Caddo Parish Directory Shelves
The confirmed Caddo Parish city directory shelf centers on Shreve Memorial Library. Its Special Collections page says printed Shreveport directories run from 1924 to the present and are arranged for name, address, and telephone research. The official description does not identify a publisher or promise an unbroken annual run. Check the exact year with library staff before planning a visit, and do not assign a familiar national publisher to a volume until its title page proves it.
| Collection | Years | Where Held | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shreveport city directories | 1924 to present | Shreve Memorial Library Main Branch | Print Special Collections; confirm individual years |
| Southern Bell telephone books | 1941, 1953, 1956, 1957 | FamilySearch Digital Library | Digitized catalog records and viewers |
| Shreveport Times | 1871 to 2009; later obituary indexes | Shreve Memorial Library | Microfilm, licensed database, cards, books, and catalog |
| Sanborn fire-insurance maps | 1885 to 1935, revisions through 1963 | Library genealogy and special collections | Selected library sites and digital access |
| Caddo tax assessment rolls | 1880 to 1920 and 1954 | LSUS Northwest Louisiana Archives | Archival books in collection 541 |
The collections overlap but are not interchangeable. A city directory can link a name to a street. A phone book records subscribers, not every resident. Newspapers add death, marriage, property, and community notices, while maps show the building and lot rather than a household. The safest Caddo Parish directory search records the title, year, page, and access method for every hit. It also leaves publisher and continuity blank when the source does not establish them.
Caddo Parish Directory Help
Two Shreve Memorial Library desks serve different parts of a city directory search. The Genealogy Department at Broadmoor offers individual instruction, appointments, and drop-in help at 318-869-0120. Special Collections at the Main Branch, 424 Texas Street, can confirm directory and newspaper holdings at 318-226-5897 or eref@shreve-lib.org. Its listed hours are Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Ask about one name, approximate year, address, and source type. Staff can check whether a volume or reel is present before a trip. Library-only resources include Ancestry Library Edition, while Fold3, MyHeritage, and Fire Insurance Maps Online have location limits. FamilySearch and public catalog links can still be used away from the library.
The LSUS Northwest Louisiana Archives guide shows the scale of the other major local collection.
The guide helps a researcher choose a named collection before contacting the archives, instead of asking staff to search every holding.
Read a Caddo Parish Directory
Transcribe a Caddo Parish city directory entry before interpreting it. Write down the edition, year, page, printed name, initials, spouse or household note, trade or organization, street number, apartment, telephone, and every cross-reference. The library confirms that the Shreveport volumes support name, address, and phone approaches, but it does not publish one abbreviation scheme for the whole run. Symbols can change between books.
| Printed identity | Name, initials, spelling variant, spouse or household notation |
|---|---|
| Work line | Occupation, organization, or business label exactly as printed |
| Place line | Street number, street spelling, apartment or room |
| Telephone | Exchange and number, when listed |
| Marks | Occupancy, widow, or other abbreviation, checked against that volume’s key |
- Criss-cross directory
- A listing ordered by street or telephone rather than by surname. No separate Caddo-wide criss-cross title was confirmed.
- Householder index
- An address-ordered list that may name a household head, but not every person at the address.
- Abbreviation key
- The legend in a volume’s front matter that explains its shortened words and marks.
Photograph or copy the key with the entry. Never import the meaning of a mark from another city or decade. A directory entry is a dated clue, not proof that every family member was present all year.
Caddo Parish Telephone Directories
FamilySearch catalog records identify Southern Bell Shreveport telephone directories for 1941, 1953, 1956, and 1957. The 1941 book has 176 pages; the later books have 476, 546, and 562 pages. These digital books complement the print Caddo Parish city directories. They do not establish that every resident had a telephone or that every household member was named.
Open the 1941 Shreveport telephone directory viewer and preserve its catalog context with any page citation.
