Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/Resources

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is page providing resources that editors can use to create articles about properties and districts listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Resources of national scope are given first, then by-state-and-territory reports of what resources are available, followed by useful resources for maintenance and other purposes. Also of interest is WP:NRHPMOS, a Style Guide guideline to be followed when creating articles under the scope of this project, and WP:NRHPFAQ, a list of frequently asked questions about the project.

Shortcut

General resources now available

WikiProject Resource Exchange

In 2022 at least, to obtain any published document, there is the "Resource Request" section of WikiProject Resource Exchange. Select "Click here to make a new request" button, at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request. It's served by volunteers.

The Wikipedia Library

You can do your own searching for journal articles, news articles and much more, without any requirement to sign up in advance. The Wikipedia Library: Browse partners shows lit searching resources available, including

  • Ebsco (or Ebscohost?, which seems to be what's searched if you just enter a search without selecting a specific resource),
  • ScienceDirect
  • Jstor
  • "Newspaper Archive" (a service comparable to Newspapers.com)
  • many more.

This is free to you with no sign-up, no special permissions required, just enter via this Wikipedia Library entry point, which provides a session token or something like that. Perhaps there's a limit how many people can be on at one time?

Newspapers.com

This one does require application in advance of use. Go to "Apply here", although below it seems to mention your opening a (free) individual account at newspapers.com, first, before applying.

Denver library resources

Denver's main library provides extensive services, perhaps to any U.S. person who opens an account. More info needed here; write what you know!

Resources of national scope on historic sites

NRIS

The NRHP stores information about sites listed on the Register in a database known as the National Register Information System (NRIS). There are several web resources which in effect are front-ends for querying this database, although the database also can be downloaded in its entirety from this National Park Service website, which several of our members have done. One member, User:Elkman, has downloaded the database and hosts it on his personal website so that project members can query the database without having to download it. The most commonly used tool on Elkman's site is the Infobox Creator, commonly known as the "Elkman NRHP infobox generator," which parses the database information into a detailed pre-fabricated NRHP infobox that can be used in new articles. To use the infobox generator, search for the name or reference number of the desired site. You can then cut-and-paste the infobox (and other useful information such as categories and draft NRHP document references and talk page material) into an article.

Although the NRIS is generally treated as a reliable source for information about sites listed on the Register, it, like any database of its size contains errors, many of which have been found and sorted out by project members on a set of "corrections needed" pages (which hopefully may someday be corrected in the database itself). There are occasional errors of several types: data entry errors in the database, original errors in the NRHP nomination documents from which the NRIS data is taken, extraction/presentation errors in the front-end used to query the database. These errors have appeared in listing/delisting dates, official names, locations, and other fields. Also, being a database rather than a written source, even the information provided without error is very limited. For example, NRIS does not distinguish between architects, contractors/builders, and engineers; it gives incomplete lists of architectural styles present in a listing; and gives dates which have often not been properly interpreted (e.g. NRIS identifies some as "circa" rather than definite dates, or gives date ranges, and sometimes provides multiple relevant dates which may include a date of a significant event other than the built date (e.g. William Frantz Elementary School, built in 1937, is given date of significance of 1960 for the school desegregation then). One popular front end interface to NRIS does not convey those distinctions, merely reporting the first date given.

The NRHP wikiproject strongly recommends including multiple sources in new (and existing) articles to verify/clarify the NRIS data. Any input error (except coordinate errors) found in NRIS data given by the Elkman generator or other means should be reported on NRIS info issues page under the appropriate heading. It is intended that these reports will be collected and forwarded to the NPS periodically.

NRHP listing codes (certification status codes) in NRIS for reference

Over the years, it has been a pain sometimes trying to interpret what is meant in the NPS's weekly announcements of new listings and of changes. The codes are actually defined in a table within NRIS (the relational database which the NPS maintains). In 2022, "NATIONAL REGISTER INFORMATION TRACKING SYSTEM (NRIS) TERMINOLOGY" (found in NRIS database download page) and occasional weekly listings such as Weekly List 2022 08 12 give a key (table) defining some terms, as here:

Key to Prefix Codes:
AD - Additional documentation
BC - Boundary change (increase, decrease, or both)
FD - Federal DOE property under the Federal DOE project
FP - Federal DOE Project
MC - Multiple cover sheet
MP - Multiple nomination (a nomination under a multiple cover sheet)
MPS - Multiple Property Submission
MV - Move request
NL - NHL
OT - All other requests (appeal, removal, delisting, direct submission)
RS - Resubmission
SG - Single nomination

