Telephone Directories / Online Telephone Books

The Archibald S. Alexander Library of the Rutgers University has a web page maintained by Librarian Stephanie Bartz. IT IS AN EXCELLENT web page for offering sources that will provide A LOT of information for finding telephone numbers, email addresses, zip codes, business directories, reverse lookups, access to OLD phonebooks, and MUCH, MUCH MORE.

The web page located at: https://libguides.rutgers.edu/directories

Libary of Congress Telephone Directory Collections (OLD telephone books)

Their web pages says:

"About this Collection

The Library of Congress's collection of telephone directories represents the following states and localities: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the city of Chicago. The dates of the directories span most of the 20th century. The Library's United States telephone directory collection consists of 8,327 digitized reels of microfilm; of these, about 3,500 are presented in this collection. The remainder of the collection may be requested from the Microform Reader Services (LJ 139)."

https://www.loc.gov/collections/united-states-telephone-directory-collection/

https://www.loc.gov/collections/united-states-telephone-directory-collection/index/location/

The White Pages Official Website

The online White Pages offers the ability to search by person's name, reverse telephone lookup, and a type of Yellow Pages Business Directory.

The Archives Library Information Center (ALIC)

The Mail and Directories web page is located at https://www.archives.gov/research/alic/reference/mail-and-telephone-directories.html#m1

This information Center offers MORE information that may be of interest to many people. Please scroll to the bottom of the Mail and Directories web page in order to view the links offering a variety of information, including genealogy resources.

Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com has the following link for accessing SOME telephone directory information.

https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/dir_telephone/

Their web page states:

"Collection Information

Ancestry is home to an extensive collection of telephone directories. Directories typically contain entries for the head of household and include name, occupation, and home address. Business listing may include the professional listing for family members. In the case of older telephone directories, these you may find street directories, lists of advertisements (which may include your ancestor’s business), lists of government officials, charitable organizations, churches, cemeteries, hotels, maps, and much more."

The Iosco-Arenac District Library has purchased a subscription to Ancestry.com. The link to Ancestry.com can be found on the IADL's web page at https://www.ioscoarenaclibrary.org/reference.htm

You will need to input your library card number for access. I have to give you a warning. I have heard from some people whom I know who use Ancestry.com A LOT. They tell me that part of the use of Ancestry.com IS free, BUT, after doing much searching on Ancestry.com, if you go deep enough into their database, Ancestry.com will ask you for money to access some information. Apparently, according to my friends, a paid subscription does not mean TOTAL FREE ACCESS to ALL that Ancestry.com has to offer.

AnyWho: Finding People, Places, and Businesses

"Are you searching for an old friend? Trying to verify an address? Or maybe you see an unfamiliar phone number in your records? AnyWho provides a free online people search directory where you can find people by their name, address or you can do a reverse lookup by phone number.

The AnyWho People Search is updated weekly with phone numbers of individuals from across the nation. For best results, include both the first and last name when searching the AnyWho people search and, if you have it, the ZIP Code."

IF I remember correctly, this FREE source has been around, a while.

It is located at: https://www.anywho.com/