Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The aim of the project was to improve access to local and trade directories for the period 1750-1919 by making a substantial collection of English and Welsh directories available online as a Digital Library of Historical Directories. This digital resource comprises in total some 600 directories, covering every English county together with Wales, and ranging widely over the period 1750-1919 (the latter cut-off point chosen for copyright reasons). There is a particular focus on the 1850s, 1890s and 1910s, with at least one directory provided for each county in each of these decades. The digitisation of the volumes involved a two-stage process, in which (1) the hard-copy source was scanned to produce a graphic image of each page, and then (2) those images were processed using OCR software to generate a machine-readable text file.An online version of this resource can be found on the Website of the University of Leicester.

This data collection includes the following directories:- Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of North & South Wales, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, and the Cities of Bristol and Chester, with topographical notices of each city, town and village ... [1880. Part 1: N & S Wales] (1880)- Slater's Royal National Commercial Directory of North & South Wales, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, and the Cities of Bristol and Chester, with topographical notices of each city, town and village ... [1880. Part 2: Shrops, Mon, Bristol & Chester] (1880)- Butcher's Cardiff District Directory: including Pontypridd, Llandaff, etc., and the villages five miles round Cardiff (1881)- Swansea Commercial Directory, 1881-82 (1881)- Butcher's Swansea District Directory, including Neath, Llanelly, The Mumbles, and the district round Swansea, including historical sketches of the neighbourhood, a street directory of Swansea, a classified trades directory of Swansea, local information, private residents' directories, and commercial directories of each place (1881)- The Post Office Bath Directory, 1884-85 (1884)- Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire (1885)- Wilson's Trades' Directory of Wales, and diary for 1885. Being a comprehensive list containing the names and addresses of all the principal manufacturing, wholesale, & retail firms (1885)- Daniel Owen & Co's (Wright's) Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, and towns and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1887)- Swansea and District Directory (1887)- Kelly's Directory of Somersetshire (1889)- Jakeman & Carver's Directory and Gazetteer of Herefordshire (1890)- Kelly's Directory of Shropshire (1891)- Daniel Owen & Co.'s (Wright's) Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, and towns and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1891)- Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire and Shropshire. [1895. Part 1: Herefordshire] (1895)- Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire and Shropshire. [1895. Part 2: Shropshire] (1895)- Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales, 1895. [Part 1: Monmouthshire Directory & South Wales Localities] (1895)- Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales, 1895. [Part 2: South Wales Court & Trade Directories] (1895)- Daniel Owen & Co.'s Cardiff Directory, including, Penarth, & Llandaff, and towns and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1895)- The Post Office Bath Directory (1895)- Slater's Directory of North and Mid Wales (1895)- Kelly's Directory of Gloucestershire (1897)- Kelly's Directory of Somerset (1897)- Cardiff and District Trades' Directory (1899)- Wright's Swansea Directory for 1899. The directory includes the important industrial and residential districts of Landore, Plasmarl, Morriston, Llansamlet, Manselton, St. Thomas, Port Tennant, Cwmbwrla, Sketty, Gower (1899)

Main Topics:The directories included are of many different kinds, commonly embracing trade, commercial, and private resident directories, together with gazetteers, almanacs, official information, etc. For the purposes of deposit in the UK Data Archive, the collection has been divided into 35 studies on a regional and temporal basis.

No sampling (total universe)

Compilation or synthesis of existing material