Those confusing Chicago city directories

The Newberry Library's Chicago Ancestors web site has just added images of Chicago city directories for 1870, 1871, 1880, and 1885. Believe it or not, they don't overlap with the directories that Illinois Harvest recently uploaded, which I blogged Saturday as "1869-1870" and "1871."

As with many genealogical sources, these directories weren't meant to be a systematic collection of documents for 21st-century researchers. And what we call them isn't what they were actually titled. I have happily cited "1871 Chicago City Directory" as a source of genealogical information and thought I'd recorded enough information to enable me or anyone else to return to the same source. Not quite. Do as I say, not as I did.

Here are fuller citations for the Chicago city directories recently released at Illinois Harvest and Chicago Ancestors, in chronological order. Comments and corrections are welcome.

Edwards' Annual Director [sic] to the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, etc., etc., in the City of Chicago, for 1869-1870. St. Louis & New York: Edwards & Co., 1870. Digital images of the book available at Illinois Harvest, which calls it "Edwards' ... annual directory ... of Chicago. v.12."

Edwards' Annual Director [sic] to the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies, Manufacturing Establishments, Business, Business Firms, etc., etc., in the City of Chicago for 1870-1871. St. Louis & New York: Edwards & Co., 1871. Digital images of the Newberry Library microfilm available at Chicago Ancestors, which calls it "1870 City Directory."

Edwards' Fourteenth Annual Directory of the Inhabitants, Institutions, Incorporated Companies and Manufacturing Establishments of the City of Chicago, Embracing a Complete Business Directory for 1871. Chicago: Richard Edwards, 1871. Digital images of the book available at Illinois Harvest, which calls it Edwards' ... annual directory ... of Chicago. v.14

Chicago Census Report; and Statistical Review, Embracing a Complete Directory of the City..., by Richard Edwards. Chicago: Richard Edwards, 1871. Digital images of the Newberry Library microfilm available at Chicago Ancestors, which calls it "1871 Edward's Census."

(NOTE: THE ABOVE TWO ARE DIFFERENT BOOKS. My great-grandfather Charles Schriber, soda manufacturer, is listed at the same address in both, at page 799 in the first and page 989 in the second, and with additional information in the second.)

The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago. 1880. Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company, 1880. Digital images of the Newberry Library microfilm available at Chicago Ancestors, which calls it "1880 City Directory."

The Lakeside Annual Directory of the City of Chicago. 1885. Chicago: The Chicago Directory Company, 1885. Digital images of the Newberry Library microfilm available at Chicago Ancestors, which calls it "1885 City Directory."

Illinois Harvest offers more formats for viewing the digital images than does Chicago Ancestors, but Chicago Ancestors kindly breaks its PDFs up by letter of the alphabet, so that searching doesn't take forever.