Memories Matter
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Life Story Links: February 4, 2025
This week’s curated roundup has plenty of recent stories of interest to family historians, personal biographers, memoirists, and memory-keepers of all kinds.
“True memoir emerges like a beast from the gut and the heart, and it’s the writer’s job to tame it, to get to know it, to dance with it—until it becomes a more palpable and ultimately beautiful creature that we feel prepared, if not totally ready, to share with the world.”
—Linda Joy Myers, Ph.D.
Vintage postcard of a well-dressed couple in a row boat on a lakeshore, postmarked 1920, from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Out now…
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
“I lived in their world through the written word, and I felt this piercing, restless, furious longing for other people’s lives.” Read an excerpt (I recommend doing so on your computer or tablet, not a phone) from This Beautiful, Ridiculous City: A Graphic Memoir by Kay Sohini.
VIETNAM: THE WAR THAT CHANGED AMERICA
“‘Sometime this year, you will go crazy, maybe more than once,’ a veteran remembers being told upon arriving in the distant land few had even heard of.” New six-part docuseries leans heavily on personal accounts to tell story of Vietnam War.
HISTORY, ANCESTRY, AND FOOD
Praisesong for The Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks “was a wonderful rabbit hole of digging into my own familial history through court records and family photographs as well as delving into the history of Appalachia and the history of foodways in the region.”
International Holocaust remembrance
‘WHY SHOULD THEY CARE?’
“One day we are going to be the ancestors that our grandchildren study, so what story do you want them to tell? Hopefully one where we protected our neighbors and not just ourselves. History is important, but only if we let it be a call to action today.”
THE HIDDEN HOLOCAUST PAPERS
Timothy Taylor pieces together his once-prominent German-Jewish family’s story, determined to honor their memory and give voice to those silenced. Through letters, diaries, and artifacts, The Hidden Holocaust Papers explores loss, survival, and the enduring impact of history on future generations. Listen to a preview below, and read how 10,000 pages of documents sent him on a journey through Germany’s dark past.
A TOOLBOX TO UPHOLD THE TRUTH
A new UNESCO report warns that generative AI could distort the historical record of the Holocaust and fuel antisemitism. Their new guide provides pedagogical principles and practical strategies to support teachers and journalists; what you need to know.
A CHOICE: DREAMS OR CONSCIENCE?
“I would ask my mother, ‘Where are they all going?’ She said, ‘They're taking them to the workhouses.’ All of our good friends and some of the children that I played with were disappearing.” An interview with the subject of A Child in Berlin, written by Utah–based personal biographer Rhonda Lauritzen.
The craft of life writing
BEGIN WITH A LIST
Lists as prompts have been in my arsenal for years, and I love this very short post from Beth Kephart with ideas and inspiration on the topic. “The words on your lists are tiny engines. The sentences you write will motor forward, or detour. No one is watching. Write as you wish. Write silly. Write loud. Write plaintive. There’s only one rule: Write you.”
‘THE COBBLER OF MEMORIES’
As AI gets better and more accessible, will there still be a need for in-person story sharing services offered by personal biographers and historians? My take? Yes, of course—and here’s why.
CONNECTING THE DOTS
“Don’t try to force your story into any particular shape. The point is just that you’re working deliberately and charting a path with intention. Some ‘arcs’ are not arcs at all but zig-zags, spirals, reverse arcs, etc.” Bonny Reichert on how to find your memoir’s narrative arc.
...and a few more links
Inspiration for making a junk journal (the next wave of memory-keeping?) from Artifact Uprising, and here, from Popsugar
How to restore and prepare an old family photo album or scrapbook for long-term preservation
“Fires destroyed your family photos. Here are some ways to restore those memories”
Robert Frank’s The Americans is “a historical document and a landmark in American culture.”
Short takes
Life Story Links: December 17, 2024
Just in time for your holiday break, a roundup overflowing with good reads—there’s family history, memoir, and writing (both guidance and recommendations).
“If you carry your childhood with you, you never become old.”
—Tom Stoppard
Vintage postcard of New York City’s Woolworth Building and City Hall at night, circa early 1900s; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Reenvisioning the past
‘MY GRANDMOTHER AS ESSENCE’
“The outlines of Margaret Finley D’Imperio’s life were revealed to me by way of a long-lost box and a misplaced letter written by the woman I called my aunt,” Beth Kephart writes in this announcement for her first novel for adults, which, she says, “yields the grandmother I remember and imagine.”
A FAMILY HISTORY RECONFIGURED
Sasha Chavchavadze uses her family history as source material for her multimedia art, creating works from shards of stories and objects discovered among her grandparents’ things (there’s plenty of intrigue and notable Russian connections, too).
A GENERATIONAL LEGACY OF CRAFTSMANSHIP
“Who might have climbed in their branches, sheltered beneath their canopies, carved a lover’s name into their living flesh? And how many lives depended on them over the years?” One family tree, among the trees of Scotland.
HOW OLD IS MY (BRITISH) HOUSE?
“In the popular BBC Two series A House Through Time, historian David Olusoga researches the history of an ordinary house, revealing the fascinating, shocking, and touching stories of its inhabitants. The program has inspired many people to find out more about the previous residents of their home.”
