The NSHS 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.
Search Telephone Database Research for Hire from NSHS
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. The fee for this service is $10.00 per search (one name searched in one directory) for Nebraska residents and members of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and $20.00 per search for non-residents who are not members of NSHS.
To request a search, send the appropriate fee, along with 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, but the fee accompanying the request for three searches must total three times the fee for a single search.
We will accept personal checks, money orders, MasterCard or Visa (send the following information: type of card, name as shown on card, card number, and expiration date).
Do Not Send Credit Card Information Via Email.
For general questions about our telephone directories holdings, you may email us at afaling@nebraskahistory.org. Email requests are routed through our regular mail system and are answered within two weeks. We will not accept requests for specific searches via email.
Nebraska State Historical Society Library/Archives
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 82554
Lincoln, NE 68501
Reference Room: 1500 "R" Street
Lincoln, NE 68508
Phone: 402-471-4751
FAX: 402-471-8922
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