I forget the name of the project or institution and I’m not sure if the book covers this. Either in the late 19th or early 20th century a set of libraries/archives were created that you could call on the phone, theoretically from anywhere in the world. You could ask the staff questions and they had a sort of database of punch cards they could use to find the information you wanted.
Bummer, the age gap between us it too big and you live in another country. Oh well, can you send nudes anyway?