The following selection of directories, available at the Kirstein Business Library, will help you find information on local firms. The information varies with each directory, but typical listings include: company name, address, telephone number, size of business, product or service, and names of officers.

Massachusetts Business Directory. Omaha, NE: American Business Publishing Co. Annual.
Compiled from the yellow pages, this directory lists over 230,000 businesses across Massachusetts arranged by product or service and by city or town. The information is brief: name, address, phone number and type of yellow page ad. It also includes a small section of manufacturing firms with 10 or more employees, with estimates for number of employees and sales volume.

Dun’s Regional Business Directory: Boston Area. Parsippany: Dun’s Marketing Services. Annual.
A directory that includes about 20,000 companies from a geographic area extending from Boston to Worcester and north of Cape Cod. It includes a list of the top 1000 firms in the area ranked by employees and by sales.

Massachusetts Manufacturers Directory. Twinsburg, OH: Harris Publishing. Annual.
More than 7,000 manufacturers are listed by city and indexed alphabetically, by product, and by SIC code. This also contains a useful statistical section which breaks down the number of establishments and number of employees by SIC group and county.

Massachusetts Manufacturing Directory. Standish, ME: Tower Publishing. Annual.
More than 5,700 manufacturing and processing firms who employ 10 or more people. Firms are listed alphabetically, geographically by city and by SIC code.

Massachusetts Manufacturers Register. Evanston, IL: Manufacturers News. Annual.
Massachusetts manufacturing firms listed geographically with product, SIC and alphabetic indexes.

Directory of Directors in the City of Boston and Vicinity. Boston: The Bankers Service Company.
Names the officers and Board of Directors of a variety of organizations, including companies, hospitals, and colleges. 2001 was the last edition published.

The Complete guide to the Massachusetts software & internet industry. Boston: Massachusetts Software & Internet Council.
Directory of over 3,272 software and Internet companies (alphabetical with addresses, description of products & services, sales and employment data, hardware platforms, markets and applications, international distribution); product and geographic indices; brief analysis of the software and Internet industry in Massachusetts. 2005/2006 is the last published in print.

Manufacturing in Boston. Boston: Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2002.
Manufacturing companies in Boston listed alphabetically and by SIC, NAICS and Zip Code.

In addition to directories that focus on Massachusetts there are databases that although national in coverage, can also be useful in gathering information about regional companies.

• D&B Million Dollar Database (online–may also be used from home with a valid BPL library card.)
• Mergent Online (online–may also be used from home with a valid BPL library card.)
• Business and Company Resource Center. (online–may also be used from home with a valid BPL library card.)

For full database descriptions visit our Electronic Resources page.