Professional and organizational directories include people involved in professional, ethnic, political, fraternal, and military groups. In these directories, you could find membership applications, account books, meeting minutes, details about births and deaths, qualifications, residence information, date of registration, and even photographs. Read more about occupations, job histories, and employment records.

1. Click the Search tab and choose Card Catalog.
2. Under Filters on the left, click Directories & Member Lists and then choose Society & Employment Directories.
3. Click Search entire "Society & Employment Directories” Category.
4. Enter information and click Search.

Tips

• Occupations may appear on census records, obituaries, cemetery records, draft registration cards, city directories, and wills and probate records.
• Looking through all directory images one by one can give you an idea of how things are organized and might help you find family members whose names were shortened or abbreviated.
• Search the Card Catalog by occupation, and make use of wild cards; for example, a keyword search for “farm*” will turn up records that include the words “farm,” “farmer,” and “farming.”
• If you have trouble finding someone, try searching by last name only. Since the entries are alphabetical, you can see anyone with that last name. If the person’s first name is shortened or abbreviated, you should be able to find them by skimming through the entries with that surname.
• It’s best to rely on more than the names in directories since many people share names. Cross-check addresses and occupations with information from censuses to ensure the name you find in a city directory matches your ancestor.