However, that key combines multiple types of status codes within "OT - All other requests", hardly a help for interpreting numerous codes that show up in NRIS and reports based upon it. For reference going forward, I quote from a 2010 wt:NRHP discussion which stated the definitions from within NRIS, and gave then-current frequency counts:

In the March 13, 2009 version of NRIS, counts of NRHP listings by certification status code are:
  • LI which means LISTED in the National Register : 84326
  • DR which means DATE RECEIVED/PENDING NOMINATION : 2466
  • RN which means REMOVED from National Register : 1560
  • DO which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/OWNER OBJECTION : 1051
  • DP which means DATE RECEIVED/PENDING OWNER OBJECTION : 124
  • RE which means REMOVED FROM ELIGIBLE LIST : 11
  • BD which means BOUNDARY DECREASE : 5
  • DD which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/DOE PROCESS : 2
  • DC which means DETERMINED ELIGIBLE/CERTIFIED DISTRICT : 1
  • NX which means NATIONAL LANDMARK STATUS REMOVED : 1
  • PM which means PROPERTY MOVED : 1
and there's one empty entry.
It's come up several times that items where code is DR were actually later fully NRHP-listed [without ever a listing announcement appearing in the NPS's sequence of weekly announcements --Doncram, 2022].
All the ones identified as RN are well-documented on the internet, erroneously, as being listed on the very date that they were in fact delisted. I think creating really short stub articles on these ones, by a real bot or otherwise, to get the accurate information out, would be helpful. --Doncram, 2010

To amend that last comment from 2010, in 2022, I think it would be helpful for the world if we had a definitive article (perhaps Formerly listed on the National Register of Historic Places?) about delistings with explanation of what they are, how misunderstandings are promoted by numerous on-line NRIS mirrors (naming them explicitly), and giving a list of all the NRHP places which have been delisted (more than 1560 by now). For many, we actually do have articles. For the other NRHP names, set up redirects to this article, so that persons searching within Wikipedia or searching elsewhere for a given place will have a chance to find out the real deal.

And, similarly, create an article, perhaps Determined Eligible for National Register of Historic Places, to explain about owner objections and other types of "Determined Eligible", and list all of those (more than 1051 + 2 + 1 by now). These are actually legally important: for example they have impact in government processes to choose a route for a new interstate highway. --Doncram, 2022

The NRHP's "NPS Focus" system is a front end to query NRIS data which is provided by the NPS. In addition to providing data from NRIS, links to NRHP application documents in PDF format are included. The system will always show clickable links for the document and accompanying photo set for the place, whether or not those are actually available online. Clicking the links will often download a PDF file that merely states "The PDF file for this National Register record has not yet been digitized," in which case the documents are not available online at the expected place in the NPS system. This is often a false statement, because they may still be available elsewhere in the NPS system or from a state-level resource). In the case that the document is truly not available online, the document can be requested from the NRHP directly. See below for instructions on how to request these documents.

To use, go to the NPGallery search interface It may be referred to by its soft redirect "shortcut" wp:NPSfocus or wp:NPGallery. To find information about a listing, simply go to the Focus search site, type in the official NRHP name, select a geographic region if desired, and click Search. The site will return a list of NRHP listings from which you can select the appropriate link. In the past, according to an NPS Focus status report page, Focus contained a "skeletal record" for all properties listed in or before August 2012. All properties listed after then can be found in the weekly announcement listings.

Individual Wikipedia articles for NRHP properties and articles containing lists of properties will often include a clickable reference number that will open the NP Gallery listing for that property, including the summary information and links to the nomination form and associated photos, for example: (#09000817) or NRHP Reference # 09000817.

NRHP nomination forms

Official National Register of Historic Places nomination documents are available in some form for all listings. It is highly recommended that every NRHP article use the official NRHP Inventory/Nomination document as a source about the listing. They often include primary research information including description of the condition of a property at the time the document was written and secondary research information about the historical importance of the place. They are provided by the Federal government but are often written by state or local government staff or by private consultants or other parties who have not transferred copyright. As such, they are generally not in the public domain, even though most U.S. Federal government works are. Unless they are prepared by Federal staff workers, the copyright is believed to be held by the author of the document. If they are public domain, you might include text from these documents directly without paraphrasing, but it is desirable in either case to summarize them and paraphrase for better article quality. The NRHP wikiproject generally treats public domain texts exactly like any other sources, except that quotes from them may be longer than would represent "fair use" of copyrighted material. It is always helpful to provide a link to public domain materials that are available on the web, either as an external link or as an explicit reference, just as it is helpful to link to copyright-protected materials. The NRHP nomination documents include information about the historical significance of a property, a brief description of the property, and can sometimes even include pictures or maps. About copyright limitations on photographs included in NRHP nominations, see #Images.

