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This method is general guidance for work in the United States. The repositories, newspaper runs, map sheets, access rules, and potential interviewees will depend on the town, jurisdiction, building, and date you choose.
Begin with a question narrower than “What happened?”
A bounded question keeps a project manageable and tells you which records to seek. You might ask:
- What burned, and when was the fire first discovered?
- How did the fire affect the surrounding block or institution?
- What decisions did officials, owners, or residents make during the response and rebuilding?
- How did people who lived through the event remember it, and how did those memories change over time?
Write the question at the top of a working file, then list every identifier you already know: street address, neighborhood, building or business name, owner, occupants, fire department, approximate date, nearby landmarks, and alternate spellings. An address can be more useful than a modern business name; a former owner’s surname may appear in records even when the business name changed.
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Build a chronology with separate kinds of dates
Do not put every date into one undifferentiated timeline. Keep separate fields for the date of the fire, the date a record was created or published, and the date a later narrator is recalling. This prevents a 1970 interview from being mistaken for a 1908 observation.
| Chronology field | What to record |
|---|---|
| Event date and time | The date and, if established, the time the fire began, was discovered, or was reported under investigation. |
| Source date | When a newspaper, report, photograph, map, minute, or letter was created. |
| Recollection date | When an interview or memoir was recorded, not merely the date being remembered. |
| Later developments | Inspections, court actions, demolition, rebuilding, memorials, or anniversaries that may explain how the story changed. |
Record uncertainty explicitly. “About March 1912” and “reported in the March 14 issue” are different claims and should remain different until another source resolves them.
Identify record creators and the repositories that may hold their files
Ask which organization would have created a record at the moment you are studying. The creator’s purpose shapes what the record can establish. A fire department may document alarms and response, while a newspaper may describe eyewitness impressions and public reaction. A map may show the building’s footprint without saying anything about the fire itself.
| Record creator | Possible material | Questions the material may answer |
|---|---|---|
| Fire department or fire-service agency | Run books, incident reports, annual reports, photographs, equipment or station logs | When the alarm was received, units sent, response conditions, and the department’s contemporaneous account |
| Municipal clerk, council, or mayor’s office | Minutes, ordinances, correspondence, committee files | Official decisions, emergency measures, property actions, and policy changes |
| Building, inspection, or code office | Permits, inspection files, violation notices, demolition or rebuilding records | Construction history, code concerns, and what happened to the site afterward |
| Police or emergency services | Reports, dispatch records, photographs, investigative files | Scene management, witnesses, injuries, or investigations, subject to privacy and access rules |
| Property owner, business, or insurer | Ledgers, correspondence, inventories, claims, photographs, plans | Occupancy, contents, financial loss, and rebuilding decisions |
| Local newspaper | Daily issues, photographs, editorials, corrections, follow-up stories | Public chronology, named participants, estimates, debate, and later developments |
| Community or civic organization | Minutes, newsletters, scrapbooks, fundraising files, oral-history collections | Neighborhood impact, relief efforts, and community interpretation |
This is a list of possibilities, not a promise that every town preserved every series. The Texas State Library and Archives Commission, for example, describes collections that include fire-insurance maps, newspapers, and oral histories; another locality may have different holdings or none at all.
Search catalogs and finding aids before traveling
The National Archives’ “Getting Started Overview” recommends defining the topic, gathering initial information, locating records and descriptions, and then deciding whether an in-person visit is needed. Its “Plan Your Research Visit” guidance also emphasizes identifying record creators, dates, formats, locations, and facility requirements. Apply that sequence locally:
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- Search a repository catalog and online finding aids for the town, county, street, institution, agency, and likely date range.
- Read the collection description, not just the title. A broad “municipal records” entry may contain council minutes but exclude fire-department files.
- Email or call the holding institution with the exact address, alternate names, approximate date, and the record types you want.
- Confirm whether the material is on site, stored off site, digitized, on microfilm, restricted, or available only by appointment.
- Ask about registration, identification, handling rules, reproduction fees, photography, and advance ordering.
- Save the staff member’s answer and the date you received it in your project notes.
Local historical societies, county archives, university special-collections departments, municipal clerks, fire museums, and state libraries may divide the evidence among several locations. One repository’s catalog can also point to a collection that was transferred elsewhere.
How can I find newspaper articles about an old fire?
Use newspapers to establish a public chronology, discover names and addresses, and identify leads for records that may not be digitized. Treat the first article as an initial account rather than a complete explanation: early reports often contain estimates, incomplete casualty information, or statements made before an investigation finished.
