In some countries, people are likely to seek for history of the house they live in. It is important to figure out why they are so curious about their buildings and how they can obtain this kind of information.

One possible explanation is that a house is the embodied symbol of family culture. By knowing more about a house, people can deeply learn the history of their family, including why they came to live in this territory, and the way their ancestors worked for creating a nicer living environment. By understanding all these family stories that has happened in this area, people can possess a clear family identity.

The desire to satisfy the need of individual safety is another cause of people’s curiosity to their house. The sense of safety is one of people’s basic needs, and a house is usually seen as the safe zone. Therefore, when people get to know more about their house, such as placement of decorations in their buildings, unique furniture functions, and interesting stories of appliances, their uncertainty to the building they live will reduce. The more information they get, the deeper sense of safety they have.

Two measures can be taken to research history of the house people live in. First of all, they can ask the elderly from their home for some specific information about their house. For example, they can ask their grandfather and grandmother, as  the elderly have lived so long time in there, their memories can be seen as some important parts of oral history.

Searching files from the government is another way to know about family building’s history. For example, people can get some record of their house history from communities, since the government has the obligation to write down relevant data of the area under their administration.

To summarize, concrete family culture and individual safety demand may be two main reasons to explain people’s interest to their houses’ history. Therefore, asking their elder generations or searching for official recordings may be two main means to get some valuable knowledge of house history.