Family Oral History Across The World

Family Oral History Across the World presents a process for memorializing family histories, bringing together established oral history standards, exploratory research and narrative data analysis. Based on and using a prequestionnaire and using forty-three recorded interviews with people from across six continents, the analysis system used in the book exposes material from these interviews that brings alive the experience of the family history journey. One of the guiding principles is to encourage readers to interview both family members but also others outside the family unit, to produce a family history in whatever format works. The book illustrates this through the inclusion of many unusual formats and stories uncovered. The book is divided into a number of themes that emerged through the analysis and emerge through the collection of these interviews. Parts One, Two, and Three cover changing family demography, case studies, and factors such as memory, emotion, and ethics. Part Four offers a pliable process and practice guide with input and examples from interviews. It also engages with developing approaches to presenting oral histories from both oral historians and others interviewers and writers, such as journalists. With case studies, as well as example guidelines and templates this volume is ideal both for academics interested in family history as well as professional genealogists and families themselves.

This guide provides you with all the information on the latest methods and tools used to capture and preserve your family stories. In addition, once you've learned how easy it is to build a family archive of stories, you'll want to share them with others using the tips and tricks provided in this book.

This publication provides practical guidance for the novice on how to conduct a family oral history interview and avoid common mistakes.

A program designed to help record the oral history of a relative or friend and preserve it on audio or video tape for future generations

"This journal is designed for an adult child to record the story of a parent or grandparent (or someone else's history). Use this keepsake volume of questions and prompts as a conversation guide."--

With extensive examples from both historical and social science literature, this book is a practical guide to methods of recording oral history. The author provides suggestions on a range of techniques from developing a written interview guide and using tape recorders to asking probing questions during in-depth interviews and editing transcriptions. She also covers the ethical and legal issues involved in conducting life-history interviews and elaborates on three different types of oral history projects: community studies, biographies and family histories.

More than a mode of gathering information about the past, oral history has become an international movement. Historians, folklorists, and other educational and religious groups now recognize the importance of preserving the recollections of people about the past. The recorded memories of famous and common folk alike provide a vital complement to textbook history, bringing the past to life through the stories of those who lived it. Oral History is designed to introduce teachers, students, and interested individuals to the techniques, problems, and pleasures of collecting oral history. The authors, themselves experienced educators, examine the uses of oral history in the classroom, looking at a wide range of projects that have been attempted and focusing on those that have succeeded best. Besides suggesting many possible projects, they discuss the necessary hardware and its use: recording equipment and procedures, interview outlines and preliminary research, photography and note-taking in the field, transcription and storage of information, legal forms, and more. For the teacher, the authors offer helpful advice on training students to be sensitive interviewers in both formal and informal situations. How can oral histories collected in the classroom be put to use? The authors discuss their uses within the curriculum; in projects such as oral history archives, publications such as the popular Foxfire books, and other media productions; and in researching current community problems. Useful appendixes survey a variety of reference tools for the oral historian and describe in detail how a Foxfire-concept magazine may be developed.