As you may have noticed over the last several months, we have posted various infographics on our LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook pages. We are always thinking of new and creative ways to show, rather than just tell, what we as historical researchers do.
The infographic is a fun conduit for visually representing how and where we work and exactly what kind of research we conduct. Many have been crafted in response to the frequently asked questions we receive. Take a look at the “Contaminated Sites” infographic below, for example. It communicates how historical records can be used to answer client inquiries related to environmental litigation and commercial issues.
In the center, you’ll notice an industrial site. You can see several sources of potential contamination depicted such as air emissions or a leak or spill into nearby waterways that may have stemmed from the operations and activities that took place there. Surrounding the picture are the “categories of interest” we most often look into. We are able to answer the types of sample questions included under each category using publicly available records, maps, and other kinds of documentation that are available at federal, state, and local levels.
The infographic also serves as a perfect vehicle for illustrating surprising statistics and facts about the complex, abundant nature of public records. Did you know that less than 1% of the National Archives and Records Administration’s documents have been digitized? That’s not a lot considering it holds 12 billion textual documents alone.
Others are meant to educate our clients about who we are. “Our Researchers” explains the role of the historical researcher and the unique perspective each TRG team member brings to our research efforts. In addition to historians, our team is rounded out with librarians, archivists, an environmental specialist, and even a former real estate developer.
We have many more infographics up our digital sleeve, so to speak, and we will continue rolling them out into the future. If there is an infographic you’d like us to create that would help you better understand our work or who we are, please let us know.