Guide for Researching Buildings and Towns
Questions to address in your paper (questions may vary depending
on if you are researching a building or a town):
- What do you want to know about a building/town that makes it
interesting?
- What do you want to know about a building/town that makes it
part of history?
- What types of materials were used/available?
- What type of construction techniques do you find?
- What sorts of architectural styles/features do you find?
- Are there indications that modifications have been made?
- What is original vs. a remodeling effort?
- How old is it?
- Who built it? When? Why?
- Who lived there/owned it/used it until now'?
- What is the personal history of these people?
- How do changes in the house/building/town reflect both the
history and circumstances of both the era and the individuals?
Where to Look for Information:
Registry of Deeds at the County Courthouse (for buildings)
Here you will find a history of ownership in the deeds to a property. You are most interested in the names
of the owners and their dates of ownership. To research a deed you need to know the name of the people who own
the property now; clerks at the registry can help you look that up to start. Somewhere in the deed will be a reference
to the names of the person/people from whom the current owners purchased the building, and where and when those
people got it. The deed will refer to a book and page number; if you look up that book and page number, you will
see that it refers back again to earlier owners and to another book and page number, and it will continue back
and back and back like this until…? This task will take about four hours, more or less, depending on the age of
the building and the number of changes in ownership. Deeds record only the ownership of property, not the existence
of specific buildings, so you will still have some detective work ahead of you. While you are at the county courthouse,
you may wish to see if you can find town maps or surveys of the property done in the past. You may even want to
check out the wills of the people who lived in the house. These records also are kept in the county courthouse.
Town Library (for towns or buildings)
The librarian at your local library should be able to direct you to a few volumes pertaining to your town's history.
Even if you are confining your research to a building, you will want to put it into the context of the town's history.
Look for names of people who had anything to do with the development of your town (and for names of the people
you found in the deeds, if you are researching a building). Find the major events and people who made the town
a town; this can be overwhelming because it has already been done for you and the volumes are usually long and
old.
Historical Societies (for towns or buildings)
If your town has no historical society or if the organization has no hours posted, ask the town librarian for the
name and phone number of someone who serves - officially or unofficially - as town historian. You may need to make
time to go over to some elderly person's house to have tea and cookies and plow through old documents and photographs
that he or she has saved for years waiting for someone like you to come along and ask about them. These people
will be delighted to share their knowledge and will be a very rich source of information for you. Don't forget,
too, to check with the New Hampshire Historical Society. Your teacher can help you access the wealth of information
available to you through this resource located in Concord, including town histories, maps, and accounts of interesting
persons and events. Information also is available on the Society's Web site (http://www.nhhistory.org).
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