The guide provides Research Publications' fiche and reel numbers, with their contents, for City directories of the United States in microform; segment 1 (pre 1860), segment 2 (1861-1881) and segment 3 (1882-1901).

Fall River's textile boom in the nineteenth century brought with it a series of fiery disasters. The Big Fire of 1843 left more than one thousand people homeless and destroyed two hundred buildings, as well as twenty-some acres of land. After the Steiger Store Fire of 1916, mill owners pushed the city to replace horse-drawn brigades with fire engines. The intense heat from the Kerr Mill Thread Fire of 1987 melted hoses as first responders battled the blaze. Author Stefani Koorey chronicles the historic infernos of the Spindle City and celebrates the community's resilience in the face of adversity.

American Textile Colossus: The Story of Fall River, Massachusetts, its Cotton Manufacturing Industry, and its People is by Jay J. Lambert, president of the Board of Directors of the Fall River Historical Society. Jay devoted over a decade painstakingly researching and writing this major contribution to the history of the American textile industry. This book can be regarded as a definitive work on the subject. American Textile Colossus is a sweeping saga of Fall River's old cotton textile industry - the mills, the managerial hierarchy, the workforce, and the events and issues that shaped their lives. Documenting the cotton textile industry from the local perspective of Fall River, it is an unpretentious effort to understand the city's role in the industrialization of America.