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| "Listening is a gift of Love." |
What do you really know about your grandparents or
great grandparents? If you are lucky
stories about them have been passed down over the years. Perhaps there is a connection to them in
family heirlooms, old photos or old letters and diaries. Most likely you are limited to the sort of
basic information one can find in genealogy charts. But what do you really know about your
ancestors? Does that make you wonder
what future generations will know about you and your family?
I will assume for this article that you do not have
to be convinced that recording family oral histories is worthwhile. I have been making recordings of my family
since the late sixties and have learned a thing or two. Back in the ‘80’s I took a workshop in oral history interviewing at the Indiana
Historical Society. Since then I have
been doing oral history recordings for families and individuals as part of my
work. It is my pleasure now to share
some tips and resources for recording your family oral histories.
Equipment
List.
- Audio Recorder.
- Extra batteries and battery tester if needed
- Power / charging cord.
- Writing materials.
- Headphones for monitoring and listening back to your recording.
- List of questions*
- Camera / Smartphone.
Set Up And
Location.
- Test your equipment before you sit down to record to be sure
everything is working properly.
Modern digital recorders do an excellent job or recording but you
need to be completely comfortable with the way your machine works. Practice, practice, practice.
- Use an audio recorder that has a power cord if possible. Batteries can run down unexpectedly and
result in missed material.
- Conduct the recording in a quiet place with no interruptions if
possible. Plan to record anywhere
from 30 minutes to an hour at a shot and then take a break if your subject
seems tired.
- Be sure to keep notes about your interviews and what is in each
file in your audio recorder. When
you transfer your audio files to a computer you will want to document them
as soon as possible to avoid confusion later. File titles should have the names of the
person interviewed and the date of the interview at the very least.
Prepare Your
Subject.
Before you do your first recording of a family
member explain why you are doing the recordings and make sure it is OK with
him/her. If it will help put them at ease, show them some of the questions and
assure them that they are just suggestions.
Paint a calm, relaxed picture for them of you listening with
appreciation and respect. As they say on
the StoryCorps website, “Listening is
an act of love”.
How To Begin.
You have tested your equipment. You are sitting comfortably with your subject
in a quiet room. Set up your equipment ahead of time if possible or, if the
subject is with you, do it with confidence.
In a relaxed manner, start your recorder and state aloud the date, time,
location, who you are and your subject’s name.
Try to sound casual but clear. If
your subject seems nervous, just chat for a bit and then work up to your first
question.
Conducting The
Interview.
Use a list of questions* that you have
selected. In general start with the
earliest memories and work to the present.
Ask open-ended questions such as, “What are your earliest memories” as
opposed to, “Would you say you had a happy childhood?” Allow your subject to think and respond. Resist the temptation to finish a sentence or
fill in the blanks. Ideally you should
be perfectly quiet and just give your subject non-verbal feedback such as
nodding your head for encouragement and making good eye contact to show that
you are listening carefully.
Aside from keeping quiet the most difficult thing to
do is to wait out occasional silences.
It is important that you let your subject think after he/she has
seemingly finished talking because related comments or stories may follow after
the fact. Respect their pauses and they
will be more open and trusting.
You may use the recording as an opportunity to
request specific information or a specific story that you want to
preserve. As long as you are not asking
a question that will bring up a painful memory or inhibit your subject from
further sharing… ask away. You are doing
the work, you can choose the questions.
You can go into a recording with questions that aim
at a specific subject or period of time.
You can aim to fill in gaps of your sense of family history; fill out a
timeline of sorts. However, if you have
limited time please consider this: In my
opinion the stories that really tell us about someone are the stories of
his/her passions, strong values, lessons learned, and successes. And don’t
forget things like favorite foods, jokes, movies, books, and trips taken.
You may notice that a member of your family tells
the same story often at gatherings of friends or relatives. When you interview that person, ask why the
story is important. Sometimes they may
not know why on the surface, but you know there is a reason. The stories we readily share with others are
reflections of how we think of ourselves.
They are part of our identity.
As a final touch to your recording, take a
photograph of the subject.
Special
Problems.
If you are trying to interview someone who has
difficulty thinking of stories to share be prepared to bring out artifacts from
past years such as objects relating to a special interest or hobby, prized
possessions, photographs, etc.
For a subject who feels he/she has already told you
these stories before, invite a friend who has not heard the stories to join you
in the interview. With a little
coaching, the friend will be another good listener who will be ready to hear
the family stories for the first time.
You will often get stories that you have not heard in a long time or
never heard before! There is something
about getting into the flow of telling someone new about your life that can
bring up all kinds of connected memories.
Venues Other
Than Interviews.
YOU can be your own subject! You can record your own life history. Over
the years I have kept an audio journal
which is a viable type of oral history recording. I have also turned on a recorder during family gatherings to catch the exchange
of stories and comments. Our family sent
audiocassette letters back and forth
to Dave Oguss when he was stationed in Vietnam.
Those recordings of our current events and concerns are now little time capsules of those times.
Afterward.
Once you have finished a recording session, listen
to the recording when you have time to make notes in the form of an written
outline. This will help you plan follow
up recording sessions and document the current recordings for future sharing.
Digital recordings should be stored on an external hard drive or in cloud storage. The types of storage and audio file types will likely evolve over time and require saving the files to the new standard.
Sharing.
DropBox and Google Drive are just two of many web based options for sharing a large number of audio files. For some it may be easiest to share by downloading the audio library onto a thumb drive or SD card along with documents, notes, indexes, and even photos that accompany the recorded interviews.
I hope my suggestions will be helpful to you. Consider recording family members while their memories are still fresh. Today you can show your
love of your family by carefully listening and asking questions. Tomorrow your descendants will have a much better idea of who you and your family were because you took the time to listen and record their family stories!
Ken Oguss
October 15, 2020
Indianapolis Indiana
WHAT KIND OF
RECORDER?
· Portable Audio CassetteRecorders - If your family did any oral history recording back with these large, shoebox-sized tape recorders were common you will want to digitize the recordings and store on a hard drive or put in Cloud Storage for safe keeping. Recording quality was usually poor by today's standards; plenty of “tape hiss”.
·
Digital Voice Recorders - Use flash memory or SD cards that
plug into your computer.
- Low End (cheaper) - These are often used for dictation or recording classes. They are often very small. The audio quality is not great, but they are better than nothing. Olympus and Sony make a number of different recorders. Cost: Under $100.
- High End - Tascam, Edirol, and Zoom, make high quality, portable digital recorders. I use a Zoom H4 which allows for a wide variety of external microphones. All of the higher quality recorders are relatively easy to use and have built in microphones that are sensitive enough to use without a lapel mic. (BTW, great for recording live music!) Cost: $150 - $350.
· Smart Phones - Most smart phones come with Voice Recording or Voice Memo apps. Be aware of where the microphones are located on your phone. Consider buying an external microphone(s) to plug into your phone for better sound.
StoryCorps App - supplies sample questions and provides an easy way to upload the interview and share with others.
**SOURCES FOR
ORAL HISTORY QUESTIONS:
OTHER ORAL HISTORY RESOURCES
By Ellen J. Miller | NEWSWEEK
From the magazine issue dated
Dec 23, 1991
an independent nonprofit
project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through
listening.
Google Search: Recording Oral History Interviews.
LIFE STORIES PROJECT
A joint project between Storytelling Arts of Indiana, WFYI - Radio, and the Indiana Historical Society in 2013.
LIFE STORIES PROJECT
A joint project between Storytelling Arts of Indiana, WFYI - Radio, and the Indiana Historical Society in 2013.
Originally published September 7, 2008
Revised September 4, 2013
Revised September 4, 2013
Revised October 15, 2020
Copyright © ℗ 2020 by Ken Oguss All Rights Reserved.
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