FACING HERSELF
“I now know it’s a common question asked of ethnically ambiguous young people: What are you? Back then, it scared me. What was I? A face was a map, and mine was unreadable.” Memoirist Melissa Febos on seeing her past and future selves.
A KID FROM MARLBORO ROAD
When his mom was stuck in Florida during Covid, Edward Burns called her daily to cheer her up—and eventually he began inviting stories from the past. Unexpectedly, those stories found their way into his first novel. Here, he talks about how he towed the line between memoir and fiction, and how his mom passed on a love of storytelling:
Writing our lives
WRITER/HUMAN
“Where does the writer stop and the man begin?” Nathan Deuel muses on writers he has met—“Or, On Learning That Cormac McCarthy Was a Creep,” as he titles the piece.
SENTIMENTAL GIFT…OR UNWANTED BURDEN?
Modern Heirloom Books’ Write Your Life—which sends weekly memory and writing prompts to annual subscribers—may be just the thing to gift your parent or loved one…or, it may not be right at all. Here’s how to know.
THE YEAR IN MEMOIR
It’s time for year-end wrap-ups, and there are plenty of lists of the best memoirs of 2024. Here are a few (will you add anything to your TBR pile, I wonder?):
SUPPORT FOR YOUR BOOK
“Deciding which type of editing support you need is a deeply personal choice.” Mali Bain, a custom publisher based in British Columbia, Canada, helps you determine which type of editing is best suited for your memoir, life story, or family history.
WHERE MEMORIES RESIDE(D)
“The story begins in 1968, when I was 13 and we left Long Island to vacation with a family of lime green lizards in a bare-bones motel next to a windy beach on the east end of St. Thomas.” Joan Bregstein on how one family’s vacation home’s significance shifted through generations.
Short takes
Life Story Links: December 3, 2024
Maybe we’re leaning into sentiment during the holiday season, or maybe it’s just a good week: This roundup is bursting at the seam with stories worth your time.
“Many writers have spoken with me privately about the feeling that they cannot remember childhood. But if I ask specific, concrete questions—‘Where was the table in the kitchen where you ate as a child? Where was the window in your bedroom?’—pictures come to the mind of the writer who ‘cannot remember.’ A picture is an image, and a longtime remembered image is like a riddle. What astonishes me is how often, if we work carefully and patiently, the slightest childhood image will give up its secret..”
—Pat Schneider
Vintage postcard with an illustration entitled “December Twilight,” postmarked 1906; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Picturing the past
STORIES OF BRAVE YOUNG MEN
A scrapbook packed with memories from WWI soldiers, including a poignant account of the 1914 Christmas truce (and a fragment of a white surrender flag), sold for thousands at auction. Around 90 wounded serviceman contributed to a nurse’s journal as part of their recuperation in hospital.
‘MARK YOUR PLACE IN HISTORY’
“You have to create images that speak.” Jamel Shabazz has long been one of my favorite photographers; while he is known as a street photographer, I would label him a photographer of humanity. “Love is the foundation of a lot of my work.” Here, a look behind the scenes, courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art:
On memoir
HOW TO BE A WRITER
“My problem was I thought you had to know what you were doing. Nonsense. You just have to start.” Memoirist Abigail Thomas on writing, plus a bonus side door prompt.
DETAILS IN FAMILY STORIES
“When writing a family story, too many flowery words can drag down a narrative. But stark facts alone won’t ignite your reader’s imagination. Rhonda Lauritzen on what’s the right amount of detail to ensure a compelling read.
PREPARE, ASK, LISTEN, PRESERVE
“Your curiosity represents the curiosity of others who may engage with the project later.” Whitney Myers on listening with intention and other tried-and-true methods for getting the best out of an interview subject.
INDUSTRY TRENDS
“Publishers are turning away from personal stories. Have readers stopped caring about each other’s lives?” Have memoirs become “almost impossible to sell”?
THE GIFT OF MEMORIES
My Write Your Life course delivers weekly memory and writing prompts via email—and just in time for holiday giving, I explore who this gift might be right (and wrong!) for. Is it you?
Manifestations of memory
MEMORIES ON A PLATE
“We prioritized narratives that emphasized intergenerational bonds, rituals, and culinary traditions,” say the editors of a new book that invites readers into 100 kitchens across India to sample food steeped in story.
HOLIDAY FOOD TRADITIONS
A new survey finds nearly half of Americans can’t make family-favorite holiday dish due to lost recipes. “Older family members in particular may hold the key to the secret ingredient from grandma’s sweet potato pie or, in my case, aunt Rhonda’s lemon meringue,” said genealogist Crista Cowan.
MORE THAN A FAMILY RECIPE
Fearless Fabulous You's Melanie Young says, “Making a family recipe and sharing a story about the person who used to prepare it can be an emotional glue that binds everyone together to recognize that person who is no longer seated at the table.”
EXPLORING YOUR ROOTS
Online tools are helping Americans travel abroad to discover their ancestry, seek out relatives, and obtain documentation for dual citizenship. Here are tips for planning a family heritage trip.
