Preserving Your History

The National September 11 Memorial and Museum is collecting history by archiving stories from September 11, 2001. Everyone has a story from that day. Everyone was touched in some way, no matter where in the world they were. Add your story and make history.

Make History! Share your 9/11 story

Has the Mutual of Omaha Aha Tour come to your hometown yet? Check out their tour schedule to see if the van is going to be near you. They are going around the country recording people’s aha moments. Do you have one you’d like to share?

Here’s their definition of an aha moment: ” a moment of clarity, a defining moment when you gain real wisdom – wisdom you use to change your life.”

You don’t even have to record your moment in their van. You can record it at home and simply upload it to their site. Join hundreds of others and share your wisdom with the world.

Henry Allingham, the world’s oldest man, died yesterday at the age of 113. He was the last surviving original member of the Royal Air Force and he fought – and survived – the First World War. When he was over 100 years ago, he started to talk to groups, the press about his generation and the huge losses they suffered in The Great War. He wanted to remind people about the true cost of war and to make sure that his “pals” were not forgotten.

A link to Henry’s autobiography

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ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) –” I’ll never forget holding World War II medic Tony Acevedo in my arms. He wept and convulsed for more than 10 minutes, his body constricting and tightening in a way I’d never seen before. “I’m sorry,” he said, repeating, “I’m sorry. I want to say more, but I can’t.”

This is written by Wayne Drash, a correspondent with CNN, writing about American POW’s who were held at a slave labor camp, in Germany, known as Berga an der Elster. A slave labor camp that, until last week, had never been recognized as such by the Army.

He ends his report with this: “My final message is to my generation and the next. Don’t be so quick to shove grandpa and grandma into a nursing home. Sit down with them. Listen to them. Hear their stories. The greatest generation. They’re cut from a different cloth and we’re losing them too fast.”

Read the full story here.

It’s Father’s Day next week. What a perfect time to sit down and ask your dad….what? What are the things that you would need or would want to know if he wasn’t around? Do you know why he lives where he does? Do you know how he met your mother? Do you know what he was called when he was a kid?

There are so many different guides that give you questions to ask in an interview. But one of the best is from StoryCorps, the NPR sponsored radio show that records people talking about their lives. You can download their list of great interview questions from their website.

Take your dad to a quiet room, set up a camera or a tape recorder and start. It doesn’t even need to be all about him. My favorite question is what is your favorite memory of me? My dad told me many times about his favorite memory of me when I was 3 years old. We were in a hotel room in Florida and I was feeling sick. He was sitting with me trying to feed me chicken noodle soup. I looked at him and said “Hello cuckoo-face.” A fairly average moment, but he loved it. And he savored it enough to tell me about it years later.

Start your own conversation.

Do you have a story to tell? Have you thought about writing it down but talked yourself out of it? “No one would want to hear my story.” Not true! Maybe you just need some help to get started.

I would recommend you pick up a copy of “My Words Are Gonna Linger – The Art of Personal History” the anthology of life stories put together by the Association of Personal Historians (of which I’m a proud member). There are 49 stories gathered or written by the members of this organization. These tales range from lighthearted to deeply moving and personal. All show why it’s important to tell your story. (While you are at the website ordering your book, you can also pick up some practical tips for writing life stories. )

Your story is important. Get busy.

Have you ever asked the relatives or friends you grew up with if you could take a look at their home videos and photos?

Over the past few years, I have created several tribute videos for aunts and uncles. In order to accomplish this, I had to get photos and video from my cousins.  While combing hours of their family’s home movies, I ran across this hilarious clip of my mom and dad hamming it up in Halloween costumes. I had never seen it and neither had any of my siblings. Throughout this mile of footage, I found all sorts of precious history as the years of birthdays, Christmases and summer vacations played out in front of me. And I learned a lot about my cousins and their family watching them grow up again on my screen.

When searching for your history, don’t forget that there are treasures hiding. And not just in the shoeboxes under your bed.

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