Scottish Post Office directories are an excellent resource for researching Scotland's family, trade, and town history. Over 700 digitised directories covering most of Scotland and dating from 1773 to 1911 are available online for you to use. With their alphabetical list of a location's inhabitants and information on their profession and address, the directories enable you easily to find out where people lived at a certain time and how they earned their living.
The oldest volumes we have digitised were published in the late 1700s, when the demand for information about the increasing number of traders, businesses and industries grew rapidly. Most of the directories were published annually. This makes them a valuable resource, especially for the years not covered by the census, which although it started in 1841, was only carried out every 10 years.