  Almost all nominations online at NPS Focus
  Almost all nominations online at state-level or other source
  Almost all nominations online, but require payment
  Some nominations online at state-level or other source

The map included to the right shows the availability of nomination files in the Focus database as well as in state-level resources. Most properties listed before September 2014 are available in the Focus database, except for those in the states listed below, according to this page (as of 1/2017). Most of their listing forms are available via the National Archives Catalog described below.

In addition, almost all NRHP nomination documents and accompanying pictures are in the Focus database for Multiple Property Submissions (more info here), National Historic Landmarks, and sites owned by the National Park Service. Sites that are listed as "Address restricted" (mainly archaeological sites) are not available in Focus due to sensitive location information but can be obtained according to the directions below, albeit with the location information redacted from the nomination copy.

Even if a nomination form is not available in Focus (and even if Focus reports that the form is "not yet digitized"), the NPS nonetheless will usually have a digital copy that they have not yet added to the database, and they will surely have a hard copy. These are available upon request from the NPS by email at nr_reference@nps.gov. If the NPS does not have a digital form to send by email, a paper copy can be sent through the U.S. postal service. To obtain these documents, simply include your home address in the email, or you can send a letter to the following address:

National Register of Historic Places

National Park Service
1201 I St. NW
8th Floor (MS 2280)

Washington, DC 20005

In the email or letter, include the name of the property, county, state, NRHP reference number (if available), and the name of the Thematic Resource, Multiple Resource Area, or Multiple Property Submission (if applicable). There is a limit of two paper copies per request, but there is no such limit on email. If the site in question is address restricted, location information will be redacted from the form for security reasons.

National Archives catalog

Shortcut

The National Archives and Records Administration provides scanned and OCR'd NRHP nomination documents for all properties (except restricted ares, such as archaeological sites) added to the Register prior to 2013. These may be viewed online and downloaded to your own computer.

To use:

  • Usually the following should work, because usually you will have the NRHP reference number for the property (e.g. from the county list-article of NRHP listings): at https://catalog.archives.gov/registration (inexplicably, in December 2022, much faster to access than National Archives Catalog), enter the refnum into searchbox, then click the search icon (a magnifying class image) just to its right. Results should include the NRHP document; click on that, bringing up a screen with a viewer box that seems like it should include the document, but may be blank. What happens next is probably dependent on your browser, your computer/internet speed, and other factors. The viewer eventually should work, but you might have to leave it running for 10 minutes or so, with no indicator of progress going on. Alternatively, without waiting, you can download the document to your computer: click on the "download" icon (with a down-arrow in its image) below the userbox. Using Chrome browser on a reasonably new PC in 1/2017, this works okay, showing progress in terms of cumulative MB downloaded being reported (though no total filesize or percentage progress shows).
    • one shows indicator that waiting for "dts.gnpge.com" to respond
    • Other shows indicator that waiting for "upload.wikipedia..." to respond
  • Alternatively, you can try searching for a given NRHP property name (or fragment thereof), but depending on the uniqueness of the name there may be too many results to be useful.
  • If you don't have the NRHP reference number, you can still follow a process which reliably should get the desired document or establish that it is not available. To do so, search the relevant state-specific "finding aids". Using the Texas database as an example, jump to this starting point: National Register of Historic Places and National Historic Landmarks Program Records: Texas (NAID 37250329). For a regular NRHP listing, find the "Texas Single Property Listings Finding Aid" document by scrolling down and click on that. It brings up a viewer window, which fairly promptly should show the finding aid document. In the viewer window-specific search (click on the magnifying glass icon within the viewer window) enter the NRHP property name and step through occurrences until you find it and its reference number. Then type the reference number into the main search box at upper left, and then hit the "search" icon. If the property is a National Historic Landmark, scroll to find the "Texas National Historic Landmarks Finding Aid" instead, and search within that. Multiple Property Submissions are listed in another finding aid document.

