Nebraska Telephone Directories

The History Nebraska library is the only library in the state that collects old phonebooks from towns, cities, or regions in Nebraska. The coverage is from the early 1900s to the present. A database (Nebraska Phonebooks) has been developed to give an accurate account of our holdings and to help researchers in verifying the existence of phonebooks for towns/cities and years of interest. The researcher may input a town or city and will be given a listing of all the years we have coverage for that town/city.



 



The listings for most communities may be long, since for every year that we have a listing for a community, there will be one entry. The year, the name of the directory as well as the Call # (and Cutter #) will be given for each entry. A small town in Nebraska may have had its own phone company for many years and later gone through several mergers with regional phone companies. This database identifies where the phone listings for that community may be located for any designated year.



 



 



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Since most of the phonebooks are still in their original format or were purchased in microfiche or microfilm from a vendor, they are not available for interlibrary loan. If you are unable to visit our facility to do research yourself, you may write to our Reference Department and request a search of these records.



 



To request a search, send the name of the individual, town/city where they lived, and the directory year you wish searched, to Reference Department, Nebraska State Historical Society, P.O. Box 82554, Lincoln, NE 68501. Include your mailing address with your request. A limit of three separate searches may be sent at one time.



 



For general questions about our telephone directories holdings, you may email us at [email protected]. Email requests are routed through our regular mail system and are answered in the order they are received.



 





History Nebraska Library/Archives

Mailing Address:



Lincoln, NE 68501

Reference Room: 1500 “R” Street

Lincoln, NE 68508

Phone: 402-471-4751

[email protected]



 



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About History Nebraska
History Nebraska was founded in 1878 as the Nebraska State Historical Society by citizens who recognized Nebraska was going through great changes and they sought to record the stories of both indigenous and immigrant peoples. It was designated a state institution and began receiving funds from the legislature in 1883. Legislation in 1994 changed History Nebraska from a state institution to a state agency. The division is headed by Interim Director and CEO Jill Dolberg. They are assisted by an administrative staff responsible for financial and personnel functions, museum store services, security, and facilities maintenance for History Nebraska.
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