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From YouTube: CharlotteHistoryToolkit.com video overview
Description
13 minute video takes you through the Toolkit, showing how to find nuggets of historical info, then weave them together into a story. Become a history detective!
A
Hello,
I'm
Tom
Hansen
community
historian,
here
in
Charlotte,
North
Carolina,
with
a
quick
introduction
to
the
Charlotte
history
tool,
kit.com.
It's
a
set
of
tools,
tips
and
weblinks
for
exploring
the
history
of
where
you
live:
J,
Michael,
Moore
and
I
developed
the
toolkit
with
help
from
the
Robinson
Spangler
Carolina
room.
It's
the
history,
Resource
Center
down
at
the
Charlotte
Mecklenburg
library,
gah,
didn't
address
you're
curious
about
maybe
your
own
address
or
a
neighborhood
name
or
a
street
name
or
the
name
of
a
local
person
back
in
the
day.
A
Charlotte
history
toolkit
shows
how
that
one
nugget
of
knowledge,
a
name
and
address,
is
something
that
you
can
use
to
find
other
nuggets.
Other
clues
put
together
those
clues,
those
bits
of
information
and
you
can
build
a
story.
We
call
that
being
a
history.
Detective
here
are
the
toolkits
five
big
pieces
of
information.
We
give
you
a
sense
of
what
each
is
about
and
if
you
click
on
in
any
of
those
will
give
you
written
step-by-step
instructions,
and/or
a
video
so
that
you
learn
how
to
use
newspapers,
city
directories,
plat
maps,
deeds
or
building
permits.
A
Let's
start
at
the
top
here
at
the
FAQ
section,
the
frequently
asked
questions,
one
of
those
questions
that
we
get
a
lot
where
can
I
find
photos
of
my
house
or
neighborhood
turns
out
it's
harder
than
you
might
wish,
but
the
information
as
best
as
we
can
give
it
is
here,
does
a
written
history
of
my
neighborhood
already
exist
online.
That
is
a
happy
question.
If
you
live
in
one
of
the
older
neighborhoods
near
the
center
city,
many
of
Charlotte's
pre-world
War,
two
neighborhoods
do
already
have
written
histories.
A
Landmarks,
historic
districts,
maybe
you're
in
one,
maybe
you're
near
one-
maybe
a
textile
mill
village
has
been
designated
and
you're
in
a
textile
mill
village
somewhere
else
poking
around
in
that
would
be
a
useful
thing
as
well.
This
section
on
books
about
Charlotte
history,
us
suburban
history,
architectural
history
book
specifically
about
my
neighborhood,
my
part
of
Charlotte,
again
more
of
those
than
you
might
expect,
and
what
other
sorts
of
primary
resources
are
around.
A
Alright,
let's
take
a
look
at
the
newspaper
part
of
the
Charlotte
history,
toolkit
newspapers,
the
Charlotte
Observer
in
particular,
have
been
digitized
back
to
the
1880s
completely
word
searchable,
thanks
to
Charlotte,
Mecklenburg
public
library.
All
you
need
is
a
library
card,
we'll
show
you
how
to
get
one
here.
They
are
free
if
you
are
our
resident
of
Mecklenburg
County
and
then
click
on
the
link
to
delve
in
and
of
course,
there
are
videos
and
step-by-step
instructions
to
help
you
with
that.
What
do
you
turn
up
in
the
newspaper?
A
Well,
if
you
have
an
address,
you'll
find
something
about
the
address.
If
you
have
a
neighborhood
name,
you'll
find
something
about
the
neighborhood
name.
Person's
name
on
the
right
are
some
advertisements
that
Mike
Moore
turned
up
in
his
work.
Folks
at
Reed,
Park
out
on
West
Boulevard,
said
find
out
about
our
neighborhood
and
he
park.
There's
the
original
ad
for
land
sale
for
colored
people,
Reed
Park
was
an
african-american
neighborhood
from
the
very
beginning
and
it's
part
of
the
Ross
Reed
farm
Ross
Reed
was
an
early
African
American
real
estate
developer.
A
Here's
an
ad
that
says:
that's
no
closing
costs,
no
down
payment,
follow
that
clue
and
you
end
up
learning
about
the
GI
Bill,
the
help
that
was
given
to
veterans
after
World
War,
two
to
buy
houses
here
in
Charlotte
and
nationwide,
so
newspapers,
good
place
to
start
city
directories
also
very
good
places
to
start
whether
you
have
a
name
or
an
address.
City
directory
comes
out
every
year,
it's
a
little
bit
like
the
old
fashioned
phonebook.
Remember
those
said
new
directory
has
a
street
section
and
also
an
alphabetical
section
listing
reverence
residences
and
businesses.
A
Alphabetically
by
name
will
tell
you
how
to
use
each
of
those
sections.
There's
the
street
section.
There's
the
alphabetical
section.
Here's
a
a
woman
named
Undine
graft
a
great
name.
She
was
the
widow
of
Charles
E
graft,
there's
where
she
lived.
How
about
Kenneth
Greg,
there's
his
wife
Edna.
He
was
a
Traffic
Manager
at
the
quartermaster
Depot,
which,
if
you
follow
that
nugget
turns
out
to
be
a
world
war.
Two
installation
now
known
as
Camp
North
End
here
in
Charlotte.
A
So,
along
with
city
directories,
another
thing
to
check
plat
maps
and
deeds,
plat
maps
and
deeds.
Both
are
things
that
you
find
using
a
county
database
that
keeps
track
of
every
single
piece
of
property
in
Mecklenburg
County.
What
can
you
find
from
a
plat
map?
Well,
you
may
never
have
heard
of
a
plat
map,
but
they
are
something
that
a
sub
developer
developer
rather
is
required
to
file
every
time
they
lay
out
a
new
subdivision.
