The aim of the project was to improve access to local and trade directories for the period 1750-1919 by making a substantial collection of English and Welsh directories available online as a Digital Library of Historical Directories. This digital resource comprises in total some 600 directories, covering every English county together with Wales, and ranging widely over the period 1750-1919 (the latter cut-off point chosen for copyright reasons). There is a particular focus on the 1850s, 1890s and 1910s, with at least one directory provided for each county in each of these decades. The digitisation of the volumes involved a two-stage process, in which (1) the hard-copy source was scanned to produce a graphic image of each page, and then (2) those images were processed using OCR software to generate a machine-readable text file.An online version of this resource can be found on the Website of the University of Leicester. This data collection includes the following directories:- Pigot's Directory of Northamptonshire (1841)- Directory of the Town of Northampton: with a complete list of the clergy, gentry, merchants, manufacturers, professions, trades, &c., &c., &c.: also a detailed account of the Northampton charities, religious & other local institutions (1853)- History, Gazetteer and Directory of the County of Huntingdon; comprising a general survey of the county, and embracing separate historical descriptions of the united boroughs of Huntingdon and Godmanchester, and all the market towns, together with notices of every parish (1854)- History, Topography, & Directory of Bedfordshire and Huntingdonshire, to which is prefixed an abridgment of the early history of England (1862)- Kelly's Directory of Northamptonshire (1890)- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire (1890)- Northampton Directory. Containing: directory of private residents, trades, professions, & streets; county, municipal, topographical, and general information. (1893/94)- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Hunts and Northamptonshire (1898)- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Hunts and Northamptonshire (1903)- Kelly's Directory of Northamptonshire (1906)- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire (1910) [Bedfordshire only]- Kelly's Directory of Huntingdonshire (1910)- Kelly's Directory of Northamptonshire (1910)- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire (1914) [Northamptonshire only]- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire (1914) [Huntingdonshire only]- Kelly's Directory of Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire and Northamptonshire (1914) [Bedfordshire only]