The ''houstory'' project is the brainchild of Middlemarch resident Dawn Coburn and feeds into the ongoing East of the Rock and Pillar project which is a collation of historical material of the Strath Taieri district put together by Mrs Coburn.
There are three ringbinders of historical material from the East of the Rock and Pillar project available in hard copy held at the Middlemarch and Mosgiel libraries, Kissing Gate and Quench cafes in Middlemarch and at the Middlemarch Museum.
Mrs Coburn said photographs and other information about houses for the ''houstory'' project will be added to these ringbinders and may be uploaded to the middlemarch.co.nz website in the future.
Mrs Coburn said while families had moved in and out of the district, houses were constant but had been adapted over the years, which gave an insight into changes in the district.
''I'm looking for them to be the changing things as people move through the houses. As houses, they're not necessarily anything special at all but the stories of the people [are] and what you find if you follow families, you don't get the same sort of sequence and look at what is changing. If you look at houses they stay there, so you get a different look at history.''
Mrs Coburn said she had received a good level of response so far and, in some cases, younger people had picked up the historical research begun by elder family members.
''In one or two cases I've found that elderly members of the family have actually started to do something like this and then just let it slip, so I've got the next generation going back and looking at their material and seeing what they can pull together.''
Mrs Coburn has provided an example on the Middlemarch website of the Beattie (Mrs Coburn's maiden name) house in Cardigan St East which describes the house as originally built in the early 20th century, more recent renovations, details of the people who lived there and includes a photo of the Beattie family in front of the house believed to be taken in either 1913 or 1914.
Do you have information about a historical house on the Strath Taieri? Share your ''houstory'' by contacting Dawn via email: dawncoburn1@gmail.com or phone: 464-3696.
