City directories often carried more information than that, such as people's occupations, etc. And, newspapers of all sizes carried personal information in blur

City directories often carried more information than that, such as people's occupations, etc. And, newspapers of all sizes carried personal information in blurbs, such as "John Smith is in town for 3 days, visiting with relatives here." However, when the Sexual Revolution kicked in, it became customary for women in the 1970s and later to conceal their identities in White Pages listings, and request listings of simply "J. Smith", if they were listed at all. Because otherwise, the White Pages were a good "shopping list" for obscene/prank phone callers.