Research

Ray Carlson and Associates, Inc. have been providing high-quality court exhibits and research for the North Bay Area since 1976. We have invested in many in-house resources to aid in forensic research such as:

  • Patent/ Township/ Rancho/ Title Books
  • Accounts at all North Bay Area Recorder’s Offices
  • Database with over 400 layers and 5000 jobs
  • Historical Aerial Photos (Sonoma, Napa, Marin, Mendocino, Lake)
  • Court House Direct – Data Tree
  • Access to abstract title plant

Our Research Department has extensive experience with the Title Industry and has worked with many Bay Area attorneys.

Research Resources

  • U.S. National Archives & Record – Homestead
  • Smithsonian Archives
  • Bureau of Land Management
  • Patent Books
  • Unrecorded Surveys and Maps
  • Sonoma County Archive Cabinets
  • Cal-Trans
  • Government Land Office Field Records
  • Archive Law Books
  • CLSA/Historical Record Indexes (updated by RCA staff)
  • Bancroft Library
  • Historic Aerials (multiple sources)
  • Fire History for Sonoma & Napa Counties

Many municipal records are available free online, if you know what to look for and where to look.

Other important records are behind a subscription paywall.

Ray Carlson and Associates has subscriptions to access these documents, plus we have spent many years building relationships with the people entrusted with those records.

Our years of knowledge and experience enables Ray Carlson and Associates to locate unrecorded information in the possession of other surveyors or public agencies.

With Ray Carlson and Associates serving on your team with your Realtor and  Title Company, you can ensure that you have accurate and timely information for all items required in a title report.

We can save you time, money and make sure you have the documents you need.

Call Us When

  1. Making important management decisions that depend on accurate information about your estate.
  2. Buying, selling, or changing the use of property, or dividing into parcels.
  3. Developing a vineyard or farm for maximum yield and/or demonstrating good land use.
  4. Prior to construction of any improvement.
  5. When considering an upgrade or purchase of GPS enabled equipment and/or field telemetry.
  6. When demonstrating due diligence and compliance to a permit agency.

“As an expert in land, title and boundary litigation, I have continually relied on the technical products provided by Ray Carlson and his team. Ray and his team are accessible and have a specific quality: to tailor their products to the evidence required. This has allowed our firm to successfully negotiate and litigate many cases involving boundary, title and water issues. Because Ray often redefines the questions that a litigator should be asking, an advocate can enter a heated dispute with a persuasive arsenal of relevant map solutions and the technical competence to argue their relevance-which is available from no other source.”    ~ Benjamin C. Graves Law Offices