I feel like this may be a question too broad in scope, but I didn't really know what else to ask. I'm endeavoring on a personal, non-academic research project regarding events in my hometown during the 1970s and 1980s. I'm really unsure how to get started, as I have never really done anything like this before. I am reading through the The Study of History and Historical Method wiki pages, and specifically about finding primary sources, but I think I could still use a little guidance specific to my subject and circumstances.
In a nutshell, there was a part of my town in the 1980s that was an open-air drug market. It was pretty notorious, and I have heard a lot of lore about it throughout my life time, but it's mostly hearsay and stories from indirect witnesses and very few eyewitnesses. On the other hand, I have been able to find little bits of news via the internet, specifically one or two articles referencing the situation. I have also been made aware of a 60 Minutes episode about it, though I have no idea how to get access to it.
My first thought was to find old newspaper articles from the era, but I only have a vague idea of how to do that and I am also concerned that much of it went unreported. Growing up, I was very aware of a lot of events that took place that I never saw covered in the local news, so I know that even if I can find those sources, they may be a lot more lacking than what I hope for.
Outside of that, I am lucky enough to have met a local author who is a retired police officer that worked the area during his time, and who has written a novel inspired by the events. I think he may introduce me to some other former law enforcement members who may be able to tell me about it too. Then on top of that, there's another local author and historian who has written several books about the more antiquated history of our area that I have contacted.
I'm not really sure what else to do to pursue this and would really appreciate some tips and advice.
Newspapers would be a good place to start. Go to your local library and ask them if they have your town's papers in backissue. They may be on microfilm, so you'd have to sit at the machine to read them. And you'd just read them all (no search function). This is old-school research. Some may have been digitized as a part of a project such as newspapers.com, but you need to pay for a subscription. That would be searchable, but the searches are unreliable (sometimes text doesn't register right), and information may exist there that doesn't use the keywords you choose, so it's problematic.
You may be able to access certain police records, if they are public. You'd ask government authorities where records like this would be held and how you would access them. This would be at like a city or county level I would guess.
Next best bet is asking people, but their memories might be faulty, or they might hide certain things to make themselves look good, so it's not really reliable, but can be interesting.
Good luck.
Weird that no one has said "First person accounts." Yes, they may not be the most accurate due to the passage of time as well as people don't always like admitting to criminal conduct, as well as it being their own interpretation of things, but since it was relatively recent from a historical sense, there should still be plenty of people around who remember details, that you could then reference against local publications from that time, or potential crime records. Gathering multiple interpretations would let you see which common elements remain consistent through out your subject's recounting. Ethnographic study and attaining first hand cultural knowledge through interviews is a field in its own right, but how you would go about meeting/connecting/interacting with people with first hand accounts is mostly up to your discretion and what you feel comfortable with.
If I were to do it I would check records to see which bars/taverns in the area around your area of focus are still operational (if you are of age and feel comfortable to doing that); you might be able to get information far easier than you think; people who would have been alive and involved in that time period would be in their 50's at least, and folks at certain ages do tend to enjoy waxing poetic about their own personal histories and things they remember from their area which are gone/changed/forgotten. And while subjects you meet may not have the knowledge, they might have a friend who does, or a relative.
Almost always the first thing to do is to go talk to your community librarians. They'll know about databases you can look at or indexes you can use to find specific articles.
The 2nd thing I'd do is find out who your local or state historical organization is. They'll know where the archives are and how to set up an appointment with an archivist who can help you figure out a strategy.
The next thing I would do is look at who teaches history about your state at the local universities. You can find their emails on the faculty websites pretty easily and mostly they'll answer questions and maybe you can meet them for coffee to get an idea of forming a research strategy.
Look for books on the era and the topic you want to research and bug those authors. Most authors are pretty helpful on this stuff. Writing is kind of lonely so they like human contact.