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Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.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:- Bailey's Western & Midland Directory for ... 1783. [Also 1784. Nottinghamshire only] (1783-84)- Universal British Directory of Trade, Commerce & Manufacture, 1791-98. Nottingham & Newark extracts (1791-98)- The  Leicester  Directory,  describing  the  bankers,  manufacturers, and principal tradesmen with their places of residence, also the professors of law, physic & divinity, the corporation, clergy, militia &c. (1794)- The Leicester Directory, containing a general list of  the  merchants,  tradesmen,  manufacturers,  and  principal  inhabitants  of  Leicester,  arranged  in  alphabetical  order,  separate  alphabetical  lists of each particular trade and profession (1815)- The  Nottingham  Directory,  containing  a  general  list  of  the ...