Preserving Family History

Introduction

Do you have some interesting stories about your parents, grandparents or other relatives?  Or do you perhaps have an older relative who remembers some stories about people who are now deceased?   Wouldn’t it be good to preserve these memories for future generations, and even share them with other DFA members right now?

These are questions the DFA board has been considering and we’ve been inspired by the StoryCorps project to try starting an oral history project of our own.  StoryCorps has recorded interviews with people who have interesting stories to tell and has transmitted them to PBS which shares them online.

We’d like to propose a simple way for this to happen within the DFA.  We are suggesting that you record a brief session of about 5 minutes.  You can do this with a digital voice recorder or with a cell phone.   You can then transfer the audio or video file to a computer using a USB cable.  And if you wish to share your files with other DFA members you can send them to us by e-mail as an attachment.

Possible Questions for Interview

Here are some suggestions for your interview.  Modify them to suit your own interview, or use another format entirely, whatever works best for you and your subject.

  1. Introduce the interviewee
  2. Tell us about your life.
    • Place of birth
    • Parents names and places of birth
    • Family members
  3. Any stories you’d like to share about you or family members?
  4. What do you remember about your Dickinson ancestors?
    • Residence
    • Occupation
  5. Do you have any pictures to share?
  6. How did you get involved with the DFA?

Example

Recently Beth Landolina, our membership clerk, interviewed her father, Alan Dickinson.   She used her cell phone to record the interview. To view this interview, click here for part 1 and here for part 2.

Let Us Hear From You

If you like this idea, if you think you may wish to participate, or if you have questions, please let us know.  You can e-mail the historian (historian@dickinsonfamilyassociation.org) or any other DFA board member.   Your feedback will help us develop this project and we’ll keep you updated on its progress.