Ideas for Personal History Projects
A personal history can be a complete life story, or it can be a small part of one’s life story. The ideas presented here are intended to inspire you and to help you realize that you can start anywhere—even a partial memoir or business history will be highly valued by others.
The important thing is to start now. Don’t wait for the perfect time; don’t wait until you’re perfectly organized; don’t wait until it’s too late. It’s often helpful to have a deadline—perhaps a birthday, anniversary or holiday—for completing your project. Personal history projects make perfect gifts.
For most people, it’s easier to talk than it is to write, and that’s why we recommend recording (either audio or video) your stories. We can transcribe your narrative if you’d like to see it in written form.
But if you like to write, it’s a great way to set down your thoughts and memories and save them for future readers. You can use our Memory Joggers, or investigate some of the print and internet Resources we’ve listed. Be sure to consider how your writings might best be saved for posterity. Keep extra copies in a safe, clearly marked file; consider binding them in a simple way or scanning them and publishing them in books for your children, grandchildren, local historical society or library.
A complete Life Story is the story of your life, narrated by you. Topics might include memories of your parents and grandparents, your childhood, your military experiences, your marriage, your career, places you’ve lived, your community activities, special trips, your love for your family, your hopes for the future. Production of a life story usually begins with an audio or video recording of the narrator. The recording is combined with photos, documents, music and other memoriabilia in a DVD documentary or in a book—or both. If you’ve already written your life story, Chapter Savers can help you edit, proofread and publish your manuscript as a book for your family or your community. See the FAQ and the Memory Joggers pages for more information about the Life Story.
Gift ideas: A Life Story can be a priceless gift for your children and grandchildren. Or, an adult child can work with Chapter Savers to have a parent’s story recorded.
But there are many other ways to save “chapters” of your life…and the lives of those dearest to you. Consider creating one or more of the following projects…or use these ideas as inspiration for your own, unique project.
- Simply Audio. A recorded voice interview, saved to CD and presented in a custom CD case.
- Love Story. An account of how you met, your courtship, your love for each other and your hopes for the future. It can be the centerpiece of your Life Story or it can be combined with a few pictures in a booklet or on DVD. The booklets make a touching gift for friends and family attending your wedding or anniversary celebration.
- Memories of Parents and Grandparents. If your parents have passed away, you can honor their role in your life by recording your memories of them, and combining the stories with their photos or other memorabilia. It can be produced as a booklet, DVD or both.
- Memory Cookbook. Combine recipes, stories about the cook and photos in a small cookbook that will be treasured by friends and family members.
- War Experiences. The stories of your years in the service can be saved for future generations—in fact, you should save those stories to contribute to our nation’s history. The national Veterans History Project (see the Resources page) is very interested in collecting veterans’ stories.
- Ethical Will. An ethical will is a personal legacy document or recording that summarizes an individual’s values and beliefs. It can tell what has given you pleasure in life; it can offer advice; it can make your love for your family abundantly clear. Some people store their ethical will alongside their financial will; other share it with their families as soon as they write or record it. Either way, it’s a wonderful gift. See the “This I Believe” link on the Resources page for more information.
- When Daddy (or Mommy) was Young. An ideal gift for young grandchildren from their grandparents. Combine stories of your son or daughter with pictures of them as children. Publish it as a small book that will be your grandchild’s favorite bedtime story.
- Childhood interviews. I’ve been doing short video interviews with my grandchildren for a few years now. I intend to combine them on a DVD that will be a mini-documentary of their childhood hopes and dreams, and give them the DVD when they graduate from high school (I know, they’d probably rather have a car!).
- Annotated Photo Collection. Your descendants will thank you if you combine the family photos with information about who the people are, when the photos were taken and any other details you can add. It’s a good idea to scan the photos at a high resolution and save them on a high-quality data CD-R. Copy the CD for family members, who can then print the photos they want. Along with the CD, give them a simple booklet showing each image with the information you have about it. (I’m happy to show you a copy of the annotated photo book I created last year.)
- Narrated Photos. Your photographs combined with your voice-over narration on a DVD. The photos can also be stored on the DVD—so all the recipients will be able to print photos they might like for albums or hanging on the wall.
- Letter Collections. Love letters, letters from Grandma, letters home from a college student, wartime letters. I can help you create delightful books from your letter collections. I’ll scan the originals, design the book and help you find a printer/binder who will publish as many or as few copies as you want.
- Tribute. Would you like an extra-special gift for a teacher, retiree, benefactor or grandparent? I can collect comments about the individual from friends, co-workers, students or others and help you create a beautiful book or DVD.
- Family Treasures Book. Digital photos of family treasures (jewelry, furniture and other items) are combined with text describing where they came from and any other stories about them. You can even include your wishes for who should inherit each item.
- Travel Book. Tales of your adventures and your photos are combined in a book. Makes a great gift.
- House History. All the families who’ve lived in your house, with photos showing changes through the years. This could be a book or a poster suitable for hanging in the house.
- Special Occasion DVD. Appropriate for a wedding, anniversary, graduation or other special occasion. Can include photos, music, voice-over narration and “tribute” interviews.
- Children’s Art Book. A gift for the graduating senior, containing his or her childhood drawings, poems, letters, etc.