Experience from the Field:
1/24/2014
It was snowing. I drove to Jefferson street and parked right by 504 E. Jefferson. I got out of the car and took a few pictures of the house when a woman [presumably the woman who lives there] came outside. Dialogue: Woman: Why are you taking pictures? Me: I’m doing a history of the neighborhood for a class project. Is that okay? Woman: Yeah, just curious. Goes back inside.I continued to take some pictures down the block, then turned around, got in the car, and drove away. There were two men who were watching me from across the street. The woman seemed grumpy.
Observations/Research
1/24/2014
I did a little bit of googling and found out that the house was constructed in 1880 and was purchased by Barbara and John D. Gorsline for 70,000 dollars. I suspect that the Gorsline couple rents 504 e. Jefferson out. I looked up Barbara Gorsline and she was not the woman that I saw emerge from the house. There isn’t record of rentals on the property data from Elkhart County, however. The address that Google gave me for the Gorsline couple is 1609 S. 15th St, Goshen, Indiana. I also think the house may be Queen Anne style because of the porch, and the asymmetry, but I will have to look into architectural style further to be sure.
After reading Colleen's comment from my last blog post, I started to think about the historian's role in public records. All of the information that we are researching for this project is public. This blog is public. A public historian's whole career revolves around public information and presentation. I don't feel as bad anymore about researching an individual person's home.
Nice work, glad to see this progress. But you said it was built in 1880 and purchased by the Gorslines - but when did that happen? Are they the last owners? It is amazing what one can do with a little googling! Hope you can get into it more soon and thanks for posting in the docs file! Yes and see what Natalie did to describe the style, tell what makes you think it fits the style(s), what features are characteristic and what do you see here!
ReplyDeleteYes, the "public" nature of all of this is an interesting aspect that we don't normally confront in the classroom!
So, I checked out the other properties owned by the Gorslines on the Elkhart Co. property data site. The owners live on S. 15th St. and own two other homes as rental properties -- yours and one on 8th St., about 10 blocks north of the college. Since the house is so old, I think you'll have a great time with the Sanborn maps! Be sure to look for outbuildings and the division of the lot (though I suspect the division happened later than 1926).
ReplyDeleteWhen Liz Haueptle talks to our class next Tuesday, be sure to ask her about public records -- what kind of information is on the public record and why.