  We determined accurate positions for 3000 of the "faint blue stars" in the
PHL (Palomar-Haro-Luyten) and Ton/TonS catalogues. These were published from
1957 to 1962, and, aimed at finding new white dwarfs, provide approximate
positions for about 10750 blue stellar objects. Some of these "stars" had
become known as quasars, a type of objects unheard-of before 1963. We derived
subarcsec positions from a comparison of published finding charts with images
from the first-epoch Digitized Sky Survey. Numerous objects are now well known,
but unfortunately neither their PHL or Ton numbers, nor their discoverers, are
recognized in current databases. A comparison with modern radio, IR, UV and
X-ray surveys leads us to suggest that the fraction of extragalactic objects in
the PHL and Ton catalogues is at least 15 per cent. However, because we failed
to locate the original PHL plates or finding charts, it may be impossible to
correctly identify the remaining 7726 PHL objects.