Search in widening circles
- Start with the estimated event date and search several days before and after it.
- Use the street address, building name, business name, owner, occupants, neighborhood, and nearby institutions as separate searches.
- Try alternate spellings, abbreviations, former street names, and descriptions such as “warehouse,” “tenement,” “school,” or “mill” when a proper name fails.
- Search for follow-up coverage: investigations, insurance disputes, funerals, rebuilding permits, council action, anniversaries, and corrections.
- Compare more than one publication when possible. A competing paper may identify a witness or challenge an early estimate.
The Library of Congress local-history resources point to digitized historical newspapers and other community sources, but coverage is collection-specific. Check the actual database or repository for its geographic and date range before concluding that no article exists. Some papers are searchable by full text; others require browsing page images or using a card index.
Capture a citation while you work
For every useful article, record the newspaper title, issue date, page and column when available, database or repository, and a stable identifier or image link supplied by that service. Note whether the article is a staff report, an editorial, a reprint, or a later retrospective. If two papers repeat the same wording, they may not be independent observations; look for the original source of the claim.
Can Sanborn maps show what burned down?
Sanborn fire-insurance maps can show the building footprint, construction materials, number of stories, doors, windows, hazards, and neighboring structures for a mapped edition. They are especially useful for locating a site and comparing the block before and after a fire. They do not, by themselves, prove that a particular fire occurred, identify its cause, or measure the damage.
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Find the right edition
- Search the Library of Congress Sanborn map catalog by state and city.
- Inspect the catalog record for edition date, sheet count, additional place names, notes, and any linked digital files.
- Use the address and surrounding streets to identify the sheet covering the property. In some large cities, the Library of Congress volume finder can help identify the relevant atlas volume.
- Compare an edition before the estimated fire with one after it when both exist, noting the years between the map and the event.
- If the sheet is not online, ask the map library or local repository about on-site access, reproductions, or another map series.
The Library of Congress states that its searchable catalog covers the Sanborn collection in the Geography and Map Division. Some public-domain sheets are digitized, while certain 1923–1930 sheets and copyright-restricted material may not be available online. A gap in digital access is not evidence that a map was never made.
Read map evidence conservatively
A map labeled “vacant” after the event may reflect demolition, rebuilding, a mapping delay, or a cartographer’s convention. A changed footprint can suggest a physical change, but it cannot establish exactly when or why it happened. Pair map observations with permits, photographs, newspapers, or inspection records.
Plan and conduct oral histories ethically
Oral histories add experience that administrative records rarely capture: where people were, how they learned of the fire, what it felt like to evacuate, how aid reached them, and how rebuilding affected the community. Memory is shaped by later personal and social context, so an interview is evidence to contextualize and compare, not a replacement for contemporaneous documentation.
Recruit a range of narrators
Seek people whose experiences illuminate different parts of the event: residents, survivors, firefighters, reporters, business owners, archivists, people involved in rebuilding, and neighbors who were affected indirectly. Include perspectives from groups that may have experienced displacement, loss, or access to emergency services differently. Ask each person how they know what they are describing; a firsthand observation, a story heard from a parent, and a newspaper account are distinct forms of evidence.
Prepare without scripting the answer
Read the available context first, but do not feed a supposed fact to the narrator before they have had a chance to recall independently. Open prompts include:
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- “What do you remember next?”
- “Where were you when you learned about the fire?”
- “Who else was there?”
- “Do you recall how you learned that?”
- “What changed afterward?”
- “Has your understanding changed since then?”
Use neutral follow-ups when a detail is unclear. Do not correct a narrator during the interview merely because another source differs; preserve the account, then investigate the discrepancy.
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Obtain informed consent before recording
Explain the project’s purpose, how and where the interview will be recorded, whether the narrator may review it, how it will be preserved, who may access it, and possible future uses such as a documentary, exhibit, website, classroom, or archive. Obtain and document consent before recording. The Oral History Association’s Core Principles describe oral history as a collaborative process and state: “The interview process must be transparent, with ongoing participation, consent, and engagement among all parties from the first encounter between interviewer and narrator to the creation of end products.” — Oral History Association, OHA Core Principles, principle 6.
