Telephone and address directories are used by genealogists and historians to identify people and businesses from a particular place and era. This guide lists uncataloged directories from Finland in the Library of Congress collection.
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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: November 8, 2021
Last Updated: November 8, 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 Finnish directories as a finding aid for our staff and researchers. These directories cover Finland between the years 1929-2002. 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 "Finland" and "directories," or the name of a city or region plus "directories." In addition to telephone directories, this kind of search also yields business/address directories from Finland.
The uncataloged directories for Finland featured in this guide are located on Deck 5S of the closed stacks in the Adams Building. Readers must request the items in the Main Reading Room by completing a call slip or asking a reference librarian in the European Reading Room to retrieve the volumes. For more information about requesting items at the Library, please see the "Using the Library of Congress" section in this guide.
The directories listed here are in the two official languages of Finland, Finnish and Swedish and are entitled "puhelinluettelo" or "telefonkatalog," respectively.
This guide represents Library of Congress holdings as of September 2021.
Additional information about Finnish telephone directories in general may be found in the following book. The title below links to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog.
A Bibliography of Finnish Telephone Directories, Town Directories and Commercial Directories as well as Maps and Plans Accompanying them 1847-1960.
In addition to printed telephone directories, a reader may find it helpful to use online directories available for free on the Internet. The following sites provide databases of current entries.
The telephone portal site Infobel provides a database of business entries for each European country, including Finland. There are no listings for private individuals at this site.