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In all honesty, recording Oral History is a truly beautiful gift we can give our future descendants. Not only is oral history a significant aspect of genealogy, but it is what recording family history is all about. We need to remember that the names that we see and research in our files, were those of real living breathing human beings too. Now that they are no longer with us, we must preserve their memory, and remember who they were.
Although I must admit I have not yet done this, I have read that you should prepare before you just start video taping your elders. If you ask really good questions, you will get really good answers. Be prepared to be flexible and reactive to your interviewee and sit and back and enjoy while listening to the stories and let them reminisce and remember. You will see that the past and countless family stories and anecdotes, will make your family's history come alive. Blend your questions in lively conversation that allow the memories to develop and branch out, but be ready to guide the chat back if you go off on a tangent. But on the other hand, these tangents can provide the most interesting, fascinating, sad, glorious, happy, or nail-biting stories of your family's past, and you'll have them recorded for posterity. Imagine what kind of treasure they will become to our descendant's descendants? It would be like having a diary of your retatarabuelo's stories complete with pictures.
You know know I have to do this as soon as possible myself, because I only have one more grandparent left. Mi Abuelita Cruz is my father's mother, and I've already talked and she's shared many wonderful stories, but now I seriously have to get them down on tape.
I hope you are now as inspired as I am to not waste any more time, and take the time to record your family's oral history. Remember, it's a labor of love. And if we don't act now, the opportunity to do so will have passed...forever. Don't let this happen. Preserve your oral history.
Atentamente,
Steven F. Hernandez
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