2 min readMaps, land & buildings
Historic preservation
A concise guide to significance, fabric, change and the stewardship of historic places.
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Discover a placeSUBJECT COLLECTION · 7 ARTICLES
Maps, land & buildings
Connect mapped places to the records of their use. Compare boundaries, ownership, proposals and surviving fabric across time.
Begin with these articles
2 min read4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Reading historical maps as evidence
A practical method for interpreting purpose, scale, omissions and change across historical maps without mistaking a map for neutral territory.
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4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Researching a historic building
A step-by-step research plan for connecting physical fabric, ownership, occupancy, design, alteration and community history.
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4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Researching land and deed records
A chain-of-title workflow that separates federal land entry, patent, local deed, tax and map evidence while preserving legal descriptions.
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4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Researching tax and assessment rolls
A practical method for reading owners, occupants, parcels and valuations across changing local tax systems—and for knowing what a roll cannot prove.
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4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Researching with fire insurance maps
How to decode sheet indexes, construction symbols, pasted revisions and edition changes without treating an insurance map as a neutral site survey.
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4 min readMaps, land & buildings
Researching building permits and plans
A permit-first workflow for tracing applications, approvals, inspections and plans while separating proposed work from construction that actually occurred.
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