The story is hiding in plain sight.

I’ll help you find it.

I’m Michelle Spencer, for more than thirty years — first in national security, then as a genealogist and historian — I’ve been learning how to find the stories that matter. I can help you uncover the history hiding in your records and tell it in a way that makes people care.”

Every family, place and business has a story worth sharing.

It’s in the courthouse documents nobody has opened in sixty years. The Sanborn fire insurance map that shows exactly what stood on your corner in 1902. The census record that places your great-grandmother in a town she never mentioned. The classified ad that names the founder of a business that’s been on the same street for ninety years.

The story is there. It has always been there. The challenge is knowing where to look, how to read what you find, and how to turn a pile of records into something worth sharing.

That’s what I do. And it’s what I teach.

Every artifact is a door. A postcard. A photograph. A deed. A single entry in a city directory. I help you open it — and find out what’s been waiting on the other side.

my signature research for Businesses: The Three B framework

Business History

How did this business begin? What has it survived? What does 10, 20, or 50 years in the community say about your values, your resilience, and your people?

Building History

What is the story of the space you occupy? Who built it, who worked here before you, and what happened within these walls that made this corner of your town what it is today?

Brand History

How has your identity, your reputation, and your relationship with your community evolved over time? What authentic threads connect who you were then to who you are now?

The Breakthrough Vault

Finding your story in the unexpected

Every two weeks I take a single artifact — a postcard, a Sanborn map, a century-old newspaper clipping, a deed nobody has read in forty years — and follow it all the way to the story it’s been keeping.

It’s not a newsletter. It’s a channel for people who believe that the smallest things can open the biggest stories — if you know how to look.

Free to read. Worth subscribing to.

→ Read The Breakthrough Vault on Substack

30+ Years

Research & Writing

60+

National Register Listings

Nationwide

Clients Across the U.S.

What Clients Are Saying

With very limited information, Michelle was able to guide me through the process of obtaining public records. Then her work began! She compiled names, dates, information about where she lived, and her family tree. Now my children will have a much better understanding of their grandmother who died so young.

My children would have never learned about her and her "roots" without Michelle's professional assistance. Although we live hundreds of miles apart, I enjoyed working with Michelle - communication was timely and thorough.

I wanted to let you know how well your Influenza talk has been received on our YouTube channel— you're currently over 21,000 views! Thank you for your important contribution to the Museum and Memorial's online community, back in '18 and today.

Michelle never disappoints. She is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic presenter with excellent communication skills. Michelle's love of teaching is evident in the manner she interacts with the audience.

Thank you for a great presentation and this source list. I think we all gained additional knowledge of the breadth of information available in these sources. I know I did. After we hung up from our Zoom call, the group was pretty quiet. We were all processing the information presented. After a minute or two, people began to talk about what they had learned and what they were going to do with the new leads. You certainly inspired us!

Michelle L. Spencer

I’ve spent my career finding the histories that others walk right past.

Court records that reveal a founder’s journey. Census data that traces a family business across generations. Newspaper articles that capture the moment a community rallied around a local institution. Sanborn fire insurance maps that show exactly what stood on your corner a hundred years ago.

What drives me isn’t just the research. It’s the moment a business owner realizes their history is remarkable — and that it can change how their customers see them, how their community values them, and how they show up in the world.

I can’t wait to find yours.

Ready to Find Your Story?

Whether you want me to do the research, want to learn the craft yourself, or just want to see what’s possible — the story is already there. It’s been waiting. Let’s uncover it.