States for which listings appear to be completely available, excepting listings with restricted addresses, are listed below.

Non-state geographies for which there are listings are also available:

To reference the NRHP document you have found, you need a permalink to the document, which is by use of the "National Archives Identifier" for the property. This is a different number than the NRHP reference number. E.g. for Muskegon Historic District, having reference number 72000647, the archives identifier is 25340169. You can see this number in the results from searching by the refnum. The NRHP document for that property is at permalink https://catalog.archives.gov/id/25340169. A model reference for cut-and-paste usage is:
<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/ |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|author= |date= | access-date=March 18, 2026 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>

[Note 1: The above sample reference uses a template, {{NationalArchivesNote}}, to provide a message that currently displays "Downloading may be slow." This message may be updated centrally and will revise what is displayed in all such references. The note seems helpful for readers, to warn them of oddly big filesize and/or oddly long downloading time.]
[Note 2: A number of references based on the NRHP document, when believing that permalinks to the National Archives versions were not available, were created by me (doncram) and perhaps other editors, using the following cut-and-paste-able model:
<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url= |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: |publisher=National Archives and Records Administration|author= |date= | access-date=March 18, 2026 }} (accessible by searching within [https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972550 National Archives Catalog])</ref>
These should probably be searched out and replaced by permalinks. --doncram 17:54, 8 May 2017 (UTC)]

SAH Archipedia

  • A partnership of Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) and University of Virginia Press (UVA Press) now makes available their resources launched online in 2012 that "drew from content in the printed Buildings of the United States books (BUS)." As of October 2019, per this Curbed.Com article, apparently Archipedia is now 'open access' - which means that anybody can read it now (although note its text does not have an open license, so quote and credit appropriately). Parts of it had been open in the past, but it was complicated. Browse by states may be the best place to start on the site. They've got 28,651 articles on places as of October 2023 (mostly buildings, plus essays). There's overlap with NRHP and HABS sites but places are defined differently in each so it's hard to say how much overlap exactly.
  • General search there. You can browse by architect, by type (e.g. "fire stations", "cantilever bridges"), by style ("Hopewell", "Italo-Byzantine"), and by material ("art glass"), too. State-specific search links (and counts of articles available) are now available in each state's section of resources below. Coverage varies: Virginia has 2937 articles; Connecticut has just 16.
  • It may be added as just the link from "External links" in an article, or perhaps better put into a "Further reading" section, or even better integrated directly as a regular in-line source into our articles.
(This note adapted and expanded from contribution by Smallbones at wt:NRHP on 13 October 2019. --Doncram, 2019)

National Historic Landmarks

Shortcuts

NHL committee docs

NPS webpages about NHLs, including subpages:

NHL Summaries

(requires updating)

The National Park Services NHL search site provides access to a webpage summary for every NHL site, including for archaeological sites where the NRHP text is not made available. This summary page includes a short statement of significance of site based on the NRHP text. The NHL webpage sometimes also includes current and past status information for sites that are threatened. This NHL webpage summary is usually authoritative on the official NHL name for the site, which may differ from the official NRHP listing name for the site shown in the NRIS system. When an NRHP site is also a NHL, the NHL name takes precedence in the title of the NRHP infobox of an article and usually the title of the article as well. This summary page is usually authoritative on the date of NHL designation, which should be added into the NRHP infobox of the article.

While these webpages and documents are usually accurate, some errors have been found in fields as critical as the reference number of the site, the site's name, and the site's NHL designation date. Some of the errors have been reported to the National Park Service and are under review. A working list of known or apparent errors with names of sites appears here. Any errors you find should be reported at that article as well.

Images

Quick facts Free image sources for the United States, Source ...
Free image sources for the United States
Source License Tag
Wikimedia Commons (Cat:United States) Various N/A
Historic American Buildings Survey () P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Historic American Engineering Record () P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Historic American Landscapes Survey P.D {{PD-USGov}}
National Park Service ( and ) P.D. {{PD-USGov-Interior-NPS}}
U.S. Coast Guard () P.D. {{PD-USGov-DHS-CG}}
Library of Congress - American Memory () P.D. {{LOC-image}}
Library of Congress - Prints and Photographs () P.D. (not all) {{LOC-image}}
NOAA () P.D. {{PD-USGov-DOC-NOAA}}
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service () P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Creative Commons (by,sa) on Flickr () C.C. {{cc-by-2.0}}{{cc-by-sa-2.0}}
U.S. Department of Agriculture () P.D. {{PD-USGov}}
Close

Some National Park Service webpages include photos that are NPS-owned and are public domain. But the NPS is clear that it uses, with permission, some copyrighted pictures, and those do not go into the public domain just because the NPS uses them. The National Park Service copyright-related policy statement, at http://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm stated, under Ownership:

"Information presented on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain. It may be distributed or copied as is permitted by the law. Not all information on this website has been created or is owned by the NPS. If you wish to use any non-NPS material, you must seek permission directly from the owning (or holding) sources."

