Historical Research

If we hope to understand and deal with the world today, we must rely upon an understanding of the past - but historical research requires special skills and a systematic approach. The professional historians at Heberling Associates can help with virtually any research project. If you need to discover and reconstruct the history of your town, your neighborhood or region, a specific structure, a cultural district, an individual's life, or an institution, an industry, or a business, we can search the records, gather the data, evaluate the evidence, and produce a comprehensive and readable history.

Our historians are experienced detectives, and we understand the process of historical research. We can help you discover the past.

Expert Witness Testimony

The research historians at Heberling Associates provide expert witness services and reports on historical land and water use issues and other historical, geographical, and environmental matters. HAI's litigation support experience includes historic navigation issues on inland waterways, and our principals have extensive experience working with law firms, state and federal agencies, municipalities, public utilities, environmental and engineering consultants, and private business and corporate entities.

Brownfields

The possibility of environmental contamination of industrial sites can hinder property redevelopment in both urban and rural areas. Many potential developers need to know the history of the industrial activity that has occurred on specific sites and what kinds of potential problems they are likely to encounter.

Heberling Associates' team of professional historians will search the historical record, examining public documents, correspondence, private papers, maps, historic photographs, and other material located in archival repositories, as well as conducting oral history interviews. Our investigations will document the activity that has occurred on selected sites through the years and provide a guide for an environmental assessment of that property.