A
What
do
you
find
subdivision
name?
This
is
Mike
Moore's
neighborhood.
Today
it's
considered
part
of
Dilworth,
but
then
it
was
a
separate
subdivision
known
as
Sunset
Hills,
the
owner
of
the
land
did
was
developed
by
the
south
side.
Land
company
follow
that
through
the
city
directory
date,
the
neighborhood
was
laid
out.
Various
other
kinds
of
clues
here
is
an
adjacent
land-use,
Clark,
Griffith
ballpark.
A
Today,
that's
a
Lowe's
home
improvement
store,
but
back
in
the
day
it
was
a
minor
league
baseball
park.
How
cool
is
that
deeds?
The
other
information
that
you
can
find
through
that
County
database,
every
single
piece
of
property
has
a
deed,
not
just
for
the
current
owner,
but
for
all
of
the
past
owners.
They
show
you
the
seller,
the
date
of
the
sale,
a
buyer
and
a
reference
to
an
earlier
sale.
A
Not
all
of
the
deeds
will
be
listed
on
that
database,
but
if
you
have
the
earliest
deed,
you
can
take
that
book
and
page
and
find
the
previous
need.
That's
something
called
chain
of
title
chaining,
the
title
back
in
time.
We
also
tell
you
about
restrictive
covenants.
Some
deeds
have
restrictions
about
what
kind
of
use
can
be
on
the
property
who
can
live
there?
What
kind
of
buildings
can
be
built
and
finding
those
and
understanding
them
or
something
you
can
find
out
through
Charlotte
history
tool?
A
Kit.Com,
our
last
section
looks
at
building
permits,
probably
a
little
less
useful
in
terms
of
the
clues
that
they
provide
and
also
a
little
harder
to
get
at
building
permits
have
not
yet
been
digitized.
You
have
to
go
to
the
Carolina
room
at
the
public
library.
All
the
building
permits
up
to
1985
within
the
City
of
Charlotte
are
on
file
there.
A
building
permit
will
tell
you
a
builder
property
owner
date
of
construction,
and
the
older
permits
will
also
sometimes
also
tell
you
about
additions.
A
May
even
tell
you
about
an
architect
and
floor,
a
piece
of
property,
so
we've
got
all
liens
clues.
How
do
you
put
them
together
to
make
a
story?
We
have
a
sample
story
that
shows
you
how
to
be
a
history
detective,
how
to
combine
those
clues.
This
is
the
Oakland,
our
neighborhood
near
Johnson,
C
smith
University,
and
they
asked
me
to
put
together
a
neighborhood
history,
so
Oakland
Park,
okay,
that's
a
name.
A
I
went
to
the
Charlotte
Observer
and
lo
and
behold
there
is
the
very
first
ad
1954
for
Oakland
Park
colored,
another
neighborhood
african-american
from
the
very
beginning
developed
by
the
urban
construction
company.
So
we've
got
a
couple
of
different
things
to
follow,
and
it's
not
just
one
advertisement.
A
Here's
the
open
house-
and
this
is
from
the
first
house
that
was
built
in
the
neighborhood-
here's
an
article
about
why
it
was
great
to
buy
in
the
neighborhood
children
have
no
trouble
getting
to
school
in
Oakland,
Park,
very
walkable,
neighborhood,
so
you're
beginning
to
get
a
sense
of
what
it
was
like
to
live.
There
plaque
Maps,
all
right,
Charles
Ervin
laid
out
the
streets,
but
exactly
what
streets
were
included
in
Oakland
Park
here
you
go
and
I
knew
some
of
them,
but
I
didn't
know
one
called
miles
court.
A
So,
okay,
now
I've
got
a
street
name.
So
I
go
to
the
city
directory
looking
up
miles
court
here
it
is
in
1958.
Most
of
the
houses
are
still
under
construction
by
1959.
Most
of
the
houses
are
built
up.
So
I've
already
learned
something
one
of
the
older
residents
on
the
street.
One
of
the
longer-term
residents
is
Reverend
Raymond
Worsley.
Well,
let's
look
not
in
the
street
section
now,
but
in
the
alphabetical
section
and
see
if
he
turns
up.
Yes,
he
does
wherever
in
Raymond
Worsley
his
wife
was
Magnolia.
A
He
was
an
instructor
at
Johnson,
C
smith
University.
So
now
we
know
he's
not
just
a
minister,
but
also
a
college.
Professor
and
Magnolia
is
listed
separately.
Not
all
city
directories
did
this,
but
some
of
them
would
list
separately
a
woman
who
worked
outside
the
home
which,
in
the
50s
pretty
big
deal
in
America.
She
worked
as
a
nurse
at
the
Northwest
medical
clinic.
A
So
we've
got
a
lot
of
clues
to
follow
now
back
to
the
newspapers,
let's
plug
in
Raymond
Worsley,
and
there
he
is.
He
was
one
of
the
first
african-americans
nationally
in
the
Marine
Corps
Wow
deeds,
yep
they're
the
deeds
turns
out
the
family
owned
that
piece
of
property.
Well
over
half
a
century
that
tells
you
something
about
a
neighborhood
and
building
permits
on
the
left
is
Urban's
original
permit
for
that
house
on
miles.
A
Court
on
the
right
is
an
addition
that
Raymond
Worsley
added
in
1974
and
it's
a
rear
addition
to
be
used
as
a
den
a
little
tiny
piece
of
information,
but
it
enriches
our
story.
So
what
you
do
is
you
weave
all
of
those
together
and
we
did
that
in
a
short
form
here
for
Oakland
Park,
giving
you
a
sense
of
what
you
can
take
just
out
of
those
pieces.