GHPR 525 - Cultural Heritage Research Techniques

MyHeritage is not transparent with what directories are in its index. That being said, it appears that the collection includes the following Polk’s City Directory Detroit volumes (see https://ldsgenealogy.com/MI/Wayne-County-City-Directories.htm#3):

• 1896
• 1898-1901
• 1903-1910
• 1913-1919
• 1921-1923
• 1925
• 1927-1928
• 1931-1932
• 1934
• 1936-1937
• 1940-1941
• 1953
• 1954
• Detroit East Side City Directory 1957
• 1958

If you want to search for a specific directory using the search interface, the format that should be used is as follows: “Detroit City Directory yyyy”

MyHeritage's algorithm uses the abbreviation tables from the front of each book to expand raw records and make them more readable to humans (see https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/02/myheritage-adds-huge-collection-of-historical-u-s-city-directories/).

Unfortunately, this means that if you type an abbreviation (other than directional) that is not listed, you are likely to get no results. 

Incorrect:

8303 E Outer Dr. / 2216 Fischer St.

Correct:

8303 E Outer Drive / 2216 Fischer Street

Detroit's street addresses have undergone several changes, including:

• name changes
• number changes (1920)
• suffix changes for various routes (e.g., avenue becomes street, etc.). If you are not finding records on a property that you know should exist in the record, check to see if this is the case. For example, 
  • 2216 Fischer Street was at one time 2216 Fischer Avenue
  • 2903 Seminole Street was at one time 2903 Seminole Avenue

If your record looks funky (see example below), it’s best to check the actual digitization image. Often, smudges/marks/ink bleed through in the original will cause OCR errors.