Photo by John Bower           Researching Your House History   Do you live in an interesting or historic home? Researching the history of a house in Muncie is a popular endeavor at the Local History & Genealogy Center. We have several resources to assist you with your research including city directories, deeds, newspapers, court documents, census records and more.   Getting Started   Visit the Assessor's Office at the Delaware County Courthouse. You want to establish a 'chain of title' using plat books (Sidwell maps)and property record books. The Auditor's office will have the transfer and tract books as well as Sidwell maps.   Visit the Local History & Genealogy Center   After you have obtained all the records available, you will be ready to start your research at the Local History & Genealogy Center. A good place to begin would be the Muncie city directories. They can be searched by address. After you have the names of former owners, you may also want to search census records, deeds, obituaries, birth, death and marriage indexes. In addition, you could search our cemetery indexes, tax and naturalization records, county histories, yearbooks and family files.   We have Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Muncie on microfilm that may have information on the architecture of the house. Your house history can be a fun and interesting topic to research. Your research may turn up a little, a lot or somewhere in between.

Other repositories in the area that you may wish to visit:     Ball State University Archives & Special Collections     Minnetrista Cultural Center     Delaware County Historical Society     Delaware County Courthouse

   If you need special accommodations to participate in or enjoy Muncie Public Library programs or services, please contact the Accessibility Hotline. Email to aknoblock@munpl.org or phone 747-8228. The Library requires a one week notice to provide interpreters or other reasonable accommodations. For comments or questions about this web site please email webmaster@munpl.org