Resources to check when researching the history of your home
1. Is your home on a national or local registry of historic homes?
If so, ask to see the clipping files for descriptions of these homes:
 Houses – Historic, Grass Valley
 Houses – Historic, Nevada City
 Houses – Historic, Elsewhere
You might also be interested in browsing through these files:
 Buildings, Grass Valley
 Buildings, Miscellaneous
 Buildings, Nevada City
 Nevada City Commemorative Marker Commission
 Nevada City, National Register of Historic Places
2. To find out who has lived in your home, ask the staff to check the “Street Address Database.”
Based on information contained in city directories, this resource may provide you with names
of individuals who have lived in your home. Then, you can research those individuals. See
our separate information sheet on Finding Information About People.
3. Check the Kitts’ index and/or Deeds Index for the year 1856 – 1940s to track the transfer of
title to your home. Then, research those individuals.
4. Assessor books. Organized by year, then township, and then alphabetically by the first letter of
the last name, these books provide information on taxes paid, home improvements, etc.
5. If your home has a “name” (e.g., Stewart House, Mulloy House), check the following
resources:
 Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins (start with the Index).
 Subject card catalog.
 Note that named homes in the Clippings Files are filed under “Houses – Historic.”
6. If your home is (or was) on any of a number of walking tours, look through the following
books:
1
2
3
4
Document1
Title and Author
Nevada City Victorians (Ellie Cassese)
Walking Tour of Historic Downtown Grass Valley (The City of
GV Historical Commission)
The Complete Pedestrians Partially Illustrated Guide to Grass
Valley and Nevada City (Robert Wyckoff)
Walking Tours and Twice-Told Tales of Grass Valley (Robert
Wyckoff)
rev. 6/22/09
Call Number
917.943 CAS
917.943 CIT
917.943 WYC
917.943 WYC
7. Other resources at the Doris Foley Library for Historical Research that you may find helpful in
your research:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Resource
Houses of Gold (John Carden Campbell)
Discovering the History of Your House and Your
Neighborhood (Betsy J. Green)
City Directories from 1856
Telephone Directories from 1910
Map Resource Book (see section on Nevada City for 1850s &
1869)
Sanborn Maps (GV: 1885, 1891; NC: 1885, 1891, 1898, 1912;
Truckee: 1890, 1898)
Nevada County Plat Maps – 1940s. (10 bound volumes of
county area but not cities of GV or NC)
Assessor Books, from 1862 to early 1970s
Location
728.37 CAM
907.2 GRE
Index Shelf
Index Shelf and
“closed stacks”
area
Index Shelf
Index Shelf
Plat Map shelving
near periodicals
Main floor and
basement
Deeds. Check Kitt’s Index first (microfiche index covering
Ask at desk for
July 1856 through January 1922). We have Deed Books #1index. Microfilm
145 (1856-1928 on microfilm and selected hardcopy volumes.) cabinet and
You might also want to check at the Recorders office.
“closed stacks.”
Probate Records, Nevada County. 1856-1956 (on microfilm).
Print Index in
More recent records are available at the Court House.
binders on Index
Shelf. Microfilm
cabinet, drawers 7
& 8.
8. Other, more general books you might want to look through include those listed below. They
include sketches and/or photos of homes and buildings in Nevada County.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Document1
Title and Author
Exploring Nevada County: an Illustrated Guide to Local
Landmarks and Historic Sites
Catalog of Historical Landmarks and dedicated sites in
Nevada County California (Nevada County Historical
Society)
1895 Pictorial History of Nevada County (Prisk, Poingdestre,
Comstock)
1880 History of Nevada County California (Thompson &
West) (index filed at 979.437 COM)
Gold Cities (Morley and Foley)
Nevada County Memories (The Union)
Nevada County Historic Photo Album (Nevada County
Historical Society and The Union)
Historic Sites of the California Mother Lode (Gil Richards)
rev. 6/22/09
Call Number
917.9404 EXP
979.437 COM
979.437 EIG
979.437 HIS
979.437 MOR
979.437. NEV
979.437. NEV
979.437 RIC
Document1
rev. 6/22/09