Chautauqua County Directories

This collection of 32 individual directories covers several rural towns and villages in Western New York over the course of a century. The majority (30) of these directories are for villages, towns, and cities in Chautauqua County, while the remaining two are for rural areas of Cattaraugus County. In addition to residential listings, these directories offer business listings, advertisements for local businesses and services, maps of their associated locations or regions, tourism information, and information for those moving to the region, with some early directories also doubling as gazetteers for their associated locations. Two unique directories pertain to the City of Jamestown, NY, directly: a 1909 Swedish-language directory, intended for use by the large population of Swedish immigrants who relocated to Jamestown; and a 1966 pocket guide, intended for use by tourists to the area, which includes a pull-out map and information about the streetcar lines in Jamestown. Most of the original directories were donated or purchased by C. Malcolm Nichols and Jack Ericson to bolster the wealth of local history information available at Fredonia’s Special Collections & Archives Division. This digital collection was made possible through a 2020 Innovation & Access Grant (formerly known as RBDB Grants) from the Western New York Library Resources Council.