Rural Community History from Trade Directories

Trade directories provide two main kinds of information: Parish descriptions and lists of residents and tradespeople. Most village entries are to be found in county directories, especially those published at intervals of a few years between about 1840 and 1940. Many of these can be found in central libraries and archive offices, with smaller collections in major branch libraries. No general introductory work on trade directories has been published until now, nor have family historians included directories in their major booklet collections. Directories have fallen into this limbo partly because they appear straightforward to use, and partly because they are printed sources whereas the other great classes of source material are generally in manuscript form. This book sets out to fill the space so identified. Chapters 1-5 discuss the contexts of rural community history in which directories can be employed, including two chapters on occupations. Chapters 6-8 demonstrate, through detailed examples based on directory information, the concepts of self-sufficiency, interdependence between villages, and the relationship between towns and country. Chapter 10 deals with countrywide lists and Chapter 11 with parish descriptions, for which a glossary is provided. The book is completed by a bibliography.