Message from Maggie:  Brad and I got married in April and I was determined to find a thoughtful gift to show how much I loved him.  Rather than go the “gold watch route” I remembered hearing about a friend who had done historical research on the property her boyfriend purchased.  I kind of filed this away in the back of my brain thinking if we ever bought a home together this would make the ultimate gift.  Against everyone’s recommendations that we were crazy to buy a house the same month we got married, Brad and I bought a home five weeks before our big day.  I used the month of April to do the historical research on our Capitol Hill home.  I found things like the original documents such as the permit to build and plumbing inspection as well as information on the neighborhood.  I had the original permit framed and made a book out of the rest of the information I found.  As a history buff, this gift was met with serious approval from him.  You can check out the digital version here 1412 + the permit to build below:

1894: M+B’s house Permit to Build

Since May I have done less in-depth versions of this project for friends properties.  These take a lot of digging around and in some cases visits to the library, but make incredible gifts.

For my best friends 30th birthday, I went to the Cincinnati History Library website and dug through the photos.  Here I found a photo from the 1900s of her current condo building, which used to be a men’s clothing store.  The photo features Ford Model T’s and fashionable men shoppers.  I had it printed in an 8×10 using mpix for $10 and bought a beautiful frame at Ikea for $10.  For under $20 I gave a gift that meant the world to her.

1900: Dunlap Clothes Shop at 4th and Vine Street Cincinnati, OH

For my brother’s 40th birthday, I researched the land where my brother’s house sits.  Knowing it is a stones throw from George Washington’s home on Mount Vernon Plantation. I found his neighborhood is situated on what was River Farm, one of five farms comprising the Mount Vernon Plantation.  Dating back to 1754, I was able to develop a timeline for all of the owners since George Washington.  I even found a map George Washington drew of the land on which his home property sits.  For about $20 I made a book out of my findings on Apple.  You can check out this project here:

For Mike

1793:  George Washington’s drawing of his farms at Mount Vernon including the land where my brother’s house currently sits.

Recommendations:

So how can you do this?  While every area will have local resources, here are some tips to start you off:

1. Start by googling your address
2. Check out neighborhood website
3. Search your areas historical archives
4. Search your area newspaper websites
5. Check out area zoning applications and permits
6. Review tax records
7. Look at city directories and telephone books
8. Go to the library and review photo archives
9. Contact area archivists- most are willing to help at no charge

Happy hunting!

Cost:

To showcase your finds:

• Create books using iPhoto for around $20
• Print photos and other documents for a few cents or dollars and put in a frame.  I recommend mpix for printing needs and these Ikea Ribba frames that have a nice matting.