Memories Matter
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Life Story Links: December 14, 2021
A wealth of reading on the topics of memoir writing, honoring lost loved ones through storytelling, and the best creative nonfiction pieces to read now,
“But here’s the other thing I believe about writing memoir. Even if you never publish your story, it deserves to be told. There is much to be learned from the simple act of figuring out what your story is ABOUT. Which is not the same as WHAT HAPPENED.”
—Joyce Maynard
Vintage photo of postman with his sack of deliveries; the magazine in front is The Literary Digest, dated May 22, 1920. Original photograph from Bain News Service, 1920, courtesy of Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, digital collection.
Telling Our Stories
WHO IS YOUR FAMILY?
While documenting our family history is essential, so too is stepping back to ask ourselves a few questions about our family. These two writing prompts may be just the ticket to more thoughtful storytelling and meaning-making.
STORIES HOLD POWER
On this episode of Stories in Our Roots podcast, host Heather Murphy interviews Laura Roselle of the Family Narrative Project about how we can change the meaning of a story by shifting the way we tell it:
IN CONVERSATION
Memoirists Michelle Bowdler and Kenny Fries discuss “how to write honestly and fearlessly about one’s life and the larger meaning of one’s personal experiences.”
BEING OPEN ON THE PAGE
“I’ve taught writing for more than thirty years, and I always explain to my students that writing it down is the opposite of covering it up,” Gina Barreca, Ph.D., writes in this piece suggesting that stories need a heart.
Discovering the Stories of Others
READING LIST
For your future reading pleasure: Bookmark this list of the best 60 essays in the creative nonfiction genre from the past year, as selected by the staff and readers of Entropy.
RICH NONFICTION NARRATIVE WRITING
How creative nonfiction —“this nonfiction form that let you tell stories and incorporate your experiences along with other information and ideas and personal opinions”—became a legitimate genre.
A MEMOIR FOR COVID TIMES
“Happy and sad, upbeat and poignant, optimistic and anxious, all of these stories [in the community memoir Sorrows & Silver Linings: Global Pandemic in a Small Town] paint a picture of what life was like in Carlisle when COVID struck in spring of 2020,” journalist Nancy West writes.
Memories, Legacy, Life
MEANINGFUL GIFT IDEAS
“All of these gifts connect to conversation, memory-keeping, and story-sharing in some way,” says Whitney Myers, the video biographer behind Sacred Stories in Texas. Her list of holiday giving ideas includes stocking stuffers, too.
TALKING ABOUT DECEASED FAMILY
“We got up and started walking along the edge of the lake when Andy stopped and said, ‘Boys, I have something to tell you.’” How one family honors the memory of three who died years before, with love and intention.
“THE LIFE STORY FACTORY”
“As the pandemic brought mortality into sharp relief, ghost-writing collective StoryTerrace experienced an uptick in business, publishing biographies about and for regular people. Here…we discover the extraordinary things you learn when you spend your days detailing ordinary lives.”
QUITE A JOURNEY
A U.S. soldier overseas during World War II lost a bracelet inscribed with his sweetheart's name. With the help of a hobbyist treasure hunter, the U.S. Embassy, the Marines, and, finally, a Czech-speaking woman in Colorado, it was returned to him. Hear the story:
...and a Few More Links
Review of the new book Artful Truths: The Philosophy of Memoir
Landmark photo archive of black life in New York comes to the Met.
A Florida city keeps the memory of Zora Neale Hurston alive with a heritage trail.
LitHub gathers the best reviewed memoirs and biographies of 2021.
Old photo album shows high school life in Michigan before WWII.
Rediscovered film footage offers rare glimpse of everyday life in 1920s Ireland.
Short Takes
Life Story Links: May 29, 2019
Hospice biographers, illustrated journals, personal letters, and more reveal stories & cement legacies for the next generation. Plus, things that hold memories.
“The wondrous thing about being human—the beauty and banality of it—is that we all tend to dwell in the same handful of elemental struggles, joys and sorrows, which is why a book one person writes may help another process her own life a century later...”
—Maria Popova
A mother reading to her son in Marshall, Texas, 1939. Photograph by Russell Lee, courtesy Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division.
A Legacy of Stories
ALL IN A LETTER
“There it was. My grandmother’s story, crystalizing out of the ether after 66 years.” An adopted man discovers more than he expected when searching for his birth mother’s country of origin.
HOSPICE BIOGRAPHERS
A charity in England that records people’s life stories in hospices is now set to expand its work to homeless people and prisoners.
CATCH-22
Their grandfather, Papa Julie, “could barely talk about the war at all”—so when his family discovered a journal that charts each mission’s bomb targets and casualties, “the war journal is so jarring to read.” Moreover, said grandfather just may have been the inspiration for one of literature’s most famous characters.
AN IMPRESSIONISTIC RETROSPECTIVE
What a treasure this grandfather left for his family! His hundreds of journals were “filled to the brim with thousands of illustrations, anecdotes, inventions, thoughts, dreams, adventures, misadventures, and historical events filtered through the lens of one family.” Take a peek:
RECKONING
Eve Ensler shares the story of her father’s abuse in a most original—and courageous, intimate—way in The Apology, in which she imagines an apology from her long dead father. Read an excerpt here.
Things We Hold Dear
THE ART OF CURATION
Whether you call it “culling,” as photographers do, or “curating,” as photo organizers do, it is an integral step in preparing your family photos for preservation in a book or video, or for preserving your family archive. Learn how to cull your photos for optimal storytelling and engagement.
PROTECTING FAMILY ARCHIVES
Jim Michael of the Personal History Center in Georgia shares an excerpt from his book Tell Your Story and Save the World. Find tips on preserving family archives including photographs, papers, digital media, and analog audio and video tape.
HOUSE OF MEMORIES
The Minnesota Historical Society launched a statewide dementia-awareness program that uses museum resources to teach professionals and family caregivers how to use everyday objects to draw stories out of people with memory loss.
...and a Few More Links
New biography of Susan Sontag based on hundreds of interviews with people who knew her well
Ten individuals win colorized photographs from their own family history collection.
A look back at a decade of The New York Times Lens column
Illinois man preserves the story of his family’s migration through art exhibit
Memories from a World War II scrapbook
“Lessons on Living from my 106-Year-Old Aunt Doris”
The Bob Dylan Archive finds a permanent, public home in Tulsa.
Short Takes