My grandmother is moving in with relatives on the other side of the country next week, so I was thinking maybe it would be an opportune time to record her life story for posterity. Has anyone here done something similar? How did it go? Any advice? Any ideas in terms of lists of questions to work from?
Come to think of it, this might be a good idea for things like family reunions too, for relatives of all ages…
I did it with my grandmother. I have three CD’s, transferred from audio cassette tape. She was in her middle 80’s at the time.
You can’t get a whole life story in one go. If there is time, arrange for several shorter talks. Don’t go straight through, but ask about her memories of, say, key events in history. As in Pearl Harbor, or the first moon landing.
Ask about things like family military service, if any. Or how grandma met grandpa. Anything that will connect to other things. I remember my mother telling me about how her own grandfather, the last two years of his life, was blind, and as a little girl she had to lead him out back of the house to the outhouse. I was a kid myself when I heard that, and didn’t even know that in her own lifetime, in our town, there had been outdoor facilities. Stupid of me.
Go for happy stuff too, like her wedding. Ask about your parent’s misbehavior as a child!
When did they first get a TV?
Hmm. what I’ve written is kind of disjointed. But it’s how I did my thing with Grandma, and the family now has a gold mine of family info. Do it on tape, so you have her voice!
Thanks!
I did that with my grandparents - after I lost the first one. I wish I’d thought to do things earlier, but until the first death it just never occurred to me. I didn’t have audio recording cassettes or anything though so I just hand wrote some papers with questions and gave them to each of my remaining grandparents to fill out, and then sat and talked with each one, gathering memories and basically just asking a question here and there to trigger their memories and let them tell me the stories they wanted to share. So I wrote down what I could of their stories and then I had the papers they filled out as backups. Plus it gave me something in each of their handwritings.
Another thing I did one year was to take a few recipe cards to each of my grandmothers and ask them to write down their favorite recipes for me. I did the same with my Mom. Gave me some family recipes for my collection in original handwriting that way.
Good luck!
It sounds so formal and serious, but what you’ll be doing is collecting an “oral history”. Definitely do this! I don’t know how many people I’ve heard say that they really wished they had done one with their grandparent/parent/family friend/whomever but they didn’t get around to it and it’s too late now.
Here is a great overview and guide to oral histories. It’s a good starting point to know what kinds of things to ask, how to record answers, precautions to know, etc.
Fluffy, the recipe idea is great. I didn’t do that, but we already did have many of Grandma’s recipes on cards, in her own hand. I also have a cookbook she used, from the late 1930’s, that was published right here in our own city. It has her notes in margins, and on the flyleafs.