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:- History, Gazetteer, and Directory of Lincolnshire, and the city and diocese of Lincoln (1856)- The City of Lincoln Directory, 1857. Containing an alphabetical list of the principal householders, a classified trade and professional list, a complete street directory, and a list of carriers, etc. (1857)- Post Office Directory of Lincolnshire (1861)- The Post Office Directory of Lincolnshire (1868)- White's History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire (1872)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1885)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1889)- Directory of the City of Lincoln, with the surrounding district, containing street, and alphabetical and classified trades lists (1894)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1896)- Directory of the City of Lincoln, with the surrounding district, containing street and alphabetical and classified trades lists (1897)- Directory of the City of Lincoln, with the villages within a radius of ten miles, containing street and alphabetical and classified trades' lists (1901)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1905)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1909)- Directory of the City of Lincoln (1913)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1913)- Directory of the City of Lincoln containing street and alphabetical and classified trades lists and ... the villages within a radius of ten miles (1919)- Kelly's Directory of Lincolnshire (1919)