Chapter 21. My research list

Part 3. Doing more.

Much of a land's history is kept in offices: deed books at the county, estate files at the state archives, old photographs at a historical society. My research list turns those into errands, grouped by place, so that one trip covers several questions. Its top line says so: "Grouped by place, so one trip can cover several questions."

Filling it

A new list is empty, and says how to fill it: "Use "Add to my research list" in "If you're hooked" or in the report's appendix." Those buttons appear on your own reports, beside the steps in "If you're hooked" and beside each place in the appendix's "Where the rest is kept." Once the list has something on it, My research list, with its count, appears in the row of controls. It is always in the menu This report.

What is on it

Each place has its name; its street address, telephone and website, where it has them; and its hours, "checked on the office's own page" with a date, or "Hours not yet checked" (then call ahead). Each errand under it has a box to tick, "Ask for:", "Bring:", "Cost:" ("Free" or "Ask about fees"), a line headed "What I found:", and Remove.

Taking it on a trip

Touch Print this list. It prints with boxes to tick and lines to write on. Once loaded, the page stays readable on your phone even with no signal, which helps in a courthouse basement.

In the sample report

The sample's menu offers My research list, but the list stays empty, because the sample has no Add to my research list buttons. Its first step in "If you're hooked" names where the first errand would be: the Polk County Clerk's deed records, in Dallas.

From the farm's own history (not in the sample report)

The farm's own history found a head start for that errand: the 1993 survey of the farm cites an earlier county survey and three easements by book and page, which tell the clerk exactly where to begin. Knowing Your Land, Chapter 22, tells the rest.¹

Figure 21.1. My research list on a phone, for the area history made for this manual: the top of the list (left) and its last place (right). Errands are grouped by place, with hours, what to ask for, what to bring and a line for what you found.

Notes

Partition Plat No. 1993-0029, June 24, 1993, Polk County survey CS 12769, as described in A History of the Land: The Story of the Sullivan Tree Farm near Pedee, Polk County, Oregon (October 2026), "Next steps for this property." ↩