Last Updated on March 20, 2024
Tracing your home’s history can be fun and rewarding. Personally, I love it. I’ve been slowly gathering information on my old house’s background for about 2 years. And love all the things, even the little tidbits, I’ve uncovered so far about my house. (I detail my journey in my Beginner’s Guide to Tracing the History of Your House).
Maybe you own an old house, but diving into old archives and records doesn’t sound like a good time. Or maybe you conducted some research and have hit a brick wall in your research and you need some professional help. Or maybe you want to give a house history as a gift to a loved one. There are trained professionals out there that can help. But where exactly do you find a professional house historian?
What is a Professional House Historian?
Before we dive into actually finding a house historian (also known as a house genealogist), let’s first discuss what exactly one does. In general, a qualified, professional house historian will dive deep into various historical records, identify visual clues, interview the right people and create a report detailing your home’s history.
These folks know where all the random historical records are located – both online as well as records collecting dust deep in the library archives. They can tease out little tidbits of knowledge from places that the average homeowner doesn’t even know exist. But they know more than just where the records are. They understand the information in context with history and can connect the records to make a coherent story about our homes.
In other words, according to Tina Rae, the genealogist behind RootzFinder, “a professional knows where to look, how to look, and what to do with what they find.”
They have the time, knowledge, and skills to create a beautiful, illustrative narrative of your home’s history. And some, like Paul Kelsey Williams at Kelsey & Associates can locate living relatives of past owners of your house and access picture and stories not available in any public archives. (As a side note, if live in the Washington DC area, follow Pauls’ blog The House History Man).
Where Do You Find these House Historians?
Good question! I’d like to pose 2 good resouces for finding these house genealogists.
1. Local Historical Societies or Commissions
Local historical societies and commissions are a treasure trove of information. If you don’t want to do history research yourself, they can likely point you in the direction of a professional house historian who performs house history research services.
Need to find your local historical society of commission? A basic websearch of “Historical Society” or “Historical Commission” including your town’s name should suffice. But if it doesn’t, here’s a few online resources:
- Wikipedia maintains a List with Links to State, County and Local Historical Societies. But don’t fret if you don’t see your town listed – mine wasn’t and I know that it exists.
- PreservationDirectory.com is a huge online resource for historic preservation, building restoration and cultural resource management in the United States & Canada. They maintain a few databases listed below that might point you in the right direction. Unlike Wikipedia, these databases included my town’s local groups.
- Historical Societies and Preservation groups – over 4,500 groups listed
- State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) contact info for each state
- Tribal Historic Preservation Officers specific to tribal historic lands
- Certified Local Government Commissions
- Downtown and Main Street Revitalization Organizations
2. Everyday Old House’s Professional House Historian Database
I believe that one of the great joys of living in an old house is learning about its history. Knowing your house’s history gives homeownership a richer experience and deeper love for your home. For some, discovering that house history will involve hiring a professional to conduct the research. For others, it will be a DIY project that will be a rewarding journey.
So to inspire other average old house owners to discover their home’s background but don’t have the time or energy to perform it yourself, I’ve created the Professional House Historian and Genealogist Contact Database in a Google Doc.
Click HERE to access the database.
This database lists almost 100 professional genealogists across the nation, representing about 33 states. When available (I found all this information on the web), I’ve listed their Company Name, Website, Address, email and telephone numbers.
Side note – if your state isn’t listed, try a genealogist in a neighboring state. Several of them will work in other states. One listing, Legacy Tree Genealogists based in Utah, has a network a genealogists giving the capability to work across the nation.
Based on a skim of these professionals, many provide a wide range of genealogy services, with house histories being only one. For some, house histories are their business’s focus, while others focus on more traditional genealogy but have the ability and skills to research houses.
Note two items that must be stressed about this database.
- This database is specific to the professional genealogists located just in the US.
- I’m an average homeowner with an average blog. I have no affiliation with any of the professionals (which means I make no commissions if you use this database). Since I am just an average homeowner who hasn’t qualified these individuals, I make no guarantees about the quality of their service. Therefore, I recommend that like any contractor working on your home, perform your due diligence before hiring.
This database is current as of Fall 2019. If you have any updates or changes, please contact me. If you are a house historian and see your name listed, please reach out and say Hi! And if you are a house historian and don’t see your name listed, also reach out with your contact info and I will add you to the database.
Who is Listed in this House Historians and Genealogy Database?
Where did I find these professionals to include in my database? From the three main sources below:
1. Association of Professional Genealogists (APG)
The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) is an international organization dedicated to “supporting those engaged in the business of genealogy through advocacy, collaboration, education, and the promotion of high ethical standards.”
Founded in 1979, this non-profit organization has grown to nearly 2,800 members. It’s principal purpose is to support professional genealogists in all phases of their work: from the amateur genealogist wishing to turn knowledge and skill into a vocation, to the experienced professional seeking to exchange ideas with colleagues and to upgrade the profession as a whole.
I utilized their search database and filtered out professional located within the United States who identified themselves as House Historians.
2. Home History Book
Note: As of March 2024, this website was not long working – https://homehistorybook.com
Two brothers, Mike and Dan Hiestand, started an interesting business back in 2007. They created the Home History Book™ which is heirloom-quality journal that, unlike a family’s personal scrapbook or photo album, is meant to stay with a house as a permanent record of its past history and present stories.
I love the idea behind their product. The below excerpt is taken directly from their website:
“Believing that every house has a story, Houstory Publishing has designed its book to serve two important functions: First, it provides homeowners who wish to research the history of their home an attractive and lasting medium to record and share their findings with others. Second, it helps them document and record their own stories — their living history. This includes information about both the home’s physical structure and changes that may occur over the years and — perhaps more importantly — about their own family’s time in the home. It is this personal history — the stories of a family’s everyday life and/or significant events that occur while living in the home — that give a home its unique character and feel.”
Their web site also contains a database of professional home genealogists. I’ve folded their list into my database and updated where needed. (For example, some folks no longer have websites or have retired from the business)
3. Social Media and Websearch
As I’ve been learning how to research the history of my house, I’ve sought out professional house historians to learn more. I feel that I’ve tackled the basic concepts of researching house histories. But I want to learn more advanced tips and tricks so I can dive deeper into the research. And how do I do that? By following professionals through their blogs and websites or via social media.
And it’s worked. For example, by reading Marian Pierre-Louis’s blog The Northeast House Historian, a house historian based in my area, I discovered a new online database that contains deed records for my county for dates I didn’t know existed before. It will save me a trip into the city to my Registry of Deeds.
And sometimes, I get an unexpected jolt of inspiration and motivation to resume my research while following sisters Chris & Linda from History Attic Research on Instagram. I love seeing their progress of their latest and greatest project and what they uncover.
Want to lean more? Be inspired more? Check out these posts:
- 5 Compelling Reasons to Discover the History of Your Old House
- 5 Best Historical Maps for Researching Old Houses
- Beginner’s Guide to Tracing the History of Your Old House
Related Posts
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