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Historical Research Center Profit from your passion for history.

By April Y. Pennington

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

What's in a name? Well, for John Brett, everything. Havingalways had an interest in history, Brett's curiosity wasimmediately sparked when he discovered the Historical ResearchCenter (HRC). Upon learning that the company specializes inresearching the origin of family names, he decided to make a livingby bringing the past into the present.

The HRC employs skilled artists and learned historians-many ofthem educated in the craft of onomastics (the study of names andtheir origins) and heraldic art (family crests, coats of arms,etc.)-to comb through an extensive list of rare books, manuscriptsand records and pour the information into a database. Once acustomer provides his or her family name, business owners retrievethe relevant information from the database and print it out on arichly decorated parchment scroll. This versatile operation cantake the physical form of a booth, cart or shop, or it can be runfrom home as an Internet or mail-order business. Brett, his wifeand two daughters all work together running this busy venture.

Make The Call
The Historical Research CenterInternational Inc., (800) 940-7991