In 1969, my older brother Dave sent the family a brand new audio cassette recorder from Japan so we could record and play spoken letter tapes while he was stationed in Vietnam. Listening to those tapes now is like opening up a time capsule. The recordings of our younger voices captured our thoughts about the war, food, fashion, new experiences but, most importantly, they told the story of who we were then.
Over the years, I recorded people telling random family stories at reunions and special events. But when my mom grew ill with cancer, I sat down with both parents to deliberately record our family oral history. Mom knew she didn’t have much time and told her stories with the care of someone who is wrapping special presents to be opened at a much later date. It was not a sad process. She knew that my infant daughter Madeline would some day be old enough to appreciate hearing her grandmother’s voice.
For about 20 years after Mom died, I continued to record Dad’s stories. He never tired of telling about his childhood in Brooklyn, his experiences in World War II and his life with Mom. His repeated telling of some of these stories was evidence of how important they were to him. I didn’t mind. Listening was a way of showing that I cared about him.
I transferred the recordings to CDs and made copies for all of the families. In 2005, about a year before my dad died, my nephew Ben Stallings transcribed several hours of recordings. I edited the transcriptions into one large searchable MS Word document complete with a table of contents and references to the CDs and track numbers.
Both of my parents are gone now. But I can sit down and listen to them tell their stories. I hear my father’s deep voice talk about the heat of the South Pacific. I hear my mother’s gentle Midwestern accent as she tells about climbing an apple tree instead of taking her piano lesson. I am there with them. Their stories are alive for me, my children and generations to follow.
There is no doubt in my mind that recording family stories is important for preserving family history. But it is also an act of love when you sit down with someone you care about, turn on the recorder and really listen to them.
For more information on how to record family oral histories:
http://franstallings.com/Genealogy/Oguss/RecordingFamily.pdf
Ken Oguss
Professional Storyteller
Third Floor Recordings
TVOA@AOL.COM
Tags: family stories, Storytelling, Storytelling Arts of Indiana
Anyone interested in hearing more about how to do this with family members or organizations please contact me!