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:- Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1891. Part 1. Kent: County & Localities (1891)- Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1891. Part 2. Kent: Court & Trade Directories (1891)- Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1891. Part 3: Surrey (1891)- Kelly's Directory of Kent, Surrey and Sussex, 1891. Part 4: Sussex & Advertisements (1891)- The Bexhill Chronicle Guide, Almanac and Directory to Bexhill-on-Sea and environs. Local illustrations and information (1892)- Long's Worthing Directory. 1892. Also directories of the whole of the villages in Worthing postal district (1892)- Kelly's Ealing, Acton, Hanwell, Gunnersbury & Chiswick Directory ("Buff Book") for 1893-4 (1893)- Kelly's Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex. [1894. Essex only] (1894)- Kelly's Directory of Essex, Hertfordshire and Middlesex. [1894. Hertfordshire & Middlesex only] (1894)- Kelly's Directory of Hertfordshire (1895)- Kelly's Directory of Hertfordshire (1899)- Kelly's Directory of Middlesex (1899)- Kelly's Directory of Sussex (1899)- Kelly's Directory of Essex (1902)- Kelly's Directory of Hertfordshire (1902)- Parsons' Isle of Sheppey Local Directory and Guide, containing general information, streets and alphabetical directory (1902)- Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1903. [Part 1: County & Localities] (1903)- Kelly's Directory of Kent, 1903. [Part 2: Private Resident & Trade Directories] (1903)- The "Kent Messenger" Directory of Maidstone and surrounding villages (1904)