I am passing the following on to the mail list. I thought some of you may be interested
in pursueing this. I know that not all the Marion City Directory's are listed on the
site. Someone might be interested in helping get the rest that are located in the Marion
Public Library registered with the project. Not that I am not interested but just have
too many irons in the fire right now.
List Mom - Sheila D. Watson/Grant County Coord.
Dear Indiana USGenWeb County Coordinator,
I'm writing to let you know about a new genealogy site that your USGenWeb
Project may be interested in. It is known as the "City Directories of the
United States" project, found at
http://www.uscitydirectories.com.
The goal of this project is to identify all known city directories (whether
they're in book form, have been microfilmed, or have been transcribed and
published online), their years, and their repositories. For example, the
1852/53 directory of San Francisco is available at the Family History
Library, Brigham Young University, and online at
<
http://www.rootsweb.com/~casanfra/52menu.htm>.
Currently, the database has the holdings of the following major
repositories:
1) National Archives
2) Library of Congress
3) Family History Library
4) Brigham Young University
5) Alabama Department of History
Our goal is to eventually list the city directory holdings of all
repositories in the United States. Possibly, your local library has a
directory that exists nowhere else, or its whereabouts is unknown to other
researchers. We'd like to add it to the database. To help you submit
information, we've provided an extraction form on the web site, just click
on the Submit Information link from any page.
In addition to a database of directories, we've provided education on how to
use directories, as well as an extensive list of resources regarding
directories.
We'd like your help in getting the word out. If you'd like, we suggest:
1) Add a link on your site to Indiana's city directories. Use
http://www.uscitydirectories.com/in.htm as a direct link.
2) Send a message to your project's mailing list describing the project.
3) Participate! If you know of a register of directories, please let us
know. If you'd like to create a register of directories, or employ the
services of your volunteers, let us know, and we'll provide the direction
you may need.
4) Give us feedback on how to make this nation-wide project a success.
I appreciate your time and consideration. City directories, for me, were an
unknown source for too long. Now my research is never complete if I haven't
consulted them. I truly believe this project will be a valuable resource
for our genealogy community. If you have any questions or comments, please
don't hesitate to contact me personally.
Sincerely,
Geoff Rasmussen
info(a)uscitydirectories.com