Directories as Elements of Town Life

The position of town directories as sources in urban geography is discussed here. Traditionally attention has focused on their use in studies of social or commercial change in urban environments, and making use of the extensive listings of names and addresses contained therein. They are, however, far more versatile sources than this and provide excellent information on political and cultural change. Directories were often compiled not just with an administrative or commercial role in mind but to broadcast a particular image of society to the outside world. Perhaps nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than in Germany in the National Socialist period where directories were used as instruments of propaganda and social control. Concerted, and often quite subtle, efforts were made by the NSDAP through directories to cultivate a new image of society, one which was closely tied to their ideology. Moreover, when viewed against Hitler's town building programme, directory evidence casts it in a different light as one interested as much in projected image as urban regeneration

Economic history · Geography · Political science · 21st Century Education and Governance · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · History · The Impact of Diversity and Innovation on Society

• The Third Reich

  David Welch, David A Welch•Third Reich•2008

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• European directories

  Open Access•Gordon Shaw, Tim Coles•Urban History•1995

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• Hitler's European Building Programme

  Open Access•Jochen Thies•Journal of Contemporary History•1978

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• Giving directions to the town’

  Open Access•Penelope J Corfield, Serena Kelly•Urban History•1984

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• An Urban Geography of England and Wales in the Nineteenth Century

  David Green, Harold Carter et al.•Geographical Journal•1992

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