Hats off to Peterborough, Ontario’s Heritage Preservation Office that has digitized a local collection of city and county directories, ranging in date from 1858 to 2010.
They are now available to search online for free.
A total of 115 books have been scanned, with directories contributed by the Peterborough Public Library, Peterborough Museum and Archives, Trent Valley Archives, and Trent University Archives. Funding for the project was provided by the Peterborough Public Library.
Peterborough’s digitized collection of directories contains listings of residents and their addresses, businesses and farmers, government, town officers, schools, societies, churches, and post offices. Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough, Ontario.
City directories, such as the Business Directory and Book of Reference for the Town and County of Peterborough, for 1883-84, sometimes include a local history and detailed description of the area. The directories were published annually as a guide, listing names, addresses, and professions of people in a particular town, city, and sometimes county.
City issues call for missing years
Although all the available directories were scanned, some years are missing. The city has issued a call to any members of the public who may have copies of the missing years and are willing to loan their copies to be digitized. The missing years are 1884, 1886, 1889, 1891, 1892, 1896, 1900, 1902, 1911 and 1930. Anyone with directories from these years can contact Kathryn Matheson, heritage researcher by phone at 705.742.7777, ext. 1491, or by email at kmatheson@peterborough.ca.
Search the online Peterborough city directories here.
Look for the Peterborough directories and other Canadian city directories in my Genealogy Research Toolbox.
