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City Directories list the names, addresses, and occupations of adult residents of a city or town, and usually list businesses and addresses as well. Directories are usually organized both
alphabetically by last name as well as addresses by street, so the history of the property can be traced through its address, not just through its owner. Note that addresses and street names change over time. City directories are often found in county and city historical societies or
libraries and are also available at the Tennessee State Library and Archives. The TSLA website (http://www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/tslahome.htm) also links to libraries state wide.
Published town or county histories, though of widely varying quality, often provide valuable
information on the development of a city, town, or county. Often found in local library.
The US Census, available for every year ending in "0" from 1790 to 1920 (except 1890), provides information about individual households, including the head and size of the household and also (beginning in 1850) information about every individual living in a household, including his of her birthplace, occupation, education, and amount of property owned. The Tennessee census records are available on microfilm at the Tennessee State Library and Archives.
Newspapers can provide rewarding information if you have the time and patience to review them. Because they are usually not indexed, you may have difficulty finding information related to your search. They are most valuable if you can identify a very small period of time to
research or a specific date. Newspapers could yield information about the owner or occupant of the building, the construction or opening of public buildings, churches, or businesses, or
major events such as floods, fires, hurricanes, of other local disasters that might have changed the built environment. Newspapers are usually available in county or university libraries, and
local libraries or historical societies, usually on microfilm.
Existing research, such as historic resource surveys and National Register nominations might
include your building and offer information about its history in addition to an architectural
description of the building.
Additional sources may be also available for the building you are researching. The information you have discovered from the sources listed above will help guide more detailed research
using family or personal papers, family histories, wills or probate records, historic photographs, church histories, business records or tax information.
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