Oct 1856, 1877 (Vandall)

Magazine and Newspaper Room, 2nd floor:

1879-1880, 1882-1884, 1886-1892, 1894, 1896-1902, 1904, 1907-1918, 1920-1946, 1951, 1953-1962, 1964-1972, 1974, 1976-1978, 1980-1982, 1994, 1996-2002

(Thank you to Dan Mosier for this list!)

CA--Sacramento

California State University
6000 J Street
Sacramento, CA
hours

Books for 1909, 1910, 1916, 1918, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1968, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975.
They have copy machines that will change out $1 and $5 ...but you have to xerox minimum numbers etc. so just bring lots of change.
The reference librarian was only aware of the 1974 & 1975 San Francisco City Directories. However, when I went to the shelves to look at the Sacramento City & County Directories, I found the San Francisco Directories right there next to the Sacramento books. The SF Directories may not be catalogued properly, but they ARE there...I've seen them with my own eyes.

(Thank you to Elaine Bukove for the list of books! Thank you to Sandy Bressler {aka Sandymento} for the tips.)

CA--San Bruno

NARA Pacific Region

1929 through 1931

CA--San Francisco

San Francisco Main Public Library, History Center (6th floor), provided this list of their microfilm holdings. By the way, a round of applause to the History Center Staff; they are among the most helpful librarians I've ever met! They are very cautious with their collection, and rightly so: most of their materials are rare and irreplacable. But you'll find they are extremely willing and will usually go out of their way to be helpful.

Reel #1: 1850 to 1860
Reel #2: 1861/62 to 1870/72
Reel #3: 1871/72 to 1874/75
Reel #4: 1875/76 to 1877/78
Reel #5: 1878/79 to 1880/81
Reel #6: 1882 to 1884
Reel #7: 1885 to 1886
Reel #9: 1887 to 1888
Reel #10: 1891 to 1892
Reel #11: 1893 to 1894
Reel #12: 1895 to 1896
Reel #13: 1897 to 1898
Reel #14: 1899 to 1900

San Francisco Main Public Library, Magazine & Newspaper Department (5th floor)

Not complete for every year, but an extensive collection of both books and microfilm.
Microfilmed years start with 1861. The films are in drawers on the back side of the very last row of cabinets.
Microfiche copies of 1850-1860 directories can be found in a 3-ring binder on the low shelves at the back of the reference desk. These years are also available on microfilm in the "History Center" up on the 6th floor.)
The first reversephone directory [for San Francisco] came out in 1953. The library has them starting with 1953, all in print, on the fifth floor, by the newspaper desk. (Thanks to George Mallman for this info)
Microfilm holdings:

Set 1, Reel 1, 1861 - Reel 11, 1882
Set 2, Reel 1, 1882 - Reel 17, 1902
Set 3, Reel 1, 1902 - Reel 32, 1935
From 1936 -1982 they have the Polk Directories in Positive film
From 1901 - 1992, (1905 missing) they have the San Francisco Telephone directories on film.

Books are on the shelves near the windows behind the main information desk. They start with later years, but it's still a good collection to check if you only need to look at one or two years and you don't need a photocopy. Please use these with the utmost care. They're extremely fragile! I don't see any signs posted prohibiting photocopying, but it isn't necessary to cause further damage to those beautiful old books....just a few steps away, they're all available on microfilm and/or microfiche, and there are plenty of microform copy machines right there in the same room. The staff is very good about showing you how to use the readers and copiers if you aren't familiar with how they operate.

Sutro Library

Microfilm collection contains most years between 1861 to 1935.
Extensive collection in book form as well, of both City Directories and Telephone Directories.
Sutro has City Directories in book form, microfilm and microfiche for cities and towns all over the country. For an excellent list of Sutro's collection, refer to "City Directories at Sutro Library", by Elizabeth Gorrell Kot and Shirley Pugh Thomson, (Second Edition, Indices Publishing, Walnut Creek, CA, 1998).

California Historical Society Library

1850, 1852 through 1854, 1856, 1858, 1860 through 1945, 1948, 1951, 1953 through 1955, 1957 through 1978, 1980, 1981

CA--San Jose

San Jose Public Library
150 E. San Fernando St.
San José, CA 95112
(408) 808-2000
hours

"This library has a very nice room called the "California Room" on the 3rd floor across from the Reference Section. They do not allow you to take any books out of the room. They had almost a complete set of SF directories. The librarian on the phone told me they didn't have any SF (only San Jose) directories, but I was very surprised to find a couple of shelves for SF. Photocopies are 25 cents, and the staff is very helpful." - Gayle Kaye
Bob Johnson, the Reference Librarian in the California Room, provided this detailed list of the library's SF City Directory holdings:

1850-1860--microfiche
1882-1899--microfilm
1900-1934--hardcopy
1936-1961--microfilm
1962-1982-hardcopy

"The California Room's primary focus is on California and local history rather than genealogy, but we do have some materials of interest to genealogists researching individuals who lived in Santa Clara County.

CA--San Rafael

Anne T. Kent California History Room

Marin County Library

3501 Civic Center Drive, Room 427

San Rafael, CA 94903-4177

(415) 499-7419

hours

Book holdings (photocopying is not allowed due to their fragile nature):

1861, 1863-1865, 1875-1878, 1880-1881, 1884-1885, 1887, 1889, 1895, 1903-1904, 1907-1909, 1912-1915, 1920, 1926-1948, 1950

(Thanks to Michael Nickle for this information!)

CA--Santa Rosa

Sonoma County Main Library, Genealogy Annex

Third & D Streets

Santa Rosa

hours

from 1850-on

(Thanks to Suzanne da Rosa for the info!)

NV--Reno

University of Nevada, Reno

"University of Nevada at Reno has the 1868 SF City Directory. This is in pretty good condition and held in Special Collections. I think they also have a microfilm of the San Francisco Business Directory and principal towns of CA & NV (McKenny) 1877." - Martha near Seattle

The Nevada Historical Society, Reno

"The Nevada Historical Society, 1650 N Virginia St, Reno, has a nice set of 1890-1900 directories and a few pre-1900 Pacific Coast Business Directories. - Martha near Seattle

Please note! The Society's staff is small, and their ability to answer inquiries is limited. Response time for written or phoned inquiries may be slow. However, walk-in researchers are welcome any time.

NY--New York City

New York Public Library

5th Ave. and 42d Street

Manhattan, NY

According to the NYPL catalog, the following S. F. city directories are available on microfilm:

1850-1944, 1947-1949, 1958-1959, 1961-1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1982 and 1985

(Thanks to Laura Lordan for the info!)

Washington DC

DAR Library

1776 D Street

Washington DC20006

1850, 1852-54, 1856-61, 1875, 1877, 1900, 1914, 1919, 1920

WA--Seattle

Seattle Public Library

Central Library

According to their catalog, they have the following on microfilm:

1902-1960

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