Few things spur a person to action like the hollow ache of regret, the helpless longing to rewind time and take advantage of what was, in hindsight, a missed opportunity.
So it was when Cynthia Hart, a product designer and artist who lives in New York, lost two dear friends in the same week, one to a heart attack and the other to an unexpectedly short battle with an illness.
“The fact that they’re gone, irrevocably gone, and all they can say can be gone in an instant,” Hart said. Hart began interviewing family members and friends, she said, on a mission to learn everything she could while she still could.
In December, Hart and co-author Lisa Samson published “The Oral History Workshop” ($12.95), a guide to collecting and preserving people’s life stories.
Hart’s advice: “Be relaxed, be kind, be open. And do it now.”
Talk to everybody
People often want to interview their older relatives, but don’t count out the younger folk. “Just imagine if you did an interview with a 10-year-old,” Hart said. “Twenty years from now, that would be an incredible thing to have.”
Ron Baraff, a Pittsburgh-based historian, interviewed his wife over the holidays about her relationship with her grandmother, who had died two years earlier, before he could interview her personally.
Baraff also has interviewed his sister about her life in a Tennessee commune, where she went after running away from home as a teen.
Assess comfort levels
Make sure that your subject is comfortable discussing touchy issues, Baraff said. “Emotional tipping points” can cause your subject to break down or shut down, he said.
Also, assess the best environment to keep your interviewee relaxed.
Savannah Ashour had wanted to interview her father for years, but she worried her dad, an immigrant from Egypt whose past she knew little about, would grow uncomfortable or impatient.
So Ashour, who lives in New York, mailed her father, who lives in California, a tiny digital audio recorder and directions to e-mail her the voice files.
Her father sat alone in his garden after work and recorded the story of his life, in chronological order.
“He was incredibly flattered and excited,” said Ashour, 31, who was Hart’s editor on “The Oral History Workshop.”
Be tech-smart
Digital technology is easiest and lets you do the most with the material. Try to get the best digital recording device you can afford, said Doug Boyd, director of the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History at the University of Kentucky.
Try a music store, such as Guitar Center (guitarcenter.com), or look online at Sweetwater.com. Look for recorders with good quality microphone preamps and that will record in standard formats (.wav).
Among Boyd’s favorite audio recorders are Sony PCM-M10 ($200-$300); Tascam DR-100 ($300-$400) and Marantz PMD-661 ($500-$600).
Most important, Boyd said, be sure to practice using the device before you conduct the interview, including placement of the microphone for best sound. And if you can’t afford top-of-the-line, don’t sweat it.
“Life is short, so record with whatever you can record with,” said Boyd, who conducts the technology workshops for the Oral History Association (oralhistory.org).
Ask good questions
Hart advises beginning with some of the questions that you feel are most significant, because you don’t want to run out of time.
But sometimes you need to ease in.
Among the hundreds of suggested questions in “The Oral History Workshop” is a list of ice-breakers, which includes Hart’s favorite: “What was the best day of your life?”
The book also has a list of 20 all-around great questions that can yield revealing responses, such as, “What’s the biggest mistake you ever made?”
Let your subject ramble, and don’t get caught up in making sure everything is factually accurate.
Sign a release
It may seem strange to have Grandma sign a release, but it’s best to have a written agreement on how the interview will be used: for broadcast, publication, archive, or just to distribute among family and friends.
The No. 1 rule: Honor the wishes of the interviewee.
Copy immediately
Upload your digital files as soon as possible and save them to an external or virtual hard drive. Make at least three CDs or DVDs of the interview: one to give to your interviewee, one to listen to, one to store away as a “preservation” copy, Hart said.
Spread the love
Transcribe the interviews, make CDs or DVDs to give as gifts or slip into scrapbooks, make video or audio montages, upload to YouTube, Facebook or a family Web site (if you have permission).
Many people use iTunes to manage their oral history collections, Boyd said. Helpful editing software includes Peak, Audacity and Sound Forge.
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