Collection Guide
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Sacramento area city directories and telephone books collection
MS0031
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Center for Sacramento History
Title: Sacramento area city directories and telephone books collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS0031
Physical Description:
196 Volumes
Physical Description:
29 Reels
Date (inclusive): 1850-2019
Language of Material: Languages represented in the collection: English
Collection is open for research use.
All requests to publish or quote from private collections held by the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) must be submitted
in writing to csh@cityofsacramento.org. Permission for publication is given on behalf of CSH as the owner of the physical
items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the patron.
No permission is necessary to publish or quote from public records.
[Identification of item], Sacramento area city directories and telephone books collection, MS0031, Center for Sacramento History.
This collection was assembled through various donations and purchases (accession #s 1973/04/01-06, 1973/05/01-04 1977/44/01,
1980/54/01, 1981/116/03, 1982/04/5036, 1982/04/5041, 1982/04/5044, 1983/087, 1983/125/005, 1983/126/01, 1983/147/05, 1986/108/03,
1988/085/08-12, 1988/72.01/01-07, 1992/50/01, 1994/015/01, 1995/18/13, 1995/18/14, 1998/72, 1998/721, 2001/120/01, 2001/98/06).
Alternative Forms of Material Available
Sacramento city directories are available on microfilm for the years 1860-1936 in the Center for Sacramento History's reading
room.
Finding aid created by Sean Heyliger, July 2019, and edited by Kim Hayden, 2020 and 2023.
Biography / Administrative History
Published on January 1, 1851, James Horace Culver's Directory for the Year 1851 was the first book to be published in Sacramento,
California, and the first city directory on the West Coast to list street address numbers. The directory listed the city's
residents, churches, benevolent organizations, saloons, restaurants, boarding houses, city and county elected officials, schools,
theaters, courts, leading taxpayers, steamboat captains, and a brief history of the city.
The second book to be published in Sacramento was Samuel Colville's Sacramento directory for the year 1853-1854, which included
Dr. John F. Morse's "History of Sacramento," a 35 page history of the city's development and politics of the previous ten
years. Colville continued to publish the city directory until 1856 when it was subsequently published by various editors and
printed by H. S. Crocker Co. The Sacramento Directory Company (1890-1974) began publishing their directory of the city beginning
in 1890 and would continue to publish it throughout most of the 20th century until it was purchased and published by R. L.
Polk and Sons after 1974.
Phone books in this collection were first published in the 1960s. Books were published by Pacific Telephone from 1967-1983,
Pacific Bell from 1984-2001, SBC from 2002-2005, and AT&T from 2006-present.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains directories and phone books of the city of Sacramento, California, and surrounding areas from 1850
through the early 1990s, and phone books published from 1967 through the present. City directory entries are listed by individual
or business name and include their residence or business address, occupation and business address, and often their spouse's
name. The earliest directories include where a person came to Sacramento from, and later directories include telephone numbers.
The 1889-1890 city directory included a key code (SCOTLANDER - S=1 C=2 0=3 T=4 L=5 A=6 N=7 D=8 E=9 R=0) next to each person's
entry that included their real estate (R), income (I), and personal (P) income. Occasionally acreage (A) and mortgage (M)
appeared as well. In 1914, the city directories began providing a reverse directory by street name and address for individuals
and businesses. Beginning in the late 1950s, two separate directories were published for the city proper and the suburban
areas. In the 1960s and 1970s, a separate Roseville/Citrus Heights directory was published.
Phone books in the collection list name, address, and phone number for individuals and businesses. From 1967 to 1983, one
phone book was published each year that included listings for individuals on white pages and businesses on yellow pages. Beginning
in 1983, two phone books were published each year: one listing individuals (called "the white pages") and one listing businesses
(called "the yellow pages"). Phone books cover the Sacramento metropolitan area, including the Delta, plus a few covering
a larger portion of Northern California beyond the Sacramento area.
The collection is arranged into 2 series:
- Series 1. City directories, 1850-1990
- Series 2. Phone books, 1967-2019