Milstein Microform Reading Room

Room 119 is closed. Please contact generalresearch@nypl.org for access to the collection.


First Floor, Room 119  Microforms can be viewed in Room 315

 

Fully accessible to wheelchairs

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday
10:00 AM - 
5:45 PM		 10:00 AM - 
7:45 PM		 10:00 AM - 
7:45 PM

10:00 AM - 
5:45 PM

10:00 AM - 
5:45 PM		 10:00 AM - 
5:45 PM

 

CLOSED
Sundays in
July & August 

To request material in advance please go to: /help/request-research-materials.

The Milstein Microform Reading Room—Room 119 at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building— had provided access to the microform resources of the General Research Division - access is now available in Room 315. This collection of over 350,000 microfilm reels and 3,000,000 microfiche includes many valuable research collections covering a variety of humanities and social sciences subjects, such as Classical Studies, History, Literature, Philosophy, Latin American Studies, Women’s History, and much more. Types of materials include microfilm copy of 12,000 periodical backfiles, collections of antiquarian monographs, historical pamphlets, incunabula, and many unique archives of diverse national and international organizations.

Major collections of historical interest are the Newspaper Collection, backfiles of over 700 local, national and international newspapers; historical collections of New York City telephone directories (1878>), United States telephone directories (1976>), and United States city directories (1860>).

Current issues of unbound periodical titles in 22 languages from 128 countries are accessible in the DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Room 108.  The remaining thousands of bound print periodicals are requested through the Rose Main  Reading Room (Room 315) on the third floor. The Milstein Microform Reading Room is Wi-Fi enabled.

We are currently updating these microfilm guides.  Please verify the titles through our catalog system as locations have changed.

In addition, the Milstein Microform Reading Room also collects an extensive collection of phone books and (reverse) address directories from across the country:

  • New York City & Long Island: White (Residential) and Yellow (Business) Pages
  • Current: 2005–present: most recent white/yellow for NYC boroughs are kept in Rooms 119, 108, and 315
  • Backfiles: Microfiche is available for the five boroughs for dates ranging from 1976 to 2005. Earlier dates are on microfilm, although for some areas date ranges continue into the 1980s. For most U.S. cities from 1976 to 2005, they are on Microfiche. All U.S. telephone directories end in 2005.
  WHITE YELLOW ADDRESS DIRECTORY
BRONX 1929–1976/1977 1929–1975 1929–1980, 1986
BROOKLYN
(*on reels with Manhattan up to 1943)		 1925–1976/1977 1929–1979 1929–1980, 1986
MANHATTAN
(MISSING for Address: 1948, 1971 and lacking 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964)		 1878–1988 1929–1976 1929-1980, 1986, 1993
NASSAU* 1913–1976 1929–1976 NONE AVAILABLE
QUEENS* 1933–1976 1927–1976 1929–1980, 1986
STATEN ISLAND*
(combined white and yellow)		 1927–1976 1927–1976 1929–1980, 1986
SUFFOLK* 1928–1992 1929–1975 NONE AVAILABLE
WESTCHESTER* 1915–1983 1956–1983 1956–1980, 1986

*NOTE: The early Manhattan reels (1878–1929) include the various parts of the tri state area such as Brooklyn, Bronx, Long Island, New Jersey, Westchester, and Connecticut. Every reel varies in inclusion. There are some combined reels for Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island covering the 1920s.

For City Directories (pre-1934; antedating the telephone directories), please contact the Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy.