by Ane Mulligan  @AneMulligan

I ran into several research problems while writing my Great Depression era stories. The most problematic are the two books set in my hometown, Sugar Hill. The city didn’t incorporate until 1939, so there is no recorded town history prior to that. Before 1939, Sugar Hill was a militia district.

When you can’t find written history, you have to rely on oral reports. In the case of 1929-1932, most of the people who were old enough to remember anything from those days, have either passed on, have memory problems, or are ill. Covid didn’t help either. The few I could have interviewed were in nursing homes with doors to visitors.

What do you do in these cases? Splice together the history as best you can. After exhausting my known sources, I drew a map, placing the known businesses and the adding the others where I wanted them. Finally, I pit an author’s note regarding the town history and how I took literary license. And that’s about all we can do in this type of situation.

Below are 12 of the sites I use a lot:

Online Etymology Dictionary: This is the place to check if the saying or word you use is appropriate for the timeline of your novel. We are rehearsing a show (no, I won’t say which one it is) that the author used a saying that wasn’t used for another half-century after the play takes place. The result of no research. There is nothing worse than reading historical fiction and coming across a word that is or sounds too modern. It yanks you right out of the story.

The People History: Gives you a good overview the era and the decades, along with links to more detailed information, like This Day in History.

The Food Timeline: Here, you can research different foods like meats or grains, etc. and find out what was in common use during the timeline of your story. It also has recipes from different decades.

Glossary of Medical Terms of the 18^th & 19^th Centuries: This speaks for itself and is very helpful.

Behind the Name: I think names are important. Names create an image or personality in our characters. This site tells the origin and what the name means. The sister site is for surnames. Coupled with The Baby Name Survey Book which divulges what people think of when they see or hear a name, these sites will help you find interesting names for your characters. You can also use the Social Security site for the most popular names from 1880 on.

The Postal History Corner: This site gives the cost of postage and shows photos of the stamps.

The Idiom Site: This one is a bit of fun. You cannot only find idioms but give your own spin to them.

Century Past (newspapers): This site has a ton of great information besides newspapers, like historical articles.

Sunrise Sunset Calendars: You can make a calendar for the city, month, and year you need and print it. It lists places all over the world.

Time and Date: Choose the year, create, and print the calendar for your story.

These are a few of my favorites. Do you have some to share with me and our readers? Leave them in the comments.

Ane Mulligan has been a voracious reader ever since her mom instilled within her a love of reading at age three, escaping into worlds otherwise unknown. But when Ane saw PETER PAN on stage, she was struck with a fever from which she never recovered—stage fever. And so, by night, she’s CEO of a community theatre company and by day, a bestselling, award-winning novelist. She lives in Sugar Hill, GA, with her artist husband and a rascally Rottweiler. Find Ane on her website, Amazon Author page, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, The Write Conversation, and Blue Ridge Conference Blog.