High society flourished in the late 19th century, during a period often called “the Gilded Age” in America, as the economy boomed and some quickly gained a vast amount of wealth. It was also a time of great wealth disparity and inequality, with many struggling workers and an influx of poor immigrants. Those that had money celebrated it with ostentatious displays, throwing extravagant dinner parties and lavish balls to carefully selected guests deemed worthy by the host.
In 1870’s New York, Mrs. Caroline Astor’s list of party guests for her annual ball became known as “the four hundred”, a curated group of elite society members (theorized to be the number of which could fit in her ballroom on Fifth Avenue). Mrs. Astor was the social queen bee of the knickerbockers, or those with old money that came from inherited wealth and well-known ancestry (likely descendants of original Dutch and English New York settlers), as opposed to the less favored nouveau riche, or those with newly made money and unknown backgrounds - like the Vanderbilts. There was contention and rivalry between the two groups, dueling over who threw the most extravagant parties, and who was included in the festivities and who was shunned.
In any big city, a list of people was essential for both the social climbers and the people hoping to stay at the top. The very existence of the nouveau riche formed the idea that seemingly anyone could make the right business decisions, investments, and connections to become wealthy and respected leaders of society. Everyone had to know who they should be inviting to their parties, visiting with, doing business with, and having over for dinner. Who was a suitable bachelor or bachelorette for their child? Who was recently engaged or married, or moved away? Who did others recognize as the cream of the crop?
Families and wives kept their own personal society lists, but certain publications soon became the respected authority. Inspired by Mrs. Astor’s 400, Louis Keller, “a prominent socialite, compiled the “visiting lists” of elite families into one volume. These lists enumerated those who called on prominent ladies during visiting hours” (Sargent, NY Times). He called it a Social Register, and this 1887 version would be the first of many in New York and major cities in the U.S. Copies of the early Social Register sold for “$1.75. For $3.25 more, a subscriber got a monthly update of addresses, engagements, marriages, deaths, and elections” (Winship, Los Angeles Times).
Excerpt from The Summer Social Register, 1918 from The Internet Archive. Public Domain.
It wasn’t just socialites who purchased it - retailers wanted the names and addresses of potential clients. Certain hotels would only allow guests if they were in the book, other businesses wanted copies available for their guests to read. And while The Social Register did not have any advertisements, other publications were full of them, especially those whose title included “shopping guide”.
Other editors had similar ideas, collecting thousands of names of their local elite society members and compiling it into a book. In Cincinnati, Miss Clara Ann Rich Devereux created Mrs. Devereux’s Blue Book in 1894. The Cleveland Social Directory: Ladies Visiting Lists and Shopping Guide predated Keller’s publication with it’s first edition in 1880. Before that, in 1877 was the first issue of The Boston Blue Book. Even earlier was Clark’s Boston Blue Book published first 1876 by Edward E. Clark, more than ten years before the Social Register.
It’s hard to say who was first as earlier examples of published lists of the rich and powerful can be found, including The Wealth and Biography of the Wealthy Citizens of the City of New York: Being an Alphabetical Arrangement of the Names of the Capitalists Whose Wealth is Estimated at One Hundred Thousand Dollars and Upwards, With the Sums Appended to Each Name, and Genealogical and Geographical Notices of the Principal Persons, published in 1846 (tenth edition). by Moses Yale Beach. What a mouthful of a name! But these lists were factual reports of earnings and, in the above example, all those who made at least 100k were included, unlike The Social Register and Clark’s Boston Blue Book and such whose editors chose people based on social ranks and other factors. Not to mention social directories existed in various forms in Europe, like the Who’s Who books, or Burke Peerage books.
I’ve collected links to as many of these various Blue Books and Social Directories as I could find available online for free, thanks to various resources like the HathiTrust Digital Library, the Internet Archive, FamilySearch, Google Books, and more. This resource will continue to be updated as I come across more. Some of these collections, like those on the Internet Archive and Google Books, allow you to search the inside of each publication - a helpful tool when looking for ancestors.
