Revered Research

I'd heard the author of A Taste of Honey was only 18 years old. Well, I was 14, so there was still a chance for authorship. How is it she could make it as an author, and I wasn't there yet?
My parents had been talked into what had been considered the very best encyclopaedia, The Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
They wanted nothing but the best when it came to educational materials.
The great thing about getting this set was the company was willing to send information about a specialized subject if you requested it.
I wanted to write an historical fiction like Gone With The Wind that I'd read with a flashlight late into the night. I was not thinking about what that could do to my eyesight later, since I was obviously really into it.
So, I wrote in for and about a period of American History that had fascinated me, Salem. The information came in an 8 X 11 inch pamphlet, and I got to work with 2 fictional characters (admittedly, with a strong resemblance to Scarlett and Rhett) planted in the Eastern Seaboard during the early colonial period.
I typed on the manual typewriter at home. The advanced electric typewriter was a school business class thing. I used correct type and white out for corrections. Sometimes, I used onion skin paper, which made erasures easier.
In the age of internet information, these researches seem long awaited, and procedures seem primitive. But I remember making do and even being excited at getting the information. It was information I'll always remember, because I'd incorporated it into my YA novella, and it was knowledge I could never again take for granted.