03 January 2011
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Picture Perfect: Help grandchildren identify with the family history by gathering and preserving photos and old records. Ask relatives for originals they might have that you can copy. Learn who is in the picture and any interesting stories about them. Arrange all your collected memorabilia in a scrapbook. Write down the details of the picture and how it connects to other information you have about your family such as diaries, letters, and interviews.
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Home Truths: Take the children to visit homes and towns where previous generations have lived. A home is evidence of your history, as well as an expression of the people who lived in it. It also reveals trends in architecture and construction. Fixtures and landscaping are tied up with tastes and technologies. Also, a home might offer clues about births, jobs, and the local economy.
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Talking About It: Pass on stories of your family’s past by emphasizing funny adventures highlighting similarities to or differences from your child’s experience. Gather these stories by interviewing your relatives and writing down their answers or recording them on tape. Conduct the interviews with care, and you’ll end up with a coherent oral history rather than random reminiscences. The tapes also will preserve something fragile and precious — your narrators’ voices, how they express themselves, and a sense of who they are.
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Road Trip: Take your family on a vacation to places that are significant in your family history. This will bring those places to life for the children.
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Hand-Me Downs: Keep a journal. Write what you think and feel, see, read, and hear about; weddings, jobs, scandals, news, politics, parades, etc. Relax. Start small. Keep it fun. Years from now, you will have a document that will fascinate your descendants.
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Family Video: Use the following interview questions to capture your family story on tape.
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