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Directories as sources in urban history: a review of British and Canadian material

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2009

Gareth Shaw
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Extract

Directories have had a somewhat chequered history, both in terms of their original production, and also in their subsequent use as sources of information. To a large extent these two aspects are closely related, as is illustrated by the reluctance of some urban historians to use directories because of doubts over their reliability. A further factor determining the extent to which directories have been utilized, has been the availability of other information. In Britain it has been the relative abundance of small area census data that has had an important effect on directing research in urban history, by drawing much attention away from the exploration and use of other sources. This is certainly the case with directories, which for many researchers have served only as a ‘stop-gap’, being used when nothing else was available and then often with a sceptical attitude. Recently, some of these views have started to change as a growing number of urban historians make more use of directory material, particularly in the study of urban systems and changes in commercial structures.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History Yearbook , Volume 11 , May 1984 , pp. 36 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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References

Notes

1 The influence of small area census data on directing research on the nineteenth century city is fully discussed in Johnson, J. H. and Pooley, C. G., ‘The internal structure of the nineteenth century British city—an overview’, in Johnson, J. H. and Pooley, C. G. (eds.), The Structure of Nineteenth Century Cities (1982).Google Scholar

2 This neglect of directories is highlighed in Dennis, R. J., ‘Intercensal mobility in a Victorian city’, Trans. Institute of British Geographers, n.s. II 3 (1977), 349–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

3 Barker, D., ‘A conceptual approach to the description and analysis of an historical urban system’, Regional Studies, XII (1978), 1–10CrossRefGoogle Scholar: Shaw, G. and Wild, M. T., ‘Retail patterns in the Victorian city’, Trans. Institute of British Geographers, n.s. IV. 2 (1979), 193–210.Google Scholar

4 Wood, J. D., ‘Simulating pre-census population distribution’, Canadian Geographer XVIII (1974), 250–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Thernstrom, S. and Sennett, R., Nineteenth Century Cities, Essays in the New Urban History (1969).Google Scholar

6 Wood, op. cit.

7 Goheen, P., Victorian Toronto, 1850–1900 (1970).Google Scholar

8 Goss, C. W. F., The London Directories, 1677–1855 (1932).Google Scholar

9 Kenny, S., ‘Sub-regional specialization in the Lancashire cotton industry, 1884–1914’, J. Historical Geography, VIII. 1 (1982), 41–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Shaw, G., British Directories as Sources in Historical Geography, Hist. Geog. Research Series no. 8 (1982), 6–7.Google Scholar The author is currently engaged in a project, funded by the Marc Fitch Foundation, to compile a new register of all types of British directories published up to 1900.

11 Smith, W. M., Canadian Gazetteer (1846).Google Scholar

12 In 1851 two rival publications appeared, one by Smith, The Business Directory of Canada West; and the second by Mackay, entitled The Canada Directory. This was initially published by John Lovell but compiled by Mackay, who published a supplement to it in 1853.

13 Ryder, D. E., Checklist of Canadian Directories, 1790–1850 (1979).Google Scholar

14 Norton, J. E., Guide to the National and Provincial Directories of England and Wales, excluding London, published before 1856 (1950).Google Scholar

15 Goss, C. W. F., The London Directories, 1677–1855 (1932).Google Scholar The rest of the data was compiled from the British Library.

16 The data for Scotland was compiled from personal communications with the main Scottish libraries.

17 After 1856 data for figure 2 had to be compiled from a variety of library sources.

18 Shaw (1982), op. cit.

19 Brief History of Kelly's Directories, published by IPC who now control Kelly's, no date given. Kelly's eliminated some competitors through legal action, claiming other firms had stolen their material.

20 Knight, P. R., The Plain People of Boston, 1830–1860 (1971).Google Scholar

21 Full details of Might's career are given in a Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of York (1907), 98–107.Google Scholar

22 Shaw (1982), op. cit., 29–43.

23 Norton, op. cit. See introduction.

24 Lemon, J. and Simmons, J., ‘A guide to data on nineteenth century Toronto’, University of Toronto, Dept. of Geography (1977).Google Scholar

25 For example Kelly's (now controlled by IPC) maintain an archive of directories and some company records.

26 Grant, R., ‘The topography as a resource for Welsh urban studies’, Nat. Library of Wales, XIX. 19 (1975–1976), 217–26Google Scholar; Odell, R. P., ‘Urban spheres of influence in Leicestershire in the mid-nineteenth century’. Geographical Studies, IV (1957), 30–45.Google Scholar

27 Might's Toronto directories gave population estimates from 1873 onwards, using a ‘multiple’ to convert directory entries into total population.

28 The data is derived from Page, D., ‘Commercial Directories and Market Towns’, Local Historian, XI. 2 (1974), 85–8.Google Scholar

29 Knight's work (op. cit, ref. 20) may be compared with Pooley, C. G., ‘Residential mobility in a Victorian city’, Trans, Institute of British Geographers, IV. 2 (1979), 258–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Doucet, M. J., ‘Nineteenth-century residential mobility: some preliminary comments’, York University (Toronto) Geography Discussion Paper, 4 (1972).Google Scholar

30 Shaw (1982), op. cit.

31 For example, Thomas Gleason in the Quebec Directory, 1822, complained of problems with addresses and explained that people should number their houses in accordance with the system given in the directory.

32 Canada West Census, 1861 Toronto (microfilm C1101–C1110, Public Archives, Ottawa).

33 See, for example, Shaw and Wild, op. cit., ref. 3 and Dahms, F. A., ‘The evolution of settlement systems: a Canadian example, 1851–1970’, J. Urban History, VII. 2 (1981), 169–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

34 Lewis, C. R., ‘Trade directories—a data source in urban analysis’, National Library of Wales J., XIX (1975–1976), 181–93.Google Scholar

35 Evans, G. M., ‘A sketch of American business organisation, 1832–1900’, J. of Political Economy, lx (1952), 475–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

36 Lawton, R., ‘Question of scale in the study of population in nineteenth century Britain’, in Baker, A. and Billinge, M. (eds.), Period and Place (1982)Google Scholar; Stelter, G. A., ‘The historian's approach to Canada's urban past’, Social History, III (1974), 5–47.Google Scholar