2019-11 - Charlotte History Toolkit

Visitors to the Carolina Room often ask for help with researching their house, their street, or their neighborhood. They bring questions like, "Who lived where I do or nearby before I moved in?" "How old is my home?" "What kind of farm land was here before it was developed into residences?"

There are a variety of sources that can help one answer such questions - some on paper, some on microfilm, and some in digital form. Mastering them takes both instruction and practice. Now there is a website - The Charlotte History Toolkit - that introduces these resource to persons eager to research local history. It lists the types of sources available, matches them to the kinds of questions the sources can answer, and gives tips on how to use them.

The Toolkit was developed by Tom Hanchett, the Library's Historian-in-Residence for 2019-2020, and by local historian Michael Moore. They tested it in live presentations before groups of researchers. Carol Sawyer then developed the slides into a full-fledged website. Visit it today! You may be surprised at what you learn.