Links to Blue Books & Social Register Lists
California - Illinois - Maryland - Massachusetts - Missouri - New York - Ohio - Pennsylvania
National or Multiple States (including the Summer Social Register and others)
These links can also be found via the “Records” tab in the left navigation menu.
As I’m completely fascinated by these social directories, let’s keep discussing them! There’s a lot to unpack here and it’s not a topic I’ve seen discussed in genealogy groups very often. I’ve formatted the rest of the blog post into question / answer for your quick reference.
What exactly is a Blue Book, Social Register, Social Directory, or Visiting List?
I use the terms “Blue Book” and “Social Directory” interchangeably to refer to any published collection of a few thousand elite society members for a specified area, usually published annually. The individuals were chosen at the editor’s discretion. Some have the descriptor “private address directory” or “ladies visiting list and shopping guide” in the title. They were at the height of popularity in the late 19th century and early 20th century, with the majority published in the 1870’s through the 1920’s.
Excerpts from Our Society Blue Book, Season of 1895-6, from the Internet Archive
What kind of information was available in these publications?
The type of information varied by publisher and edition, but usually included an alphabetical name and address list, sometimes organized instead by street. It did not show every member of the family, nor did it always list the wife’s name. Phone numbers were included mostly post 1890. The majority list reception days when it is respectable to pay a visit.
A key for the abbreviations to appear after an individual’s name, as shown in The Social Register, Boston, 1922 published November, 1921 by The Social Register Association (as found online by HathiTrust Digital Library, url: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066401647&view=1up&seq=9&skin=2021). Note many alma matters like Princeton, Harvard, and Yale as well as some club memberships.
Check the first few pages of the book for an abbreviation key for alma matters and clubs. Some books have separate club directory pages. Most blue books and registers carry a dilatory domiciles section in the beginning to show if an individual has moved or to share other changes.
Other information may include births, deaths, marriages, travels (if an individual is “abroad”) and addresses of country homes. Note the fashionable habit at the time of telling others a person was traveling to avoid falling out of social graces, due to the lack of an invitation to a ball for example, might mean an individual was not in fact traveling abroad.
A selection of the marriage notices included in The Brooklyn Blue Book and Long Island Social Register, 1903, published 1902 by the Brooklyn Life Publishing Co. (found online on HathiTrust Digital Library). Look at all that amazing genealogical information!
There may be lists of hotels and their residents, and newspapers and their personnel. I’ve also seen editions with the names of yachts and representative drawings of each boat. There are theatre diagrams in some to help the affluent purchase and locate their boxes and seats. Some have extensive advertising, others, like The Social Register have none. In the ones with advertisements there may also be a shopping guide.
Why were some called “Blue Books”?
Many of the covers were blue, but not always. The Social Register was black and orange (like the colors of Princeton University). The Chicago Blue Book, 1895 reads “The title, “BLUE BOOK,” is simply a name given the work on account of its blue cover. It does not refer to blue blood, as many people suppose. Webster’s definition of Blue Book is as follows: “BLUE BOOK - A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper cover, such being commonly used; also, a book containing a list of fashionable addresses.”...It is simply a compilation of thirty thousand names of the most prominent householders of Chicago, and suburbs within a radius of thirty miles, published in the most convenient form for reference by our lady patrons” (The Chicago Blue Book, 1895).
When is a “Blue Book” not a “Blue Book”?
It may have the phrase “Blue Book” in the title, but it’s not always a list of society’s upper class. Take for example the Kelley Blue Book, used to valuate cars and first published in 1926. The term “Blue Book” can refer to any such collection of information or almanac. In your research you will likely come across government blue books, published by the city or state, sharing the names of employees as well as offering local history. I have tried to exclude these from my collection of links, but if you know your ancestor was a government employee they may be helpful to you.
Also of note it seems in New Orleans, the several blue books were actually a directory of prostitutes masquerading as a social directory.
Where there Blue Books for every city?
As you will notice from my collection of links, the most publications still available now are from big cities like New York, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco - but you should be aware these collections often included a wide area. The San Francisco Blue Book of 1922 included San Francisco, Oakland, Berkeley, Redwood City, Palo Alto, San Jose, and even as far south as Los Angeles and San Diego.
