how to research your house's history: part two
TRANSCRIPT
7 (More) Tips to
RESEARCH YOUR HOUSE’S HISTORY
1. Don’t forget about
recent history.Your city or county's GIS database will
include the latest deed book or plate
book page, recent sale prices, and
information on if your house was
altered in the past 20 or 30 years.
2. Visit the Registrar
Mesne Conveyance
(RMC).Here you can find records like deeds,
titles, probate records, and wills that will
give you information as to when your
house was built and who owned it
throughout its history, as well as how the
house changed ownership over the years.
3. Know how titles, deeds, probate records,
and wills can help you.It’s best to work backwards—find the most recent title or deed (prior to you, of
course), and keep moving backwards until there aren’t any records.
4. Learn the lingo.It will save you time and make your
search less stressful if you have a
great reference book that clearly
explains what words like
"conveyance," "grantor," "grantee,"
and "plat" mean.
5. Sanborn maps
are a huge help.You can gain a wealth of information
from a standard Sanborn map. Each
overlay tells a specific fact, including
the number of stories, roof material,
and the type of building (dwelling,
commercial, etc.).
6. Talk with your local
preservation and
historical societies.They often will have their own archives
that could include maps and photographs,
as well as personal collections from the
people who lived in your house.
7. Take advantage of online databases.Libraries and archives usually have subscriptions to online databases that have
digitized thousands of historic newspapers. You can learn more about the
neighborhood and, if a past owner was prominent, find useful articles about them.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation works to save America’s
historic places. Preservation Tips & Tools helps others do the same
in their own communities.
For more information, visit SavingPlaces.org.
Paul Hohmann/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Florida Keys
Public Libraries/Flickr CC BY 2.0; Sha in
LA/Flickr/CC BY-ND 2.0; Sha in LA/Flickr/CC BY-
NC 2.0; Carolina Prysyazhnyuk/Flickr/CC BY-SA
2.0; Jerry/Flickr/ CC BY-SA 2.0; Henry de
Saussure Copeland/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0; Marcie
Casas/Flickr/CC BY 2.0.