FAQs - Family Lore

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are Oral History and Legacy Interviews, and Why Do Them?

In contrast to broad cultural histories or media and “newsmaker” interviews, oral histories interviews explore the storyteller him or herself. Who is she in her own eyes and in her own words? What have been her life’s “milestone moments,” and why have they mattered? What life lessons has she learned, and what does she wish her future to consist of and with him and what does she want her legacy to be? Put another way, what are the essential stories and telling details that made her “her”? The answers to those questions are FamilyLore’s business to unearth, honor and preserve.

But oral histories and legacy interviews can matter for other reasons.

Many people are familiar with the idea that they simply must get an elder’s life stories while there is still time, and the sad refrain that they wish we had. That’s because a loved one’s stories are unique, and can be told by most authentically by them alone, simply because they are the only person who experienced their life “from the inside.” That voice is impossible to achieve after they’re gone.

Many FamilyLore clients wish to examine and record their life stories as way to deepen their understanding of their past as a prequel to their current life, both for their own benefit, and for the enlightenment of those who care about them. These recordings also serve as message to future generations. Indeed, oral history interviews offer a way for young people (and those yet to be born) to connect with their elders in their elders’ own voice, thereby shedding a living light on their own roots and possibilities.

How Do We Prepare for Our Interview Sessions?

Once my services are retained, I send you a written contract which we both sign, and you send me a 50 percent deposit for the work we anticipate.

I then email a questionnaire to the client or interviewee. It will give me additional background on the person’s history and highlights areas that he or she considers essential to ask about and record.

If, for example, the interviewee is the one filling out the questionnaire, its questions might include:

1) Why have you chosen to record your stories?
2) What do you hope to gain from the experience?
3) How would you like the recordings to be used?
4) What are five milestone moments in your life that you’ve got stories about?
5) Who are, or who have been, some especially significant people you’ve known, and what are some key stories you recall where they played important parts?
6) Are there any people, experiences or memories you do not wish to be part of the interview?
7) How would you like to feel at the end of the interview?

Note: Responses provide only a rough roadmap. Actual sessions will show the way in real time.

What Goes On During a Typical FamilyLore Interview Session?

We meet in a quiet comfortable place that you choose, or on Zoom. I come fully prepared with what I’ve gleaned from your questionnaire and our previous conversations. You may have brought some memory aids to the sessions, such as photos, letters and significant, sentimental or “charged” objects to jog your memory and tell me about. I give you my undivided attention and start recording and you begin to tell me the unique stories, memories, and life “takeaways” that matter to you and “could only be yours.” You can relate your stories either in rough chronological order, or in a more “stream of consciousness” mode as they occur to you, to be organized at a later date. Either way, I gently guide the conversation as needed, while always remaining open to whatever the moment brings. We conclude the interview at a set time. We may make plans for follow-up interviews to deepen or fill out your stories, or to record other memories and thoughts that matter to you.

What Happens to Interview Recordings Afterwards?

I go back to my studio and transfer the raw interview(s) to a thumb drive and send it to you. I also email you an online link to the recording(s) which you can download onto your computer and share with others, or keep for yourself alone until you decide to release it and to whom..

What About Confidentiality and Ethics?

Release or non-release of the recorded interviews will under the interviewee’s control at all times. I will never share any interviews (or any part thereof) with any person or entity without his or her explicit written permission. Interviewees can also permit release at date certain, for example, five years after their death, or the death of the principal or principals involved.

Furthermore, I will not verbally share the specific content of interviews with others, even if they are the client who hired and paid me (such as, for example, an interviewee’s grown child) without the interviewee’s explicit written permission in the release form. (Cases of dementia or mental illness will be considered on a case-by-case basis.)

Exceptions to the above: if editing services are requested, the editor must be given access to the recordings for production purposes. They are also ethically obliged to keep their content confidential.