Interviewing elderly family members to collect personal stories..

[Alexandra]

Does anyone have any experience with doing this sort of thing. I think that many members of my family as well as my husband's are quite amazing and have led fascinating lives. I would love to interview them and get some of their stories down on paper. Some would not agree to it out of a sense of shyness but some might just agree...

Does anyone have any experience or tips on how to go about doing this?

Thanks!

[myfunnybunch]

My father did this with my grandparents. I am so grateful he did, because so many of my grandmother's stories would have been lost, like the time her moonshine-making dad told her not to tell the revenuers anything, so she sat on the front steps and said "I don't know," when they asked her for her name. My grandfather used to go to the train yards by himself when he was 6 years old to sell newspapers.

 

My dad just sat them in their favorite chairs, set up a video camera and came up with themes, like school, food, work, brothers and sisters....He's got some great stories on video.

 

If you'd like to do several relatives all at once, why not have a mini family reunion with a story-swapping time? :)

 

Cat

[kalanamak]

My brother, the soul of integrity, did a video of my father, promising not to show it until year X. He just turned it on and left. We are still waiting. I don't even know when X is. This is all rather consistent with the privacy mindset of my parents. Might work for the shyer types....

[MorganClassicalPrep]

I wish I had done this when I was younger. All but one of my grandparents have already passed on, and I would love to have their stories. Especially my maternal grandfather, who fought on D-Day, since I am now studying WWII history.

[Slartibartfast]

My dad would leave the video camera on in the same room with my great grandmother.

[michmom]

I did this with my parents who are in their eighties. I prepared questions in advance based on several books that I have on doing family video histories. Basically, I chose questions that I thought were applicable to their lives that I thought they might desire to answer. By giving them the questions in advance, it gave them a chance to think about them and jog each other's memories. It also allowed them to tell me which questions they did not have any answers to as they did not remember something or they were not comfortable answering the question. This was good as I then knew not to ask the question and it made editing the video easier. I then videotaped them with me off camera asking the questions and them answering. It took a while so we stretched it out over time. I all so grateful that I took the time to get this history and I learned things that I never knew. I wish that I had done this with my grandparents before they passed.

 

Lynn

[Caraway]

I found that it is easier if you involve at least one other person who can lead the conversation and knows some of the people involved.

 

When I collected stories from my grandmother I took my uncle (her son) with me. I had researched some historical developments that would have happened during her lifetime, and had thought about some of the stories I would like to hear. I had a list of ideas like: first job, first date with grandpa, favorite memory with sister, etc. That way if we got "stuck" I could immediately interject a prompt. It was good to have my uncle there because he could prod or pull the stories, saying things like "what was that story about your dad and the dog...." or "didn't your grandfather....". He was able to converse with her and develop the stories while I took notes. That was it felt less like an interview. We did a series of three sessions. The first time she was a little hesitant, but warmed up. By the second she loved telling the stories.

 

I put together a digital scrapbook with all of her photos, including the captions written on the backs, and her stories. I will see if I can find a link to the book if you are interested.

 

It was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.

[Mejane]

My son did this with his 82yo grandfather. He put a recorder on the table and let him talk. Grandpa told him all about being in the war and the Depression, growing up in NYC, and raising five kids. It is a priceless memento. I wish we'd done it with the other three g'parents.

[kwickimom]

I was just telling my aunt how I wanted to get my grandmas stories down on paper. I have been around that woman my entire life and she still wows me with new stories everytime I see her. She is amazing and I am sooo excited about doing this :) She likes to talk, but I think I should have a list of questions just in case.

[nrg]

These two sites will help. The first is the Veteran's History Project. It has instructions for filming oral histories of our veterans and submitting them to the library of congress. The second is a general oral history site.

 

 

http://www.loc.gov/vets/

 

http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html

 

My son is doing these for a service project.

[rwjx2khsmj]

We have a cd of both my grandparents sharing stories that they told us and memories from their lives. It's priceless.

[OrganicAnn]

My DH has a digital recorder from when he used to make radio shows. He has recorded my aunt and my mom talking about their childhood. Unfortunately he never recorded his grandmother who died recently or my father who died 4 years ago.

 

Sometimes people will be more open with just a voice recorder than a camcorder (since then they don't have to worry about how they look).

 

If you don't think the people will talk, just try. Prepare some questions that will get things started.

 

- ask the person about their parents or grandparents

- memories of what food their mother made

- where they lived growing up.

