Holidays, family reunions, and storytelling by elderly family members offer opportunities for research and preservation of personal family history.
My grandfather loved to tell tales. When he visited our house, he told ghost stories that kept my sister and me wide awake. My mother used to get on his case about that. We'd be up for a week, afraid that something horrible was lurking under the bed or in the closet. Grandpa would chuckle and tell Mom that it was good for us to be scared out of our britches every once in a while. His father had told him ghost stories and he was none the worse for wear.
"That may be true, Wesley," my mother replied testily, "but you don't have them trying to crawl in bed with you. Why don't you tell them about the time their father put that plastic doggy-doo on his sister's front steps, and how she thought she was going to get rid of it with with one fell swoop of a broom. Now THAT was funny."
The infamous plastic "doggy-doo" story was hilarious -- Mom was right. When Aunt Mary swept that disgusting thing off the porch, it sailed across the sidewalk, ricocheted off a tree, and clattered against the side of Daddy's 1938 Chevy -- right in front of a whole street-full of chuckling neighbors. To hear my grandfather tell it, Aunt Mary was so mad at my father that if she would have caught him she would have maimed him for life.
Grandpa had hundreds of family stories like that and he told them with a great flourish. One of the tragedies of my life was that I was too young to understand the value of family lore. When my grandfather died, his stories went with him. Today I can remember only bits and pieces.
How many times have you heard such tales in your own family? And how many times have you told yourself, "One of these days I'm going to write down Grandpa's stories before it's too late?" And did you also put it off until it was too late?
Personal family history should be preserved because it defines a family -- gives it an identity. Genealogists preach the gospel of "begets," of noting the birth and death dates of each family member. Vital information like marriage dates, number of children, their birth dates, and so forth, should also be duly recorded. But these are only the hard, cold facts. But there is more -- much more -- to a family than statistics.
A family can be compared to the human body. The genealogical information is like a person's skeleton, vital organs and skin. Without these, a person dies. But the one thing that sets man apart from the rest of the animals is the soul -- the characteristic that makes a person human. Family lore is the soul of the family. It, too, makes us "human."
Everyone in your family has tales to tell and there is no better time to collect family lore than at reunions, picnics, holidays -- anytime the family gathers. All that you need is a cassette tape recorder.
Contact some of the older members of your family and tell them of your plans. Ask them if they would object to you recording some of their stories. They will probably be flattered.
There are two ways that you can make your recordings. The first is during the tale swapping periods that often erupt during family get togethers. The disadvantage to this, of course, is when everyone starts talking at one, which invariably happens. However, storytellers love an audience and more spontaneous tellings occur during these situations. The second, and best, time is to get the individual alone. That way, your recording is more controlled.
Make sure that you are thoroughly familiar with your recording machine so that there will be a minimum of fiddling. Use the best quality 90-minute tape that you can afford. Make sure that the recording head and capstans are clean to avoid tape jamming. Set the microphone as close to your subject as possible so that the voice is clear and bright.
Identify the beginning of each cassette with the name of your subject, the date and place of the interview. Then ask leading questions. You are probably already familiar with the stories that are going to be told, but it might force your informant into an intimidated silence by simply saying, "Ok, Grandpa. Tell me some stories." Be specific. "Grandpa, tell me about the time that Uncle Edgar tried to teach you to drive the Model-T Ford." That kind of question gives your informant a definite direction.
Try not to interrupted a story with questions. Save those for later. By the same token, make certain that you have enough tape left in your recorder to get the entire story without having to stop to flip the cassette. Nothing is more unnerving to the storyteller than to have to pause in the middle of a narrative.
Once your tapes are recorded, make a backup copy of each one as a safeguard. Some people like to make a transcript of each tape, but that is a slow and painstaking process. The advantage, of course, is the convenience of having a hard copy of the story available.
Store your tapes in their plastic boxes in a cool, dark place where the humidity stays relatively constant. Better still, consider depositing the original tape in an archive. Not only does an archive have the facilities to preserve the original recording, but they make the material available for research. Before you go this route, however, obtain written permission from the teller -- even from a member of your own family.
Large universities, colleges, libraries, and states maintain archives. Contact the one nearest to you for their guidelines for depositing material. Some require special recording tape for originals, perhaps a sheet outlining details of your recording and, certainly, require a signed release from anyone whose voice is on the tape. Family history is sought out by these institutions and you will be contributing an invaluable record for their collection.
Whichever way you choose to go, preserving family stories is an effective way to keep family history alive and readily available for the next generation.
