Belgium, Phone Book Indexes, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2002 - 2015

About the Belgium, Phone Book Indexes, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2002-2015

General collection information

This collection contains phone book indexes from Belgium for 1995, 1996, 1999, 2000, and 2002 to 2015.

Telephone books are an excellent genealogical resource. Because telephone books were published yearly, you can trace your family's residence seamlessly. You can also use their residential address to learn about the community where your family lived.

Using the collection

Records in the collection may include the following information:

When searching through phone book indexes, you can often use the information provided to find other family members. However, phone books don't directly list family members, so a little bit of detective work is needed. Knowing your family members' full names is especially helpful.

Telephone book listings may only include the name of the head of household, although often the names of married couples will be listed jointly. If your family members share an address, but not a last name, they will most likely have separate listings. Adult children living at the same address may be listed separately.

If someone isn't listed by their first name, consider searching for your family member by their initials. Many people opted to list their initials only as a way of maintaining privacy.

Collection in context

The first ever telephone directory was printed in 1878 in New Haven, Connecticut. The directory listed the names of subscribers, but phone numbers weren't published as they didn't exist yet. To connect, users simply gave the name of the subscriber with whom they wished to speak to a telephone operator. Telephone numbers weren't widely published until 1889.

As telephones gained popularity, more phone numbers were created and the use of area codes became necessary to avoid duplication. In the 1960s country codes were added to make international calling more efficient.

Private companies opened the first telephone exchanges in Belgium in 1879, and the government nationalized most of the telephone system in 1883. The country had about 8,500 telephone subscribers by 1894 and that number increased to more than 43,000 by 1910.

Most areas no longer print telephone books, opting instead to list directory information online.

Bibliography

Dempsey, Jenny. "History Lesson: All About Phone Numbers." Numberbarn. Last modified July 17, 2018. https://www.numberbarn.com/blog/lesson-on-phone-numbers/.

Funding Universe. "Belgacom History." Accessed January 26, 2022. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/belgacom-history/.

Peeples, Lynn. "Death of the Directory: When Was the Last Time You Opened a Phone Book?" Scientific American. Last modified August 27, 2009. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/news-blog/death-of-the-directory-when-was-the-2009-08-27.