- memories of older or younger sibling

- what was Christmas like when they were a child

- did they have any pets

- what toys did they play with

- what do they remember about school/did they play a sport etc

- pull out some old pictures and ask about the people in the picture.

[3lilreds in NC]

A good friend of mine, who wanted to be a writer, actually has a business helping people interview their relatives! I just Googled her, and found her website. I have not spoken to her in years, but she interviewed my (other) grandmother before she died and I still have the tapes. I really need to get them out and transcribe them. Somewhere I have a book she recommended to me that gave ideas of questions and conversation topics, but I am not sure where it is since the move. Isn't that helpful? I will look for it and if I find it, I will post it for you.

 

My reason for responding to this post was actually to encourage you to go ahead and do this. My grandmother who just passed away last week told us all tons of stories, all the time, about her family and her life growing up. I always intended to sit down with her and record them somehow, and never did. I cannot tell you how much I regret that, especially right now, a week after she died.

[DianeW88]

There's a fabulous book by Bob Greene called "To Our Children's Children"...it is all questions to ask in this sort of interview. Stuff I would never think of, but really would want to know. I think it might be out of print, but I'm sure Amazon probably has used copies. It is my interviewing bible!

 

Oh, wait! I checked. Here's the link, and it is still in print! I highly recommend it.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Our-Childrens-Children-Preserving-Generations/dp/0385467974/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278041358&sr=8-1

 

Diane W.

married for 22 years

homeschooling 3 kiddos for 16 years

[Sara R]

I've been doing this project with my grandparents slowly over the past few years. I've done 4 grandparents so far and I'm getting better with experience. Here's how I do it now:

 

(1) Get a voice recorder if you can. One that will let you upload the mp3 files to the computer is best.

(2) Brainstorm questions with other family members. If you can bring a timeline of events that you know about from their life. That can help to jog memory. Bring the list of questions to the interview. Maybe give them the list a few days in advance so they can start thinking.

(3) When doing the interview, don't stick to a script or to your questions. Let them ramble. It might be good to have someone else with you, especially someone outgoing who knows the relative, to ask questions.

(4) After the interview, upload the mp3 files to the computer and transcribe them. Don't worry about transcribing exactly word for word. None of us speak in a way that makes us look good in writing (well, at least not my family). It's normal to not speak in complete sentences, to repeat yourself, to make false starts. Using as much of their own words as possible, translate what they say into written language. Edited to add: a free transcribing program is "Express Scribe." With this program you can start and stop the recording on your computer by using function keys, which is very handy.

(5) Edit: put the stories in rough chronological order, or into some kind of order that makes sense. I put subject headings in to make it easier for the reader to read. You might need to add some explanations of old-fashioned things that the modern reader might not understand (for example, what a mangle is). Have several people proofread and identify where clarifications are needed.

(6) I figure the goal of a book like this is for family members to read it, so format it in a way that makes it as easy as possible for people to read. Something that looks like a school report is less likely to get read. Pictures make it more likely to be read, so scan pictures and make them part of the document. I printed up my latest project as a booklet (81/2x11 folded in half, like a little book) through Microsoft Word and inserted pictures throughout the text. The print was 10 point, like a book, instead of 12 point double spaced like a school report. All of that made the project look less imposing and more accessible to my relatives.

(7) Have the elderly person read and approve drafts. If they think of more stories, add them in.

Edited July 2, 2010 by Sara R
"express scribe" recommendation

[Krista in LA]

I don't have any tips, but I'm reading all the suggestions as I would like to do this too. I just wanted to encourage you. I have a copy of something similar about my Great-great grandfather's sister, so what's that, my 3great aunt? Anyway, she grew up in Germany and came to the US with my g-g-grandfather in the 1860's and it gives such a great feel for what life was like for her. I really cherish it and am so grateful that her granddaughter did this. Wish I had such things for my direct ancestors.... Oh, and some of it has helped for genealogy research too.

[3lilreds in NC]

It's called Recording Your Family History: A Guide to Preserving Oral History Using Audio and Video Tape.

 

Okay, it's a little dated - who uses video tape anymore? :lol: However, it's a great book with lots of wonderful questions to ask, and you can find it used reasonably priced.

 

This is such a good idea. I hope my dad will let us record some of his stories. I wonder if we could do it without him knowing? He has the BEST stories but he needs to tell them because he's a great storyteller. I cry laughing so hard at some of the things he tells us.