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A free worksheet for historical family-history research

City directory worksheet.

Keep a historical directory entry beside its edition, listed address, occupation and source. Record other years you checked and the comparisons still open, while preserving the wording and abbreviations you actually read.

Up to 20 historical entries · Text download · Blank or filled printing · No account

Getting the worksheet ready…

Your records stay in this page’s memory. They are not uploaded or autosaved: refreshing or closing clears them. Download text or print before leaving. Keep what a record reports separate from your interpretation.

Keep a directory entry beside its edition and source

Start with one historical directory entry and add up to twenty records. Keep your summary beside its source and the questions still open. Every field is optional.

Record 1

Give this historical directory entry a reference you can find again. An unnamed entry can remain unnamed.

Keep the printed title, edition year and place covered. Note a stated compilation period separately; the edition year alone does not establish an exact residence date.

Preserve the listed name, spelling and any description. Keep a possible same-name match open until you compare other evidence.

Keep the street, number and locality as written. Identify whether the entry describes a residence, workplace, business or another kind of address.

Preserve the occupation, employer, business or partner wording actually supplied. A missing occupation can stay open.

Keep other listed people beside any supplied role or relationship. Sharing a surname or address alone does not establish a family relationship.

Copy useful wording and abbreviations as printed. Record a proposed expansion separately and keep the directory’s own abbreviation-key reference.

Name the other edition and source you checked, then record a change or a search with no result. Keep an absent listing distinct from proof that a person moved or died.

Keep the repository, collection, page, column, image, URL and date consulted. Note whether you read the original image, an index or someone else’s extract.

Separate your interpretation from the printed entry. Note uncertain readings and what you want to compare next; this note does not run a search.

City directory worksheet

Keep the directory edition, listed details and your comparisons with their source.

Made with MemoirWell · memoirwell.com/tools/city-directory-worksheet

Record 1

Entry or research label — record 1

Directory title, edition and coverage — record 1

Person or business as listed — record 1

Address and address type — record 1

Occupation and business details — record 1

Other names and stated connections — record 1

Entry wording and abbreviations — record 1

Other years checked and comparisons — record 1

Page, image and source reference — record 1

Open questions and next source — record 1

Look between census years without losing the source

Start with the directory title page and identify the edition and area covered. Copy a useful entry with its page or image reference. Keep a residence distinct from a workplace, and preserve the printed occupation and abbreviations. If you compare another edition, give that edition its own reference instead of silently merging two entries.

The Library of Congress guide to U.S. city and telephone directories explains how regularly issued directories help family historians research the years between censuses. The New York Public Library’s genealogy guide describes the names, residential and business addresses, and occupations these sources can contain. This is an original worksheet for your own historical research notes.

Keep an abbreviation and a possible connection open

Check the abbreviation key in the edition you actually use. Keep the printed form and a proposed expansion distinguishable. Ancestry’s public U.S. city-directories collection description also recommends consulting each directory’s abbreviation page. A shared address or surname is a clue to compare, not an automatic family connection. A missing listing is a search result to record, not proof of a move or death.

A fictional example

Label: Jo Zebulon, Example City directory. Edition: Example City Directory, 1904. Listed entry: Zebulon Jo, tailor, 42 Oak St. Address type: Residence or workplace not yet established. Source: Fictional volume B, page 42. Comparison: A 1905 edition has not been checked. Open question: Find the 1904 abbreviation key and compare a separately cited census entry before connecting Jo to another person at this address.

Before you save your worksheet

Is this a free city directory research form for genealogy?

Yes. Manually record entries from historical directories and the comparisons you want to keep. Print a blank worksheet for handwriting or type your notes first. Filled printing and TXT keep entries with something entered, including an unnamed source-only entry, with their original numbers. Untouched extra entries are skipped; an entirely empty sheet prints one blank record.

Can I compare several years or places?

Yes. Add a record for each entry or comparison you want to keep, identify the edition and place covered, and note the other sources you checked. Records remain in the order you added them. No date, address or identity matching is calculated automatically.

Will it search a directory or identify a person?

You find, enter and check the historical information yourself. There is no directory search, current-person lookup, image upload, automated extraction or relationship verification. A next-source question stays your own note; no request is sent.

Are my notes uploaded or saved automatically?

They stay only in this page’s memory. They are not uploaded or autosaved; refreshing or closing clears them. Download text or print before leaving. TXT and PDF copies cannot be reopened here as editable records. Include only the details you want in your saved copy.

Can I print from editing or save a PDF?

Yes. Choose Review my sheet, then Print or save PDF, or use the browser’s print command while editing. Check Letter or A4 in the preview. Each additional record starts on a new page, and long notes can continue onto further pages. Field labels keep their record number.

Keep a remembered story beside the address

Save your worksheet first. MemoirWell’s separate guided interview can help you develop your own memory into an AI-assisted draft chapter to check and edit. These directory notes are not transferred automatically.

Start a free first chapter

Download or print your worksheet before leaving this page.