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Hi group!
I just wanted to say that I think Joseph's suggestions are great ones-- I wish I had recorded my grandpa before he passed, and my grandma before she started to forget the details of her childhood. I just wanted to add to not take everything that is stated on faith, but do keep track (write down) the stories-- but verification helps. For example, about 12 years ago I asked my grandma about her siblings and their spouses. She was helpful for most, but when I asked her about a particular sister, she just said, "Oh... I think her husband's name is Daniel. She had three or four kids." I wrote this down, and when I asked my father, he knew nothing more than what she said. However, just last year I visited my dad's first cousin, who is about ten years older than my father. When I asked her about this tia's husband, she said, "Yes, she's had four kids, but what makes you think she married anybody?" When I told her what my grandma said, she laughed. I then realized that my grandma, a pious Catholic, did not want to admit that her sister had her children by different men, men whom she had not married. Getting different people's perspectives is fascinating, and can help add to our history.
What's amazing in my experience, though, is that in many cases, the family "legends" have been proven true. When I start to do the research, I have found some striking parallels to what has been shared to me. So, there is a definite value in oral history, for it adds color and beauty to the sometimes harsh lines of factual genealogy. Plus, I meet people through my numerous family connections. My grandparents know the older generations of relatives, and sometimes I'll take my grandma to visit a cousin, someone I've never met. This person will share information and their oral history, and in turn will introduce me to other unknown cousins. I get addresses and phone numbers, and I now have the reputation as a family historian, so when they see me again, people will share many things with me. I know lots of family secrets now, but I'll have to wait to see if I'll put them in the family genealogy. However, without making that personal connection with a visit, many of the stories would be lost.
Rosalinda
----- Original Message -----
Sent: 12/4/2004 12:29:06 PM
Subject: [ranchos] Collecting Oral History
Just some of thoughts to keep in mind when interviewing relatives or
people that knew your relatives:
1) if you can ask if its okay to interview the discussion on cassette
tape. Don't make a big deal about this as some people tend to freeze up
if you stick a microphone in their face. Rather get a high quality mike
and set it between you and your relative turn it on and forget about it.
If you get resistance emphasis how important their words are for the
future generations and how it wouldn't be right to deny her/his great
great great great grandchildren the privledge of hearing their voice.
2) if you do telephone interviews then go to Radio Shack and buy a
telephone line recording system (less than $50) that lets you plug into
your phone line and tape from any phone in the house. Still ask
permission to record.
3) if you seemed to get a good session with no problems with a cassette
recorder ask if it would be okay to do video camera. I personally don't
think a video carmera is necessary for more than a session or two. But
the cassettes are a must everytime if possible.
[Oh didn't I mention that this "Oral History" thing is something that
will take many many sessions. After all you don't expect to get 30-50
years of a persons life experiences in one 1-2 hour interview, did you?
Rather if you start mining gold from beginning ask permission to have
another session in 2-3 weeks. If you get permission call them on the
phone or go for the face to face. Enjoy and learn and transcribe your
notes and on the next visit ask questions about things that might not
have been clear the first time or that provoked other areas of discussion].
4) never have the interview to ridgedly scripted, you need to leave a
lot of room for your relatives to give their history their way.
5) try to ask open ended questions that will get the stories going:
"What were things like when you were 10 [20, 30] years old?" "Tell me
about that town." "What were your neighbors like or your school
friends?" "Tell me about the time that Grandpa Julio gave my dad 'that'
whipping?"
6) if you get to a point that needs some clarification be careful not to
ask direct questions about dates. For example is your Tia says that her
grandfather died when she was young. Don't say "What year was that?" But
rather say "Do you remember how old you were at the time?" "Were you
married by then?" "Were any of your children born by then?" "Do you
remember how old little Ruben was when Abuelito died?" Any kind of
question that would help you calculate the date of the event from know
facts. In fact you'd be surprised how those sideline questions will
provoke the conversation into other areas for you to persue when
finished with finding an approx. time period for your death date questions.
7) Come back again and again. This Oral history is something that CANNOT
wait. The records we are mining have been waiting for us for 100's of
years but with every generation that passes . . .so passes countless
gems of our history that will be lost forever. Most people get
interested in Oral history when they are old and don't have many older
relatives that they can interview. Don't make this mistake. Honor your
relatives interviewing them and keeping them and the memories of so many
past generations alive. Who knows but you might be a link between a
story that has been alive in your family for many hundreds of years and
that needs YOU to keep it alive.
joseph
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