Things You'll Need:
- Internet access
- A computer
- A main branch of your local or county library
- Time and patience
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Step 1
Decide who you want to find out about and what you want to know. Do you want to know relevant info about a timeframe, or the general area, or a much wider perspective?
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Step 2
The first place to start is your library. You'll want to go to a main branch or a county library, whichever you have available. These will have reference material you'd have trouble finding elsewhere.
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Step 3
Next, try historical societies in the area(s) that person lived in. These have unexpected and amazing treasures you won't find anywhere else. You could find journals, personal documents that were preserved or donated, even term papers and books written by local or regional authors that are out of print or hard to find editions.
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Step 4
Next comes the Internet. Look at various less-known search engines, as well as the more well-known ones like google and ask.com. By checking different search engines, you'll find more info (see Resources below).
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Step 5
Find different ways to ask for the information you're seeking. Variations on phrases may give you a gold mine of information.
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Step 6
Check out newspaper archives, from the biggest ones like the New York Times and the Washington Post, to local and regional newspapers. Look for pictures with captions, small "blurbs" and small stories tucked away inside the newspapers of those times. The best gems usually aren't on the front page.
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Step 7
Follow-up on any leads you find, from ideas someone has, to public documents. Take the time, if you are in the same geographic area as your figure, to go to the Hall of Records and look at land deeds.
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Step 8
Look for information on the person you're researching in unlikely places. Did they have hobbies or strange habits you can check out? Were they part of any organizations or associations? You need to be like Sherlock Holmes, seeking clues to solve your conundrum. Researching a historical figure can be like finding beautiful threads. Pull on one, and it can unravel and reveal more than you ever imagined. You might even solve a small mystery that history left hanging.
