BuffaloResearch.com
Genealogy & Local History in Buffalo, NY
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Online City Directories


  • In case it isn't obvious, the little elves at BuffaloResearch.com do not own any  city directories.  Instead, we watch for when other people and institutions digitize them.   Then we collect the links here for your convenience.
  • We include social, business, and charity directories, when we find them online in full text
  •  If you discover online Buffalo city directories not listed here, please let us know.
  •  indicates a fee-based site
  • Our other page on city directories shows you what directories are still offline, when directories were first published for the various towns and villages of Erie County, and who owns them in hard copy.  

Buffalo Directories
Year & Link
Notes
1828
A text file with names and addresses.  This is Buffalo's first city directory.  The next one came out in 1832.
1828  Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1832
Page scans from the original directory at DistantCousin.com
1832
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1832
Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1842 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1842
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust.  
1844
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1844 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1848
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1848 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1849-50
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Project
1849-50 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1850-51
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1850-51 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1851-52
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1852
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1853
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1853
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1854
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1854
Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1855
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1855
Business directory only.  Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1855 Business directory only.  Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1858 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1859
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1859 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1860
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1860 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1861
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1861 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1862
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1863
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1864
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1864 Page scans from the original directory at Archive.org
1865
Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1866  Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1867  Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1868 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1869
Page scans from the original directory at DistantCousin.com
1870 Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1871 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1872 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1873 Page scans from the original directory at Hathi Trust
1873 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1874  Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1875 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1876 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1877 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1878 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1879 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1880 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1881 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1882 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1883
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1884 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1884
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1885 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1886 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1887
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1888-89
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1890
Incomplete.  East Side names have been culled by volunteers and listed here
1890 Searchable at Ancestry.com.  You get last name and first name but not address or occupation unless you have a membership.
1890-91
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1892-93
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1893 Page scans from the original directory at Google Books
1894-95
Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1896-97 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1898-99 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1900 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1901 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1902 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1903 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1904 Scanned online at Fold3, membership required
1904-05 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1909-10 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1911-12 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1915  dollar sign Bell Telephone Directory for Buffalo
1915 Buffalo Address Book & Family Directory at NewYorkHeritage.org, limited to middle & upper class families
1918 Social Register, Summer edition.  See pp. 590-600 for names & summer homes of wealthy Buffalonians
1919 Social Register, Summer edition.  See pp. 618-626 for names & summer homes of wealthy Buffalonians
1920 Blue Book of Buffalo Commerce, the directory of the Buffalo Chamber of Commerce
1920 Social Register, Summer edition.  See pp. 674-682 for names & summer homes of wealthy Buffalonians
i Erie County & Western New York Directories
Year & Link Notes
1868 Lockport city directory.  You get snippets which might show last name, first name and sometimes address or occupation. For full text, you must have a Ancestry.com membership.
1869 Gazetteer & Business Directory of Niagara County
1871 Classified Business Directory, Erie County from Asher & Adams atlas at NYPL.org
1875 Gazetteer and Business Directory of Allegany County 
1875-1916 Jamestown & Olean NY city directories
1878 Lockport city directory.  You get snippets which might show last name, first name and sometimes address or occupation. For full text, you must have a Ancestry.com membership.
1880 Western New York Gazetteer & Business Directory.  Very slow-loading PDF.
1884 R.L. Polk's Marine Directory of the Great Lakes.  Limited to businesses, services, and individuals connected with shipping & lake commerce in Buffalo, Tonawanda, Dunkirk, etc.
1891 R.L. Polk's Marine Directory of the Great Lakes.  Limited to businesses, services, and individuals connected with shipping & lake commerce in Buffalo, Tonawanda, Dunkirk, etc.
1902-03 Johnson's Business and Professional Directory of Buffalo, Rochester, Erie, Niagara Falls, Lockport, Tonawanda, Batavia, Hamburg, Dunkirk, WIlliamsville, Geneva, Lyons, Canandaigua, and Lancaster, N.Y. [etc.].  Very slow-loading PDF.
1917
Farm Journal Illustrated Rural Directory of Erie County.  Partially transcribed online by a volunteer.
1921 Social Service Directory of Erie County.  Features charities, hospitals, orphanages, etc.
1924
Erie County Directory online in "limited preview" at Google Books, meaning that not all pages are visible

Updated 26 December 2011
BuffaloResearch.com