The Roxbury Directory was a biannual directory of people and businesses in Roxbury, something like a phone book only well before Bell got around to inventing the phone. Google has a copy of the sixth edition, from 1858, which contains the names, addresses, and occupations of about 5500 Roxbury residents as well as information about the taxes they paid (which gives us an indication of their overall wealth) and dozens of period advertisements for Boston and Roxbury businesses.
This is a great resource for historians and it will be fun to flip through the ads for pretty much anyone. Enjoy!