(that was as of 2018 or so?)

And as of January 2023 there's a much longer statement there at http://www.nps.gov/disclaimer.htm which includes:

"Not all information or content on this website has been created or is owned by the NPS. Some content is protected by third party rights, such as copyright, trademark, rights of publicity, privacy, and contractual restrictions. The NPS endeavors to provide information that it possesses about the copyright status of the content and to identify any other terms and conditions that may apply to use of the content (such as, trademark, rights of privacy or publicity, donor restrictions, etc.); however, the NPS can offer no guarantee or assurance that all pertinent information is provided or that the information is correct in each circumstance. It is your responsibility to determine what permission(s) you need in order to use the content and, if necessary, to obtain such permission. If you have specific questions or information about content on the NPS websites, please contact the appropriate NPS park or program that is associated with the content."

In other words, many or most of the photos within the NPS Focus system, the NPGallery system, or otherwise in the NPS's larger website, are NOT public domain, and it is up to you to work it out with the actual copyright owner, to get them released under PD or CC-BY-SA to Commons (using the wp:VRT service to make arrangements), if you want to use them in Wikipedia.

It needs to be stated that the NPS has been downright unhelpful in their communication to the public about the copyright status of these. For one thing, the "disclaimer" does not come up when one accesses individual NRHP photosets at their individual URLs. E.g., for the Anthony Diebold House, there is a single-photo photo set available at https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/83002653_photos, which might look like it has been "published" by the Federal NPS and therefore is PD, but that is simply not so. Its status is governed by the faraway disclaimer.

And, worse, until some date in late 2009 or early 2010, there was an ERRONEOUS message in the NPS Focus computer system that states "Public domain" for all photographs, whether they are or not. That was later changed to show "Public access". Any photo that gives credit to a photographer, a state employee, or any other non-Federal organization is not in the public domain and thus cannot be used on Wikipedia without consent from the photographer. It is up to users, not the NPS, to check for copyright status of any photos. Any photo that is listed as being from the "National Register Collection", however, is believed to be owned by the NPS and thus in the public domain. Only images in the public domain (or another accepted license Click here for more information) may be added to articles. Any other images will be removed, sooner or later, from Commons and thereby from usage in Wikipedia.

The table to the right includes several alternative sources that may contain public domain images about NRHP listings.

To avoid any copyright problems, you may simply take photos yourself if you live or travel in the area of a property listed on the NRHP or request that other editors take pictures if they come in contact with them. If you or any other editor takes the photograph, the photographer has exclusive rights to the copyright status of the photograph and must release it into the public domain or release it under a different acceptable license in order to use it in a Wikipedia articles.

It is also possible that the images you need already exist on Wikipedia's partner site Wikimedia Commons. You can look through Commons:Category:National Register of Historic Places or categories specific to the state or region in which the NRHP listing is located to find useful images.

Courthouse photos

The United States Department of Agriculture has a collection of 328 courthouse photographs taken by Calvin Beale. The Federal Judicial Center has nearly six hundred photographs of historic federal courthouses.

Other resources

"NRHP.COM"

National Register of Historic Places.COM is a private website mirroring the NRHP's NRIS database. It gives listings by state and division within state (counties, parishes, etc.). This is often referred to by the project as "NRHP.COM". It is known to contain systematic errors, however, such as giving areas of historic districts that are 10x larger than correct and including an erroneous listing date for properties that have actually been de-listed on that date. It is not recommended for use in Wikipedia citations, but can be a handy source for a site's reference number or other info.

Historic Places Database

Another private source of information, also mostly a mirror to the NRIS database, is Historic Places Database. It may give listing as well as delisting dates.

Weekly announcement listings

Every Friday, the National Park Service publishes a new weekly list outlining all actions on the National Register for the prior week(s), including additions, removals, boundary increases and decreases, additional documentation, approvals of multiple property submissions (MPS), determinations of eligibility, and designations of NHLs. The weekly list (and all previous lists) can be found here. Since July 2008, the weekly update has included one featured property, listed here.

