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 and Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828- 9; comprising ... Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Westmoreland, Worcestershire, Yorkshire ... North Wales ... [Part 1: Ches - Northumb] (1828-29)- Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828- 9; comprising ... Cheshire, Cumberland, Derbyshire, Durham, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, Rutlandshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Westmoreland, Worcestershire, Yorkshire ... North Wales ... [Part 2: Notts - Yorks & N Wales] (1828-29)- Pigot and Co's National Commercial Directory, comprising a classification of the merchants, bankers, professional gentlemen, manufacturers and traders ... in the counties of Derby, Hereford, Leicester, Lincoln, Monmouth, Nottingham, Rutland, Salop, Stafford, Warwick and Worcester; and also ... Wales. (1835)- Robson's Birmingham and Sheffield Directory, Street Key and Classification of Trades, particularizing the residence and profession of the merchants, manufacturers, and traders (1839)- Robson's Commercial Directory of the six counties forming the Norfolk circuit: viz: Beds, Bucks, Cambridgeshire, Hunts, Norfolk, and Suffolk, with Oxfordshire (1839)- Pigot and Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the counties of York, Leicester & Rutland, Lincoln, Northampton, and Nottingham ...to which is added classified directories of the great manufacturing towns of Manchester and Salford (1841)- Pigot and Co's Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the Counties of Derbyshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somersetshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire (1842)- Pigot and Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the Counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Oxfordshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and North and South Wales[Part 1: Berkshire to Gloucestershire] (1844)- Pigot and Co.'s Royal National and Commercial Directory and Topography of the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Oxfordshire, Somersetshire, Wiltshire, and North and South Wales [Part 2: Hampshire to Wiltshire, and Wales] (1844)