1892 Directories

1892 Nanaimo Directory
This section links to a searchable database with over 1,800 records. The database includes the names of 1,680 individuals and 120 business firms. This section also features a contemporary description of Nanaimo and a dynamic list of occupations and employers found in the directory.

In this directory, street names, not individually numbered street addresses, were printed. (Street numbers were not widely used in Nanaimo until after 1895.) However, researchers will be able to locate residents and business firms listed in the 1892 directory by consulting the 1891 "Honeyman map" of Nanaimo in the viMaps section of this website.

1892 Victoria Directory
This section links to a rich and robust database of nearly 11,000 records. The database includes the names of 9,824 individuals and 584 businesses and organizations in the City of Victoria. Since the corporation inaugurated a system of street numbering in the late 1880s, this directory also provides specific addresses for residents and businesses.

The 1892 Victoria Directory was actually compiled in 1891, a few months after the 1891 census was taken. Researchers will find there is a great deal of overlap between the two datasets.