Why research local history

This article is for discussing the reasons for pursuing local history.

'Local history' can cover a range of areas - the history of a place, transport, industries etc. It is necessary to look at the wider field/what is going on in other places at the same time (is what is happening unusual or part of a general process, arising from legislation and other forces etc?)

However, while there may be the possibility of an insular approach, local history can be an area in which anybody with sufficient interest and willingness to do the research can make discoveries, and retrieve interesting history which has been forgotten.

An article on How not to write local history is here.