Ready to start working on the story of your home? Every house has a history. Get started with the resources below.
Online Resources
These online resources can be accessed anywhere, including from the comfort of your own home.
Building Surveys
Provides the architectural conditions including build dates, square footage, and architectural styles of a specific building.
- Historic Property Surveys of Newburyport, MA
- Newburyport Historic District
- Massachusetts Cultural Research Information System (MCRIS)
Salem Deeds
Allows users to trace deeds of properties bought and sold. Often includes plot and property descriptions and lot dimensions.
Sanborn Maps
Detailed fire insurance maps that provide street listings and the physical attributes (e.g., construction material) of the recorded structures. The 1906 & 1924 Sanborn maps are available at the library by request or ahead of your visit, by appointment.
Newburyport Tax Assessor Site
Merrimack Valley Planning Commission
Resources at the Newburyport Public Library
The following items are held at the Newburyport Public Library and are available at the library by request or ahead of your visit, by appointment. Prepare for your visit here or get in touch with a staff librarian here.
1851, 1872 & 1884 Maps
Parcel mapping that includes street names, property ownership, property boundaries, and Newburyport landmarks.
Also available online:
Plan of Newburyport Mass. from an actual survey by H. McIntyre, 1851 (courtesy of the Boston Public Library Leventhal Map & Education Center)
Tax Valuation & Assessor Records
Lists the resident’s name, the assessed value of their real estate, the tax on their real estate, and sometimes includes the address of that real estate. Physical collection includes Assessor’s Tax Valuations from 1780 – 1861 (please note some years are unavailable for viewing).
Street Directories
1808, 1814-1815, 1820 & 1831 are a five volume assessor’s street directories. These are the earliest known street directories to exist. They list an individual, what street they lived on (or owned property), the number of taxed inhabitants (or polls) as well as any notes of interest.
1849 – Present (please note some years are unavailable). Includes business and residential directories with addresses, advertisements, street listings of Newburyport residents including occupations, maps, and miscellaneous information.
