Telephone directories are used by genealogists and historians to identify people and businesses from a particular place and era. This guide lists uncataloged directories from Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland in the Library of Congress.
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Author:
Troy Smith, Reference Librarian, Latin American, Caribbean and European Division
Note: This guide is adapted from an earlier version that was prepared by Taru Spiegel.
Created: October 18, 2021
Last Updated: October 18, 2021
Introduction
The Library of Congress maintains a large collection of foreign and domestic directories. Most of the foreign telephone directories held by the Library of Congress are uncataloged, we have therefore compiled this list of directories from Denmark, Faroe Islands, and Greenland as a finding aid for our staff and for researchers. These directories cover Denmark between the years 1938-2003. In addition to the uncataloged directories listed below, the Library also holds a handful that are cataloged and may be requested using the Library of Congress Online Catalog. To locate these directories, search the online catalog using subject keywords such as "Denmark" and "directories," or the name of a city or island plus "directories." In addition to telephone directories, this kind of search also yields business/address directories.
The index is arranged by the area that the directories cover, such as all of Denmark, or a region or city, and following that they are arranged chronologically. In some older directories Faroe Islands and Greenland are included in the same book, and in some years they have separate directories. This compilation of uncataloged directories reflects the Library of Congress telephone directory holdings from Denmark as of 2021.
Further information on communication in Denmark and Danish telephone companies can be found on the website of the Danish Post & Tele Museum where they also have freely available digitized directories from 1881 to 1965. The library of that museum has published print Danish telephone directories dating back to 1881 and address directories dating all the way back to 1750.
NOTE: The digital phonebooks from KTAS were created by scanning an older collection of microfilm footage. Unfortunately, some of the vintages are blurred, which is also reflected in the scans..