A phone listing can confirm a subscriber and address between other records. Search spelling variants and businesses, then compare the result with the closest print directory or census year.
Caddo Parish Tax Roll Directory
LSUS collection 541 supplies an unusually detailed bridge before the confirmed print run. Its 106 Caddo Parish Sheriff tax assessment books cover 1880 through 1920 and 1954. Entries include the taxable person’s name, address, race as recorded in the historic source, acreage, property description, cash values, and total assessment. These are assessment records, not proof of who slept at an address.
The Caddo tax assessment roll collection description gives the exact archive scope.
The collection is useful for a named taxpayer, an old property description, or a street that predates the library’s confirmed city directory shelf. Pair the roll with a deed, map, or newspaper rather than treating tax liability as a household roster.
Map Caddo Parish Directory Addresses
Shreve Memorial Library lists Shreveport Sanborn fire-insurance maps dated 1885, 1890, 1896, 1899, 1904, 1909, 1921, and 1935, plus 1944 and 1963 revisions. The maps show building footprints, construction, use, lot arrangement, and street context. They do not name every occupant, and a map date is not a construction date.
Use the directory for a person, then use a Sanborn sheet for the place. An old number that vanishes should be checked against historical maps, the street index, and the deed’s legal description. No verified official Caddo street-renumbering schedule was located, so the map evidence must do the bridging.
Note: Record the Sanborn edition and sheet because later pasted revisions can change what one physical volume shows.
Caddo Parish Newspaper Names
The Shreveport Times adds life events that a city directory cannot explain. Library coverage runs from 1871 through 2009 in ProQuest Historical Newspapers. Local indexing changes over time: card catalogs cover 1973 through 1985, selective books cover 1985 through 1991, catalog title entries cover 1992 through March 1996, and obituary or death-notice indexing runs from 1992 to the present.
A missing directory name may reflect a move, death, changed surname, or simple omission. Search the paper for an obituary, marriage notice, property item, or community event. The library newspaper collection also offers regional papers, but a database title does not guarantee a specific Caddo article.
Caddo Parish Directory Timeline
Caddo Parish records do not share one start date. Each milestone describes a different record series or access layer.
- 1838 and 1839: marriage records reach 1838, while the clerk says property records begin in 1839.
- 1880 to 1920: the surviving LSUS tax-roll run precedes the confirmed city directory shelf.
- 1924 onward: Shreve Memorial Library confirms print Shreveport city directories.
- 1941 to 1957: four located Southern Bell editions supply digital telephone snapshots.
- Early 1980s onward: clerk indexes and scanning projects changed access, not the age of the records.
The city grew along the Red River and Texas route after Captain Henry Miller Shreve cleared the Great Raft. That history helps explain why early city material clusters around Shreveport while later searches spread into oil-country and rural communities. It does not prove a person’s route.
Trace Caddo Parish City Directories
A careful Caddo Parish city directory trail begins with the most certain name and year, then moves one volume at a time. Preserve initials and street spelling. Check nearby years because one absence does not prove a move. The federal census supplies household detail at ten-year intervals, while directories can fill dates between released schedules.
- Start in the address or name section for a known year and copy the full entry.
- Search every surname form, initial, married name, and business form in adjacent volumes.
- Check a street-ordered section only when that volume contains one, then note nearby listings.
- Pair directory years with a released census, tax roll, deed, obituary, or marriage index.
- Close a death trail with the city burial search for Greenwood, Oakland, Jewella, or Star cemetery.
The Shreveport cemetery search covers four city cemeteries, not every private or church burial ground. Likewise, the library’s city directory covers Shreveport, not every one of Caddo Parish’s eleven municipalities. Oil City, Vivian, Rodessa, and other towns may need their own postal names, papers, church records, or archive collections.
When the trail reaches the present, switch to official current records and use the Caddo Parish resident lookup to verify a modern identity. Historical volume entries remain snapshots. They should not be stretched into claims about current residence.