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:- Bennett's Business Directory (1900)- Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, Whitchurch, Ely, and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1901)- Trades' Directory of Wales, accompanied with a gazetteer of England (1901)- Kelly's Directory of Bristol (1902)- Kelly's Directory of Somerset (1902)- The Post Office Bath Directory (1902)- Trades' Directory of Wales, accompanied with a gazetteer of England (1903)- South Wales and Monmouthshire Directory and Buyers' Guide (1907)- The Swansea Directory 1908-9. With which is incorporated Mumbles, Sketty and Cockett, Gower, Landore ... including a business section of Aberystwyth, Carmarthen, Llanelly ... small towns and villages throughout South Wales (1908)- Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, Whitchurch, Ely, and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1909)- Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, Whitchurch, Ely, and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1911)- The Post Office Bath Directory (1911)- Wales (North and South) Trades' Directory, accompanied with a gazetteer of England (1912)- Kelly's Directory of Herefordshire (1913)- Kelly's Directory of Shropshire (1913)- Cardiff Directory, including Penarth, Llandaff, Whitchurch, Ely, Caerphilly, and villages adjacent to Cardiff (1914)- Cardiff, Newport, and District Trades' Directory, accompanied with a gazetteer of England (1914)- Kelly's Directory of Bristol (1914)- Kelly's Directory of the County of Gloucester (1914)- Kelly's Directory of Monmouthshire and South Wales, 1914. [Monmouthshire only] (1914)- Kelly's Directory of the County of Somerset (1914)- Wales (North and South) Trades' Directory, accompanied with a gazetteer of England (1918)- Kelly's Directory of the County of Somerset (1919)