New Zealand, City & Area Directories, 1866-1954

Contained in this database is a collection of city and area directories for New Zealand, from 1866 to 1955. Each directory contains several sections: street, county, alphabetical name, commercial, professional, advertisements, and index. The alphabetical name directory is the most useful for researching ancestors as it lists the name of each head of household with their district or city of residence. Often their occupations and/or street addresses will also be listed. The street directory has the same information for households but is organized by city and street; the commercial and professional directories contain information on businesses and companies.

The majority of this collection is comprised of the Wise's New Zealand Post Office Directory. Although unauthorized, it was a commercial endeavor sanctioned by the Post Office and published by Henry Wise & Co., Dunedin. It covered all of New Zealand and was the first national postal directory of householders published nearly every year or two years from 1872 to 1955.

Information in this Database:

• Surnames
• Street addresses
• Districts/cities of residence
• Professional listings
• Commercial addresses

Why Use Directories:

Directories are extremely useful for locating people in a particular place and time. They are excellent census substitute records. If you have traced an ancestor through several years of directories and they then disappear, it likely means that the individual either moved or died. The advertisements and professional or commercial sections of the directory can also help you learn more about your ancestor’s occupation and may lead you to other occupational records.

Directories Presently Included:

This database currently includes directories for the following years. Those marked by asterisk have been indexed. Others are image-only:

• Wise's New Zealand Post Office Directory: 1866-67*, 1872-73*, 1875-76*, 1878-79*, 1880-81*, 1883-84*, 1885-86*, 1887-88*, 1890-91*, 1892-93*, 1894-95*, 1896-97*, 1898-99*, 1900*, 1901*, 1902*, 1903*, 1904*, 1905, 1906, 1907*, 1908, 1909, 1910*, 1911, 1912, 1913*, 1914, 1915, 1916*, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920*, 1921, 1922, 1923*, 1924, 1925, 1926*, 1927, 1928, 1930*, 1931, 1933*, 1934, 1936*, 1938*, 1940*, 1942*, 1943, 1946*, 1947*, 1950-51*, 1953-54*, 1955
• Stone's Otago & Southland Directory: 1907*, 1909, 1915
• Stone's Dunedin & Invercargill Directory: 1886*
• Steven's & Bartholomew's New Zealand Directory: 1886