Local History

Types of Local History Records

With so many types of records available, it is difficult to ascertain what you may get from each type of record.  This list provides a brief overview of the types of records and resources you may uncover during your research. 

Cemetery Records

Cemetery records can provide birth and death dates, locations, and, occasionally, relationships to other people or service in the military or organizations. 

Census Records

Census records provide wide-ranging information about households.  However, this information varies by census year.  In general, census records may tell you who lived in a household, their ages and relationships to each other, occupations, and whether or not they owned property.  The census was first taken in the United States in 1790, and the most recent information available at this time is census year 1930 due to privacy restrictions. 

Church/Religious Records

Church/religious records encompass birth, death, marriages, membership lists and much more. 

Directories

City or suburban directories provide information about where people lived and their occupations.  They also detail where businesses were located in a given year.  Information for Henrietta, New York first appeared in the suburban directories in the 1950s. 

Family Histories

In some cases, family histories are uncovered that were compiled by previous generations of people, complete with charts.  Be sure to double-check and verify all of the information compiled by other persons. 

Images

Images and other visual works can show you what people, places and things looked like, but also describe the conditions of the time. 

Immigration Records

Immigration records can provide information about when persons came into the United States and from where.

Maps

Maps can provide information about migration patterns, boundaries, old place names, and much more. 

Military Records

There are many types of military records.  Some provide information about the dates of service, rank, and unit for a serviceperson, or detail injuries and death. 

Newspapers

Newspapers provide for obituaries, marriages, and birth notices, and local news.  They can set the framework for what was happening in a particular place where ones family lived. 

Oral Histories

Interviews with persons capture wide-ranging or specific events and reflections on periods of time in history.

Vital Records

Vital records include birth, death, marriage and divorce records.  Many of these types of records are held by local government offices.