The directory that was contracted and 'supposed to' exist as part of the NNSC-to-InterNIC dance was to be built by old-ATT Labs. As far as I can recall, it was ever only an ftp repository and not much of a 'directory and database service' (corrections welcome).
Anyone remember the Internet Scout? Even back then labors of love like John December's list were more useful than the Internic services. And of course, there was USENET with its categorized discussion groups, many of which had regular FAQ postings. That too was more of a real Internet directory (yellow pages) than the DNS (white pages) has ever been. Does everybody on this list even know what I'm talking about when I say "yellow pages"? I'll bet there are a few that are scratching their heads. I know that I haven't used them for about 10 years. --Michael Dillon