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Books & Videos

Every piece of land has a story. Watch a short film, read a book beside your computer, or check what a county office charges for copies. Everything here is free to watch, read online or download, with no account or sign-up.

1. Watch: videos and sample stories

• The 5-minute walkthrough (5:00 · captions built in · by Dr. Dave Sullivan): choose your state, find your tax lots, and open your Land File.
• The Ground Beneath the Names: The Missing Middle in America’s Land History (3:38 · by Dr. Dave Sullivan): the gap between the big archives and individual landowners.
• YourLand in 10 Days, and the Next Two Years (2:37 · by Dr. Dave Sullivan & the Builder Crew): how a Dave-directed crew of AI models took YourLandHistory.org from idea to live site in about ten days, and Argon’s forecast for 2028.
• All videos → New videos are added there the day they’re published.

2. Read and download: the companion manual

The companion manual for this site is free to read here and free to download.

The User’s Manual: How to Make and Read Your Own Property Report

Dr. Dave Sullivan · YourLandHistory.org. A practical guide to using YourLandHistory.org, with 45 screenshots to help you follow the instructions beside your computer, from finding your land to reading the finished report. Incorporates the land-history research methodology developed by Dr. Bob Zybach and Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (ORWW).

Read online · PDF (3.8 MB) · EPUB (4.7 MB)
Edition 1.1, October 2026. This copy: October 10, 2026.

Manual details, formats and citations →

3. By state: working state research guides

Guides for each state where Land Files are open. Every line is tagged with how it was checked and when: automatic (the site does it), follow this link, ask an office (with addresses and fees), or not verified (still being checked). Version 1.0, sources checked October 13, 2026.

• Oregon guide: the Willamette Meridian and school sections 16 and 36; BLM survey plats and first patents; Polk and Benton assessor records; Library of Congress newspapers; county clerk addresses, hours and copy fees. Word · Word, large print · PDF
• Utah guide: the Salt Lake and Uintah Special meridians; school sections 2, 16, 32 and 36 (1894 Enabling Act, § 6); the statewide UGRC parcel layer (CC BY 4.0); a live SITLA trust-land check; Utah, Washington and Salt Lake County recorder addresses and fees. Word · Word, large print · PDF
• All state guides and what’s coming: Washington in January 2027, a North Carolina pilot in the second quarter of 2027.

4. How-to help

• Quick Start: the 5-minute walkthrough and the first steps.
• The User’s Manual: step by step, with screenshots.
• Everything we can look for and coverage by state and county.

5. Research method & educational partner

• Oregon Websites and Watersheds Project (ORWW) and NW Maps Co.: Dr. Bob Zybach developed the foundational LandHistory research method.
• America’s School Trust Library and The School Sections: Dr. Dave Sullivan founded and leads America’s School Trust Library, preserving the records of public school-trust lands.

Choosing a format, citing, and corrections

Read online opens the book in your browser, one chapter at a time. PDF keeps the page layout, for reading on a screen or printing. EPUB lets you change the text size on a phone, tablet or e-reader. The state guides also come in Word and Word, large print, for printing a checklist to take to a county office.

Proposed reuse terms, not yet adopted. You may copy and share these books for any noncommercial purpose, as long as you credit the authors and do not change them (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0). Some pictures belong to others and are not covered by these terms; Picture sources, at the back of each book, lists them. Each book’s page gives a citation you can copy.

Corrections and additions: hello@yourlandhistory.org. Each correction goes into the next version, and the version line shows which copy you have.