Nevada Directories

United StatesU.S. DirectoriesNevadaDirectories

Record Synopsis
A directory is defined as a “book containing names, addresses, and occupations of inhabitants.” It may also be “any list or compilation, usually in book or pamphlet form, of persons, professional organizations, firms or corporations.” Several types of directories have been published in the United States over the last two hundred years including: city directories, telephone directories, county and regional business directories, professional, organizational, and religious directories, post office directories, and street directories. Directories have tremendous value to genealogists as both an original record and as a reference aid.

The sections below provide information about Nevada directories. For further information about directories in general, see United States Directories.

City Directories
A helpful directory for early Nevada is:


 * Kelly, J. Wells, First Directory of Nevada Territory: Containing the Names of Residents in the Principal Towns . . . Los Gatos, California: The Talisman Press 1962..

A guide to Nevada directories is Joyce C. Lee, Genealogical Prospecting in Nevada: a Guide to Nevada Directories (Carson City: Nevada State Library, 1984..

Libraries and Archives
Local county libraries, the University of Nevada—Reno, the Nevada Historical Society, and the Nevada State Library and Archives collect Nevada directories. The Nevada Historical Society also collects directories of county and municipal officers, dating from the 1860's.

Online Resources

 * Ancestry.com ($) has Nevada directories available online in its U.S. City Directories collection.
 * Distant Cousin - Nevada
 * US City Directories identifies printed, microfilmed, and online directories and their repositories.

The Family History Library
The Family History Library has directories of several cities and towns for 1862 to 1881 ) and a few other directories for the 1900's.