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 Staffordshire (1896)- Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire (1896)- Kelly's Directory of Worcestershire (1896)- Peck's Circular Trades Directory and detailed buyers' guide to the manufactures of Birmingham and district (1896-97)- The Wolverhampton Red Book and Directory (1897-98)- Kelly's Directory of Worcestershire (1900)- The Court Guide and County Blue Book of Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Staffordshire. A fashionable record, professional register, and general survey of the counties (1902)- Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire (1904)- Littlebury's Directory of the City of Worcester, and towns of Malvern, Droitwich and Pershore, followed by the parishes and villages within a radius of ten miles of the city (1908)- Kelly's Directory of Staffordshire (1912)- Kelly's Directory of Warwickshire (1912)- Kelly's Directory of Worcestershire (1912)- Spennell's (Annual) Directory of the City of Coventry and District (1912-13)- Bennett's Business Directory for Staffordshire (1914)- Bennett's Business Directory for Warwickshire (1914)- Bennett's Business Directory for Worcestershire (1914)- The Wolverhampton Red Book and Directory (1914)