welcome back to the ancestral findings podcast
oral histories are a valuable genealogical resource they give a unique perspective that
only one person on the face of the earth could ever give which is that of the person giving the
history they are historical treasures for so many reasons this is what you need to know about the
value of oral histories where to find them and how to do them yourself with your own relatives
one of the most interesting things you will come across while doing genealogy research
is an oral history oral histories are the spoken recollections of people about their lives
families and times in which they lived there is nothing quite like listening to someone talk about
their life from their own personal perspective you do not get that in genealogy very often
usually you are looking at impersonal records and second or even third hand accounts to get
information as they say straight from the horse's mouth is invaluable and akin to genealogical gold
oral histories have been taken from people for centuries either for family history research
projects or for government history projects there was a huge effort by the u.s federal government
during the great depression of the 1930s for example that took oral histories from elderly
african americans who had been born into slavery before it was abolished after the civil war these
histories were recorded on audiotape and provide fascinating and historically valuable first-hand
accounts of slavery in the united states from people who actually lived it in their own words
and own unique ways of speaking oral histories may be recordings only they may be written down
by someone who is interviewing the person giving the oral history or they might be recorded with
written transcripts to accompany them you might find them in local libraries county state and
national libraries at university libraries at local and state historical societies and archives
with genealogical societies online and within individual families not every oral history
is published some families take oral histories of their older relatives and then hand those down
within the family ask around the older members of your own family to find out if any oral histories
exist in your family that you can listen to or read you might be surprised at what you discover
exists in your own family's treasure trove of heirlooms and mementos you will find
personal details not available anywhere else in oral histories you will get an individual
person's unique perspective on their lives and on the history of the times in which they lived
you will get stories about their own older relatives who you might only know as names
on a page or on a family tree you may learn the names of ancestors you didn't know existed at all
these things allow you to learn about ancestors you never met and to virtually meet them as real
fully fleshed out people not just names dates and faded photos you will also learn a lot of
wonderful new things about the life and times of your older ancestor who gave the history
as well as things about that ancestor themselves they will become real to you
if you never met them or a more well-rounded person than the one you currently know
oral histories are genealogical treasure seek them out and learn from them you will love them
if you don't have any oral histories in your family and have checked the libraries
where your ancestors lived as well as the national archives in washington dc
because you never know when an ancestor might be part of a national oral history project or a local
oral history project that became catalog at the national archives you can always create your own
it makes a wonderful gift to hand down to subsequent generations
and to give to current generations who may not know much about the family history or
the older relatives in the family your older relative will probably love the opportunity to
tell their story and answer your questions about the past and ancestors you never knew
in fact it is a terrific idea to get oral histories from as many of your
older relatives as are willing to talk to you these older relatives are living historical
treasures and it is so important to get their stories while they are still here on this planet
look at this as your opportunity to record their lives as they live them from their perspective
while they are still here as no one else can give you those stories from that unique personal
perspective get the stories before they are lost do it now you will be so glad that you did one day
and the future generations of your family will also be grateful for your work
you are creating a family legacy and an invaluable historical treasure that could very well end up
in a museum or an archives one day your older relatives stories will stand an excellent chance
of being preserved for posterity forever this is a sacred calling you should think of it that way
not many people take the time to do it and it's so important when you get an older relative to
agree to do an oral history take some time to consider what questions you want to ask them
put some careful consideration into this as you want to be sure to get the answers to anything
you may be curious about or think is important for the family tree or for future generations to know
make a list of questions before the interview you will want to ask them questions about their
childhoods including what life was like then what their family makeup was like
what their parents grandparents siblings and other relatives were like what local national and world
events affected them and how and what they thought about their childhood overall especially as
compared to the childhoods kids experience today be sure to get information about their teen years
their school experiences what the town was like when they were young ask about how they met their
spouse if they got married what dating or courting was like for them the way they knew they wanted to
marry their spouse what their wedding was like what the early years of their marriage was like
things like that move on through their young adulthood first jobs first children careers
life as a housewife if that's what they did expectations of society and gradually bring your
questions up to the present day ask them about their hopes for the future not only for themselves
but for future generations of the family ask them to give future generations a message of
something they believe it is important for them to know record all of this on some recording device
then transcribe it on your computer later save it then print it out or email it to whoever you like
thanks for listening and subscribing to the ancestral findings podcast
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weekly historical postcard giveaway i hope you have a wonderful day and happy searching