I just got a grant to write a senior thesis on the local history of a Mexican town (Yanga, Veracruz) and I'm wondering what the historians on here see as the best possible models for local history writing/scholarship and why. What makes certain local histories good and others mediocre?
During my college career, I wrote two separate papers that dealt in local histories, one for Ellensburg, WA during the 1930s (Specifically covering Fascism) and Saginaw, MI (Specifically covering the downfall of the automobile industry). While this is different than what it sounds like you are doing, but I would say to make sure keep things interesting. Delving into the minutia on statistics for your town would not be very interesting, but giving readers the trends and overview of your town's history would be. Then, after that, you can add more anecdotes and stories of things happening in the town. You just have to be sure that these stories feel connected to the overall theme of the paper. There's my two cents, and I hope it helps.