A guide to creating an oral family history
Creating a family history is a special way to preserve cherished memories and experiences. While the traditional method of scrapbooks, journals and albums are fun, have you ever considered creating an oral family history? A digital history can bring your family stories to life – you can actually hear people’s voices, see their faces and experience them live in action! These days with smartphones and tablets it’s never been easier to gather audio and visual recordings of your family stories. It’s also a lovely way to spend time with your family and connect with relatives you might not have seen for a while. Here’s our guide to getting started.
What you will need
An oral history is simply telling your family history in a number of ways. You might want to use both audio and video recordings together. You might just want to concentrate on audio recordings combined with scanned old photos. Be creative, it can be anything you want it to be. Nowadays a smartphones or tablet has everything you need – you can use it to record audio, videos and take photos. If relatives are interstate or overseas, recording straight off Skype is another option. Video and audio editing software like iMovie or Movie Maker are inexpensive and easy to use if you are feeling inventive.
There are also a few free apps which simplifies this process. For iPhones there is Family Search which lets you snap photos, record audio and write notes. It then organises it all for you making it easy to collect, preserve and share your memories. For Androids a free app called Saving Memories Forever similarly organises all your audio recordings which you can share around the world.
Have a plan
Beginning a family history can be overwhelming – after all, you have plenty of experience behind you and a few stories to tell! So it is helpful to have a plan. Think about the key stories, memories, trips, experiences or traditions that you want to explore and capture. Start there - other stories will begin to emerge when you begin interviewing but it’s useful to have a base to organise the stories.
Keep everyone involved
Everyone has stories to tell so ask all your family members. You will most likely conduct many one-on-one interviews which is great to delve into particular memories and stories. However, remember it is also fun and illuminating to interview people in a big group (for example, all your siblings together). This way you will be able to capture the relationships between the people as they are reminiscing. If they mention a particular item or photograph, you could take a photograph and intersperse it with the recording.
Ask open questions
It’s a good idea to have a think (and maybe write them down) about the types of questions you want to ask – and this may be different for each family members. While some questions will be establishing facts and what happened, remember the best part of undertaking this endeavour is starting a conversation and discovering memories along the way. You don’t want the interview to be a chore so just be natural and enjoy the conversation.
Enjoy the experience
This is meant to be fun so only take on as much as you want too! Don’t stress that you aren’t getting it “perfect” – your family will love you for taking the time and effort to create one. The act of reminiscing together is not only fun but often builds stronger bonds and connections. And after all your efforts, your family history will be presented in a fun and vibrant way to share with the generations to come.