No blue books, social registers, or other forms of society lists could be found for free online from the following states: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming), with the exception of some of these places within multiple state directories. They may exist, and please let me know if you come across any!
Why were their multiple publications in the same city and year?
In larger cities, there may be multiple “blue books” or society lists for the same years, with different publishers or editors, and they may or may not contain the same people.
Above, a comparison of three society lists from 1921 - 1922 highlighting the inclusion of Mr. Faxon D. Atherton (yellow highlight box from me). On the left, The San Francisco Social Register 1922, in the middle is The San Francisco Blue Book of 1922, and on the right is the New Society Blue Book of 1921 and 1922. Faxon D. Atherton was considered the father and namesake of the town of Atherton, California - though since he died in 1877, this is his son Faxon Dean Atherton, Jr.
How often (and when) where these books published?
The majority were published annually, (with an additional summer version of The Social Register) but be sure to look closely at the date. They were published earlier than the title date. The Social Register San Francisco, 1922 was actually issued November, 1921 with updates (in the form of a supplementary “Dilatory Domiciles” showing change of addresses and other news) sent to subscribers in December, January, and March.
How do I know if my ancestor was in any of these books?
It’s hard to say! Note that some editions published hundreds if not thousands of individuals more than others, so chances may be higher the longer and less exclusive the list. For example, Clark’s Boston Blue Book for 1901 declares it has the names of over nineteen thousand householders and is almost 720 pages long, while the more restrictive The Social Register, Boston of 1901 is only 148 pages and by my estimates has under five thousand.
What does it mean if my ancestor was listed one year but not the next?
Unlike a city directory that listed all citizens, these social directories did not guarantee inclusion at any time. Appearing one year and not the next did not necessarily mean the ancestor moved away, married, or died - but it’s a possibility. Also possible was a change in financial standing or some kind of social misstep, or perhaps the editor had a change of heart.
Be sure to check the “dilatory domiciles” usually listed in the front section of the directories that showed changes of address and other updates. The Social Register also published “The Locater” which summarized the names of all those in all locations of the Register and the city and family name under which it appears, but I have yet to find any online copies.
How were people chosen for inclusion?
These lists of prominent society members were created at the editor’s whim and discretion. At The Social Register, board-reviewed applications were necessary aside from a select few that were automatically included, like the President of the United States.
Who was excluded from these social directories?
While committing social faux pas could lead to your exclusion in these publications, if you weren’t white, Anglo-Saxon, and protestant (WASP) you likely didn’t stand a chance. The Social Register was the most restrictive on race and ethnicity. Black, Catholic, and Jewish populations were often excluded, especially from earlier editions. In the first Social Register in 1887, of the 5,000 elite New Yorkers, “Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer, who had recently bought the New York World from railroader Jay Gould, was the only Jew listed” (Winship, Los Angeles Times). The latter, Jay Gould, did not make the cut.
However, these people may be listed in other versions specific to their race or ethnicity. A few examples:
The Chicago Jewish Community Blue Book, abt 1918 - Internet Archive
The Colored People’s Blue Book and Business Directory of Chicago, Ill., 1905 - Internet Archive
Where can I find copies of The Social Register and other Blue Books?
In addition to all the online links I’ve shared, there are some available for purchase from rare book websites or sellers like eBay. You may be able to find physical copies in your local library or historical archives. Repositories like the NEHGS library and FamilySearch library are sure to have copies, I suggest searching the catalogs or reaching out if you are looking for something specific. I’ve also come across some at used bookstores.
Sources
Sargent, Allison Ijams. “The Social Register: Just a Circle of Friends”. The New York Times. 21 December, 1997. (https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/21/style/the-social-register-just-a-circle-of-friends.html)
Winship, Frederick M. “Social Register Marks 100 Years of Listing Everybody Who’s Anybody”. Los Angeles Times. 11 Feb 1988. (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-02-11-vw-42230-story.html)
