Richmond County Phone Directory Search
The Richmond County phone directory taps into public records held on Staten Island, the least populated of New York City's five boroughs. Richmond County covers all of Staten Island, and its clerk office at 130 Stuyvesant Place is the main hub for property filings, business certificates, and court documents. These records list names, home addresses, and sometimes phone numbers. You can search many of them for free through tools like ACRIS or by visiting the clerk in person. Local libraries and community groups on Staten Island also hold old phone books, historical directories, and genealogy databases that go back well over a century.
Richmond County Phone Directory Overview
Richmond County Clerk Office
The Richmond County Clerk is at 130 Stuyvesant Place, Staten Island, NY 10301. The phone number is (718) 675-7700. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is where Staten Island's public records live. The clerk handles business certificates, court records, notary applications, judgment dockets, UCC filings, and military discharges. Each of these record types can list a name next to an address.
Business certificates are a good place to start. When someone opens a sole proprietorship or partnership on Staten Island, they file with the Richmond County Clerk. The filing includes the owner's full name, business name, and street address. These are public records. You can walk in and ask to see them. Copies run $0.25 per page.
Judgment dockets are useful too. They show who owes money to whom. Both parties get listed with their names and often their addresses. UCC filings work in a similar way. They record secured transactions and list the debtor's name and address. Military discharge records (DD-214 forms) are on file for veterans who chose to record them with the county. These hold detailed personal info, though access rules are stricter for privacy reasons.
The clerk's office also processes notary public applications. Each notary filing includes the applicant's name and address. While this is a niche source, it adds to the overall pool of records you can search in Richmond County.
Staten Island Property Records Through ACRIS
The ACRIS system is the best free tool for property-based phone directory searches in Richmond County. ACRIS stands for Automated City Register Information System. It holds property records for all five boroughs going back to 1966. The NYC Department of Finance runs it. Updates happen daily.
Search by party name to find someone. Pick Richmond as the borough, type in a last name and first name, and the system pulls up every property document tied to that person. Deeds show up. Mortgages show up. Liens and satisfactions show up. Each result lists the document date, the parties, and the property address. Cover pages are free. Full document images come as PDFs.
Property records hold a lot of contact data. A deed shows the buyer's name and mailing address. A mortgage lists the borrower and the property location. Liens tie names to properties and often include the filing party's contact info. For a phone directory search on Staten Island, ACRIS gives you a fast and free way to connect names to addresses without filing any formal request.
You can also pull Property Profile Reports for free. These combine all recorded documents for a single property into one view. The owner name, mailing address, assessed value, and every deed, mortgage, and lien on file all show up in one report. If you know a Staten Island address, this is the quickest path to finding who lives there.
Note: ACRIS records for Richmond County start in 1966. For anything filed before that year, you need to search at the clerk's office in person.
Staten Island Community Information Resources
Staten Island has a strong network of community organizations that hold useful data for phone directory lookups. The StatenIslandUSA.com site is a good starting point. It lists community boards, the Borough President's office, historical societies, and local service groups. These organizations often maintain directories of local contacts, businesses, and civic leaders.
The community boards on Staten Island each cover a different part of the borough. There are three boards in total. They hold public meetings, maintain contact lists for local officials, and keep records of land use applications and community complaints. Meeting minutes and attendance records are public under FOIL. These can contain names and addresses of residents who participated in public hearings or filed complaints.
The Borough President's office also keeps records that can help. Budget requests, community grant applications, and correspondence with city agencies all contain contact details. The office is at 10 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, NY 10301. You can file FOIL requests for any records held there.
Historical societies on Staten Island are another avenue. They hold old maps, photographs, newspaper clippings, and personal papers that sometimes include phone numbers and addresses from past decades. The Staten Island Historical Society, based at Historic Richmond Town, is the largest of these groups.
NYPL Staten Island Phone Directory Resources
The New York Public Library branches on Staten Island hold a range of materials that feed into phone directory research. Unlike Brooklyn and Queens, which have their own library systems, Staten Island falls under the NYPL system. This gives residents and researchers access to the full NYPL collection, including genealogy databases, historical directories, and digital archives.
Local history collections at Staten Island branches include old phone books and city directories. These list residents by name with their address and sometimes their occupation. They cover decades when digital records did not exist. If you need to find where someone lived on Staten Island in the 1940s or 1950s, these old directories are the place to look.
Newspapers on microfilm are also available. Old Staten Island papers carried legal notices, real estate ads, obituaries, and classified listings that often included names, addresses, and phone numbers. The NYPL has digitized some of these, but many are still only on microfilm at local branches.
Census records are another key resource. The NYPL provides access to census data through Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest. Federal census records for Staten Island go back to 1790. State census records cover 1855 to 1925. These list every person in a household along with their age, birthplace, and address. Cross-referencing census data with old phone directories helps build a full picture of who lived where and when.
