My story's similar to Paul's at Beverly.
I grew-up playing golf at Essex G&CC in Windsor, Ontario, and with a keen interest in history and golf architecture began researching the evolution of the golf course, without compensation (!), before any other member knew about it.
I found Donald Ross' original 1928 plans for the course at the Tufts Archive, and old aerials of the club's property at the National Air Photo Library in Ottawa, photos of Sandy Sommerville, the 1932 US Amateur champ, putting on Essex' 4th and 5th greens during the 1934 Ontario Amateur in the Royal Canadian Golf Association's archive, etc. etc.
A few years later I met an older member of the club who had collected club newsletters, searched the club's minute books, and kept detailed scrapbooks of significsant tournaments played at Essex, including the 1976 Canadian open. He and I have since collaborated on a comprehensive club history book, which will be printed in October of this year. It's paid for by "The Association of Life Members", a group of non-dues paying members who annually contribute to a special project otherwise not provided for by the club itself.
In preparing Essex' club history book, I've collected and studied other club history books. It's immediately apparent which books were researched and written by members with passion for the subject matter, and which were done by hired writers.
The books done by members, including Geoff Shackelford's Riviera history, are ALWAYS much better.