The research desk
Research tools Every clue is true. Pick a trail and start digging.
Old maps, old names, old papers and the know-how to read them: 40 free tools for the St. Joseph River valley, in seven trails. No sign-up, nothing to install.
Not sure where to start? Answer three questions and the record finder shows where to look.
Coming to the valley to dig? Plan a research trip: who holds what, and a day on Broadway.
Just exploring? See what the records have given up so far.
Trail 1 · 10 tools
Maps & places
Old maps laid over new streets, a town in 3D and the whole river valley in LiDAR. Start with where.
- The map roomWalk every inch of the 1860 wall map of Cass, Van Buren and Berrien counties, from the Library of Congress.
- Seven towns, then and nowOld town plans laid over today’s streets, each with a renamed street to find.
- Broadway in 3DWalk Broadway in Cassopolis in 3D: the shops of 1909, old postcards to look through, and VR on a headset.
- The valley in LiDARThe whole St. Joseph River watershed in 3D from laser survey, with lost towns to find.
- Sanborn fire-insurance sheetsThe fire-insurance maps that drew every building, its walls and its roof, block by block.
- The gazetteerEvery town, village and township on the trail, each linked to the old map it appears on.
- Lost towns of the valleyTowns that were platted, named and then left behind: why they began and what became of them.
- How the towns got their namesHow the towns got their names, from the record and not the legend.
- Roads, rails and millsCanals, plank roads, bridges, railroads and mills, in the order they came.
- Old postcards & photosOld postcards and photographs of the valley towns, each linked to the library that holds it.
Trail 2 · 5 tools
Find a person
Directories, rolls, graves and family registers: the trail that leads to one name.
- Who was in townSearch the old business directories and rolls by surname, trade and town.
- The record finderAnswer three questions and see where to look for a person: census, deeds, probate, papers.
- Find a grave or an obituaryBurial records, obituary indexes and death certificates, county by county.
- Soldiers of the valleyThe men of Company D, Sixth Michigan Infantry, raised at Dowagiac in 1861.
- Family historiesFamily registers and full histories, built from the records with every gap shown honestly.
Trail 3 · 6 tools
Records & sources
Where the papers are kept, which books to trust, and one old page read slowly every month.
- Where the records areThe free archives, newspapers, maps and collections to search first, near and far.
- The sources shelfEvery county history, map and archive we draw on, where to read it free and how far to trust it.
- The libraries behind the storiesThe libraries, archives and collections behind the stories, and which stories use each one.
- Document of the monthOne real page, read slowly, every month.
- Newspaper of the monthOne page of an old valley paper, read slowly: prices, notices and the news of the day.
- This day in the valleyWhat happened in the valley on this day: first trains, fires, charters and dedications.
Trail 4 · 7 tools
How-to guides & tools
The workbench: guides to old hands, certificates and stones, and tools that run in your browser.
- The research toolkitA faded-ink enhancer, an age-at-death calculator, a Soundex finder, a cousin calculator and more.
- Reading old handwritingThe long s, ye, inst. and ult., double dates and other tricks of old hands, with a quiz.
- Reading a death certificateTap each box of a death certificate to see who filled it in and how far to trust it.
- Reading old gravestonesCarved symbols, ages and abbreviations, and how to read a worn stone without harming it.
- Field notes from the deskHow the desk works, one note at a time.
- Scrollsigns: weighing evidenceThe nine marks on every statement, from Document to Hypothesis: what the record says and what is argued.
- The glossaryProbate, relict, plat, informant, ahnentafel: the words of old records in plain English.
Trail 5 · 3 tools
Research in person
Leave the screen behind. Plan the day, find the reading rooms, and stamp your passport on the way.
- Plan a research trip NewWhat to search at home first, who holds what, a sample day in Cassopolis and what to bring.
- Museums, libraries & archivesMuseums, historic houses, reading rooms and archives across the valley, on a map with a trip planner.
- Your passportStamp every museum, walk stop and festival by standing there, and earn your certificate.
Trail 6 · 7 tools
Stories & findings
What the records have given up so far, the legends put to the test, and the valley’s own stories.
- Discoveries: what we’ve foundNew findings from the original records: facts not found in any earlier published history.
- Family legendsName changes, famous ancestors, three brothers, burned courthouses: test a family legend.
- Lore and legendsMonsters, serpents, ghosts and warnings, each taken back to the oldest record and tested.
- Made in the ValleyStoves, lures, wagons, plows, horns and guitars: the valley’s makers and where to see their work.
- HeirloomsA cabinet of family heirlooms still kept in the valley, shown with their owners’ yes.
- Valley VoicesReaders’ stories, unnamed old photographs to identify, and a question answered each month.
- Share your storyTell us a family memory, a building, a photograph or a correction. Nothing is published without your yes.
Trail 7 · 2 tools
For teachers & families
Ready lessons for the classroom and a hunt for young surveyors.