While you once had to search for an archive that kept Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, and then let you handle them to examine the historic property you wish to research, soon you will have access to 700,000 fire insurance maps through the Library of Congress website. While you once had to sit in the Tax Assessor's office struggling to master their archaic computer system to locate tax identifying information to begin your research of historic properties now you can research through county GIS systems like that in Thurston County. Soon you'll be able to do this in every county. Granted, you'll no longer get to wear those lovely white gloves while a special collections librarian scrutinizes your every move through historic materials. You will be able to view many of these materials online in a digitized format.
Nothing can replace the smell of old books, and the beauty of turn of the century penmanship.
But few people have the time to spend hours perusing the old tax assessor's tax poll books. The speed that we can research using the internet is amazing. Of course, this takes time to familiarize yourself with all the sites that will suit your needs and there is a lot of junk out there in cyber land. But once you establish your system of sites that suit your needs the possibilities are endless. With the time you'll save researching on the internet you will be able to conduct more comprehensive research of your historic properties.