The first telephone directory is issued in New Haven, Connecticut.

A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book or phonebook, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory. Its purpose is to allow the telephone number of a subscriber identified by name and address to be found. It may include a 'yellow pages' section that list businesses by type, architects, beauticians, carpenters, etc., or the Yellow pages may be provided as a separate volume. The slogan "Let Your Fingers Do the Walking", introduced by the Bell System, refers to use of Yellow Pages phone books.