If the listing date for the property is not known, a quick way to find it is to Google the name of the property and append "site:www.nps.gov". For example, when looking for information on Beth Hamedrash Hagadol, search Google for "Beth Hamedrash Hagadol" site:www.nps.gov, which turns up the relevant weekly announcement. For older NRHP listings (pre-1995), the announcements are in pdf format and thus not searchable. For these properties, you will have to manually search through the yearly listings.

Note: a real advantage of such searches is that they can turn up announcements of additional documentation packages provided for a site. Just searching NRIS and NPS Focus will not reveal the availability of these. To obtain them, you may have to request the additional documentation from the National Register directly. The additional documentation might or might not also appear in the PDF files for the site that might be available via the NPS Focus system.

There is an effort to transcribe (and thereby make searchable) the older Weekly Lists at WikiSource: wikisource:Category:Weekly List, National Register of Historic Places; many of them need a second pair of eyes for validation.

National Park Service Inventory

The National Park Service has an inventory of historic park structures with pictures at List of Classified Structures.

GSA database

Multiple resources regarding historic federal government buildings under General Services Administration management may be found at Historic Buildings, which can be searched and sorted by state, architect, and other attributes.

HABS and HAER and HALS

The Historic American Buildings Survey, the Historic American Engineering Record, and the Historic American Landscape Survey provide photos and sometimes substantial text records for many sites that are NRHPs.

  • Rights and Restrictions Information for Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey Collection, including how to credit individual photos and how to credit collections, is provided at https://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html.
Buildings of The United States

Published by the Society of Architectural Historians through the Oxford University Press, the series is a long-term project to document American architecture on a state-by-state basis in a manner similar to Nikolaus Pevsner's The Buildings of England. The following volumes have been published as of mid-2017:

  • Alaska (1993), Colorado (1997), Delaware (2008), District of Columbia (1993), Hawaii (2011), Iowa (1993), Louisiana (2003), Massachusetts (Boston) (2009), Michigan (r.2012), Nevada (2000), North Dakota (2015), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and eastern PA) (2010), Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh and western PA) (2010), Pittsburgh (2007), Rhode Island (2004), Savannah (2016), Texas (south, central, Gulf coast) (2013), Vermont (2014), Virginia (Tidewater and Piedmont) (2002), Virginia (Valley, Piedmont, Southside and Southwest) (2015), West Virginia (2004) and (Wisconsin (2017) Arkansas is expected in late 2017.

The older versions are available for under $10.00 used.

City directories and Sanborn maps

Useful to find date ranges when a building existed, and occupations of residents, and about businesses, are historic city directories and Sanborn maps which may be found at libraries. In discussion about a Macon, Georgia NRHP listings, Krelnik used city directories in Macon, Georgia to determine what happened at one address of a NRHP-listed house (the house was rented in 1972–73, vacant in 1974, absent from listing in 1975–76, then replaced by a new medical building in 1977). Ancestry.Com's page "About U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995" describes: "Generally a city directory will contain an alphabetical list of citizens, listing the names of the heads of households, their addresses, and occupational information. Sometimes a wife's name will be listed in parentheses or italics following the husband's. Other helpful information might include death dates for individuals who had been listed in the previous year's directory, names of partners in firms, and forwarding addresses or post offices for people who had moved to another town." Bubba73 used such for genealogical research, i.e. looking up where a relative had lived. Krelnik commented "There were companies that published these directories for the various cities, the one that did Macon's was R.L. Polk but I suppose there were probably others. The best part of a city directory vis-a-vis a regular phone book is many (including Macon's) have a section organized by street & number, so you can look up what was at a location. Of course, the book is not going to tell you what type of building was at that address, just how it was being used. (So if a building was demolished and very quickly replaced, that might not be evident from city directories). Still, the name & number of the tenants or business can be useful - it can tell you how many apartments an old house was divided into, etc. Over on Solomon-Curd House the Macon directory revealed that it was being used by a business called "House of Hines" prior to its loss, and Googling that name quickly leads to stories about the house burning.

Sanborn maps, published periodically for fire insurance support purposes, likewise show buildings appearing and disappearing.

State and territory specific resources

Architects, builders, engineers, artists help

Photos help

Geographic help

Tools to install

Tools, other useful links, and editing tips

See also

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