11 more Toronto directories digitized, from 1951-1969

The gift that keeps on giving is the digitization of Toronto directories from the Toronto Public Library and Internet Archive.

Only a day after I published a blog post about a number of recently digitized directories, available through Jane MacNamara’s blog, Where the story takes me, the Toronto-based blogger tweeted that she has added another 11 digitized Toronto directories.

In the tweet, Ms. MacNamara wrote, “Hey, another 11 digitized Toronto directories have been added since the last tweet. Now almost a complete run to 1969. A terrific gift to historians from @torontolibrary and @internetarchive.”

These latest directories are for 1951, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1968, and 1969.

Now, very few directories are missing from 1833 to 1969 — a span of 136 years.

Unlike phone books, directories usually list a person’s occupation, which makes them a goldmine for genealogists.

In her blog post about how to use the directories, Ms. MacNamara wrote, “Most Toronto directories have two main sections: an alphabetical index of names and a street section that lists each street alphabetically and shows the resident or business at each address. Both sections are equally important.”

The Toronto Public Library has posted most of the city directories on its website, but only up to 1949. It appears to be hard to keep up to the speed of Ms. MacNamara.

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