The NYPL digital collections also hold maps, photographs, and archival materials related to Staten Island. Some of these include street directories and business listings that are not available anywhere else online.
FOIL Requests for Richmond County Records
New York's Freedom of Information Law covers all records held by Richmond County offices. Any person can file a request. You do not need to live on Staten Island. You do not need to explain why you want the records. FOIL is laid out in Public Officers Law, Article 6, Sections 84 through 90.
Put your request in writing. Include your name and how to reach you. Describe the records you want. Be specific. Mention names, dates, and document types. Send it to the Richmond County Clerk at 130 Stuyvesant Place, Staten Island, NY 10301. The office must respond within five business days. They can hand over the records, deny the request in writing, or send a note saying they need more time.
Copies cost $0.25 per page for standard sizes up to 9 by 14 inches. Looking at records in person is free. If the office says no, they must point to a specific exemption in the law. Common reasons for denial include personal privacy, active law enforcement cases, and trade secrets. You get 30 days to appeal. If the appeal fails, you have 120 days to go to court.
FOIL works well for records not yet online. Permit applications, licensing records, and internal contact lists are all fair game. If it exists in a government file on Staten Island, you can ask for it through FOIL.
NYC Vital Records for Richmond County
Vital records for Staten Island are handled by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Birth certificates from 1910 onward and death certificates from 1949 onward are on file. The office is at 125 Worth Street in Manhattan. Each certificate costs $15.
Birth certificates list the child's name, the parents' names, and the home address at the time of birth. Death certificates show the person's last known address. Both are useful for a phone directory search, especially when you need to confirm where someone lived at a certain time.
For older records, the Municipal Archives at 31 Chambers Street holds births from 1855 to 1909, deaths from 1855 to 1948, and marriages from 1950 to 1995. Many of these have been digitized. In-person access is free. The archives also hold city agency records, photographs, and maps that can help with historical lookups in Richmond County.
Richmond County Voter and Election Records
The NYC Board of Elections keeps voter registration data for Richmond County. Each record has the voter's name, home address, party affiliation, and voting history. Voter rolls are public in New York. They can be used for political purposes and election-related activities.
Poll site locations, campaign finance reports, and election results are also public. Campaign finance filings list the names and addresses of donors. These records can surface contact info that does not show up in property or business filings. The Board of Elections office for Staten Island can provide copies of voter lists and campaign records on request.
Keep in mind that voter data has use restrictions. New York law limits voter roll use to political and non-commercial purposes. You cannot use it for sales or marketing. But for a phone directory search tied to finding someone's address, it is a valid and legal source.
Historic Richmond Town Archives
Historic Richmond Town is a museum and archive complex in the heart of Staten Island. It sits on 100 acres and holds 30 historic buildings. But the real value for a phone directory search is in the archives. The research library at Historic Richmond Town stores photographs, personal papers, maps, and documents that go back to the 1600s.
The photo collection alone has thousands of images showing Staten Island streets, buildings, and residents over the centuries. Many photos are labeled with names and addresses. Personal paper collections include letters, deeds, and business records donated by local families. These can hold phone numbers and mailing addresses not found in any government database.
The archive also runs educational programs and guided research sessions. Staff can help you navigate the collections if you visit in person. For genealogy or historical phone directory research, this is one of the best resources on Staten Island. It fills gaps that government records leave behind.
The site is open to the public. Hours and admission details are on their website. You can call ahead to schedule time in the research library.
How to Search Richmond County Phone Records
Start online. ACRIS is the fastest way to search property records for Staten Island. Go to the site, pick Richmond as the borough, and run a party name search. Results come up in seconds. You get names, addresses, and document details for free.
Next, try the NYS Open Data portal. It lists all active corporations in New York. Search by entity name or CEO name. Results show the filing county, process address, and entity status. This can help you find business owners on Staten Island.
If online tools do not turn up what you need, visit the clerk in person. The Richmond County Clerk at 130 Stuyvesant Place is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bring a valid ID. Ask to look at public records. Inspection is free. Copies cost $0.25 per page.
For older records, head to an NYPL branch on Staten Island or visit Historic Richmond Town. Old phone books, city directories, census records, and archival collections can fill in details that online databases miss. The library also gives free access to Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest for deeper searches.
Filing a FOIL request is always an option too. Here are some tips:
- Be clear about what records you want
- Include names and dates if you have them
- Say if you want copies or just to look
- Ask about fees before the clerk pulls records
- Allow five business days for a response
Nearby Counties and Cities
Richmond County borders Kings County across the Narrows. If your phone directory search goes beyond Staten Island, the nearby county page below can help.
Cities in Richmond County
Richmond County is one of the five boroughs of New York City. All of Staten Island falls under the city government.