Thanks all-
Very difficult to do mostly because of time..took about 3 seasons to complete. It is amazing that a course as old as TCC (1897) didn't have this stuff on record...goes to show you, that things need to be recorded and not assumed to be handed down.
As far as resources and their best purposes are concerned,
The USGA's online stuff allowed me to narrow in on a time frame (ie we weren't playing golf in 1897, so I could skip some months there)
The local library provided insight into what was happening in the town at the time of the founding. This was helpful because I got to know the men who made it happen..who they were, where they were form etc.
GCA-no kidding, guys like Joe B.and Mike C. gave me alot of help and advice. They turned me onto a number of online resources that allowed me to strategically make my searches (and record them).
Merion guys-John C. and Wayne M. were really helpful too. They are light years ahead of my efforts, but as John said to me, start somewhere and your history is your history and just as important. Uncovering the Woodrow Wilson piece was a good example of this. Wayne provided some artifacts he came across, including a really cool scorecard from 1906. I had about 45 artifacts on display the night I did the event and they really enjoyed the old scorecards.
NJ State archives-provided aerials from shortly thereafter the founding-really great stuff and hopefully will influence the future evolution of the course.
Ancestry.com provided immigration info on our guy..a thought I never considered before.
Head of the Greens-he is a very smart and passionate guy who gets alot of complaints with his territory. But he gave me a shot with the board which led to the presentation. Really good guy.
GM-He really took an interest in this and allowed me the resources and room to pursue (also, introduced me to the Merion guys which was cool)