Document the interview itself
Keep a file containing the interview date, participants, location or remote method, equipment and recording format, consent terms, file names, and related photographs or documents. Ask the receiving archive about preferred formats before you record. A phone or recorder you already own may be adequate if it produces a stable file and you can preserve the original; no particular brand or new device is required.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Compare sources by what they can actually establish
Do not rank a source as automatically true because it is official or firsthand. Evaluate the source’s proximity, purpose, independence, completeness, and limits.
| Comparison axis | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Proximity to the event | Was it created during the response, soon afterward, or years later? |
| Creator and purpose | Was it an official log, news report, personal memory, insurance map, business record, or later institutional history? |
| What it can establish | Does it support chronology, location, physical context, response, material impact, or remembered meaning? |
| Independence | Did two accounts arise from separate observations, or did one simply repeat the other? |
| Access and completeness | Are pages missing, images undigitized, copyright restrictions in force, or memories partial? |
Attribute estimates and disputed facts. If a first-day article says the loss was “believed to be” a certain amount, retain that qualification unless a later document establishes a firmer figure. If two narrators disagree about where the alarm came from, preserve both accounts and identify what other records can test them.
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Preserve the evidence and make every claim traceable
Discuss a preservation plan with a suitable repository before collecting interviews. The Oral History Association’s best-practices guidance recommends choosing a repository that can preserve the files, documenting the materials, planning for access, and considering format obsolescence. Follow that archive’s technical and transfer requirements; keep the original recording and consent documentation organized even after creating access copies.
Maintain a source log
A source log lets another person retrace your work and helps you detect when several accounts derive from one report. For each item, capture:
- Creator or speaker
- Title or description
- Date created or published
- Repository, publication, or collection
- Collection name and call number when available
- Page, image number, or interview timecode
- Access date
- What the item supports and any limitation
Keep notes on searches that produced no result, such as an absent year in a newspaper run or a map sheet that is not digitized. A documented gap is more useful than an unexplained assertion that no record exists.
Separate evidence from interpretation in your writing
Mark the difference between “the fire report records three alarms,” “a 1934 article estimated four alarms,” and “the pattern suggests the fire spread rapidly.” The first two are attributed claims; the third is your inference and should be presented as such. Give readers enough citation detail to locate the original, including a page, image, or timecode whenever one exists.
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- State the place, date range, and question you investigated.
- Describe the event chronology using contemporaneous records first, with qualifications attached to estimates.
- Explain the site and surrounding block with maps, photographs, permits, or inspection records.
- Describe official response and community impact, identifying the creator and purpose of each account.
- Introduce oral-history perspectives with the narrator’s relationship to the event and the interview date.
- Place disagreements next to the claims they qualify rather than hiding them in a final note.
- End with what the combined evidence supports, what remains uncertain, and where readers can consult the preserved materials.
This structure prevents a vivid memory or dramatic headline from becoming the entire narrative. It also lets readers see how a conclusion was reached and where the record remains incomplete.
Quick Recap
What to do when the evidence is missing or conflicts
- No newspaper result: Check neighboring dates, alternate names, page images, other publications, and physical or microfilm holdings. Coverage may be missing from a digital collection even when the paper exists.
- No fire-department file: Ask whether the records were transferred to a municipal archive, county repository, fire museum, or state collection. Annual reports, council minutes, insurance files, and photographs may provide partial substitutes.
- No Sanborn sheet online: Verify the catalog record, then ask about on-site access or other map series. Do not treat digitization status as evidence about the fire.
- Conflicting dates: Keep event date, publication date, and recollection date separate; search follow-up reports, permits, and official minutes for resolution.
- Conflicting memories: Preserve each account, ask how each narrator knows the detail, and compare it with independent records instead of forcing consensus.
- Access restrictions: Ask the repository whether a redacted copy, supervised visit, waiting period, or alternate collection is available. Respect privacy and consent terms.
A repeatable project checklist
- Write one bounded question and define the geographic and date limits.
- Create an identifier sheet with addresses, names, alternate spellings, agencies, and landmarks.
- Start a chronology that distinguishes event, source, and recollection dates.
- List likely record creators and search their catalogs and finding aids.
- Contact repositories to verify holdings, formats, restrictions, and visit requirements.
- Search newspapers systematically and record complete citations as you go.
- Check Sanborn catalog metadata and compare relevant editions cautiously.
- Recruit narrators with varied relationships to the event and prepare open questions.
- Explain recording, review, access, preservation, and future uses; document consent before recording.
- Preserve original files and related documents according to the receiving archive’s requirements.
- Write with attribution, distinguish observation from inference, and retain unresolved differences.
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