I am a story teller, and a talker. Sometimes it is hard to shut me up. I also love to hear and read stories about
what other people have done or seen. I
think that is one of the reasons I love being a genealogist and I bet it is
what drew you here too. However, we
shouldn’t just love to immerse ourselves in others stories, we should be trying
to get ours down to. So, that is the
question. How do we save, share, and
keep our memories in a way that others in the future can enjoy too?
For
many people the old standbys are perfectly fine. You can write your experiences and stories
down in a journal. Even type them on a
computer. Put them in a blog! Or, whatever mode works best for you. Some of the tried and true methods however are
starting to fall by the wayside because the technology that they were made on
is no longer available. For example, all
those reel to reel home movies or VHS tapes.
How many of you would have a way to play those today? I know our VHS player broke 2 years ago and
we haven’t replaced it. Thus sentencing
all those tapes on our shelf to sit there and glare at us in dust coated silence.
To
bring yourself into the 21st century you really need to try new tech
and new toys. These will make it
quicker, faster, and easier for you to capture your life in real time as well
as record your memories for the future.
Think about how you feel every time you uncover a family letter or a
piece of writing that was made by your ancestor. What would you give to hear a family member’s
voice again? You have the power to make
that dream come true for the future researchers in your family.
Below are a few websites, apps, and resources that I think you might find helpful. Check them out, you won't be disappointed!
Websites and Apps
Saving Memories Forever **Won the developer award at RootsTech 2014**
Resources:
Further
Reading:
“What Kids Learn From hearing Family Stories” online at The Atlantic, by Elaine Reese
Catching Stories by DeBlasio, Ganzert, Mould, Paschen, and
Sacks
Doing Oral History by Donald A. Ritchie
The Memoir Project by Marion Roach Smith
The Oral History Workshop by Cynthia Hart
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