BEARING WITNESS IN SONG
“Guta uses songs to bring memories back, and she safely connects with her (often traumatic) past in this manner, in order to fulfill the imperative to remember those who have gone before us.” Filmmaker preserves songs from the Holocaust.
Telling tales
STORYTELLING CREATES UNITY
“I consider myself an itinerant storyteller,” Levar Burton said. “And the invitation is a storyteller’s stock and trade because he’s asking the audience if they want to hear his story.”
ON SELF-REFLECTION
Rachael Cerrotti has been exploring the stories we tell ourselves in her Along The Seam podcast. “But sometimes we need a break from our own narratives. Sometimes (often times?) our minds are not our best mirrors of self and we need the gift of someone else’s observations.”
SELF-PORTRAITS, NEW YORK CITY
E.B. White “was a master at finding the exact words for these small but unforgettable moments, but he always considered himself ‘a non-poet who occasionally breaks into song.’”
Journals and letters
‘THE MAKING OF SYLVIA PLATH’ EXCERPT
How Sylvia Plath found her literary voice by keeping a diary: “At an early age, Plath realized you could incorporate yourself in a medium.”
NO ORDINARY JOE
Joe Brainard’s “trove of letters leads him down from Mount Olympus on a staircase of his own words. Love, Joe reveals a man who had faults, as well as desires that could be pragmatic and unsurprisingly ambitious.”
Holiday memory-keeping
GIFT IDEAS FOR THE FAMILY HISTORIAN
Every year Family Tree magazine updates its holiday genealogy gift list—the editors say it goes “beyond DNA tests,” and it certainly does. I am honored to be included among the memory and preservation gift ideas.
PRICELESS PRESENTS
This list of “perfectly sentimental gifts for the ones who cherish memories more than things” is vastly different from the one above (my favorite recommendation just may be the heirloom trunk for safekeeping mementos).
‘DEAR MRS. DOYLE’
Not only is the audio story snippet below heartwarming and filled with gratitude just in time for Thanksgiving, but it also employs a striking graphic animation style to bring the story to life:
...and a few more links
Will heavily funded AI publisher Spines replace the role of publisher, as it promises?
Writers condemn startup Spines’s plans to publish 8,000 books next year using AI.
“Portrait of My Mother Studying for Her Citizenship Exam,” a poem by Eduardo Martínez-Leyva
Using storytelling as a tool for mentorship in schools and workplaces
50 interesting historical photos that might teach you something new, from Bored Panda
Short takes
Life Story Links: November 19, 2024
Whew, this week’s curated roundup is chock-full of reads worthy of your time! There’s memoir, family history, craft, conversation, and much more—bookmark it.
“Stories are everywhere, and although you cannot touch them, you may see them like fireflies in your backyard; they fill the night with magic.”
—Tristine Rainer
Vintage postcard of Madison Square Garden in New York City, postmarked 1908; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
What we remember
BOOMERS, SENTIMENTAL COLLECTORS?
“In many case, it will fall to kids and grandkids to decide what to do with the old dance costumes, school art projects, and childhood memorabilia their parents insisted on keeping in the attic or basement.” Read on for an expert’s advice for how to navigate “boomer junk.”
VIRTUES OF FORGETTING
“Memory for humans has been so fleeting that when we then get tools to conserve, we overindulge in it. We go overboard because we haven’t learned how to temperate our appetite for memory.” A look at context-free nostalgia and the affect of digital ‘memories’ on our actual memory.
Memoirs & oral histories of note
LEGENDARY ORAL HISTORIAN
Studs Terkel “let his interviewees tell their own stories in their own voices, and through them he painted an honest and intimate history of the American people.” Here are excerpts from five of his most iconic books.
PERSONAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Augusto Monterroso’s “memoir, with its detours and vignettes, reads like a book of experimental essays, the unifying subject matter being Monterroso’s excavation of the people and events that helped him form an early idea of himself.”
A CANCER PATIENT TURNS TO MEMOIRS
“I found consolation in these [cancer] memoirs, identifying with the struggle to hang onto and forge a meaningful life. I have experienced an intensification of emotions...[and] a new relation to my body, in particular, a sensitivity to tune into it and listen.”
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
“I have suggested that if a life is worth writing down, it should also carry some meaning—something beyond the important tale of this is what happened to me. But what, I have been asked, do I mean by that word ‘meaning?’” Beth Kephart on the universal in memoir, and a life’s work.
Preservation, posterity & personal history
GRAVERS UNITE
“I decided to solve a longtime mystery about my family. It led me to a controversial pastime that consumes thousands—and has changed untold lives.” Tony Ho Tran on his weekends with the dead.
KEEPING MEMORIES ALIVE THROUGH BRUSHSTROKES
“I don’t want to forget my Lola. I feel like we live through our stories,” this artist says of his grandmother in a poignant portrait of an intergenerational relationship he captured in a glorious self-published book. “This is. my way of keeping her present.” Here they are:
‘THE GIRL IN THE GRASS’
“A woman whose family had to sell a [Pissarro] painting in the Holocaust and a museum have struck a deal. The museum will keep the work but will help to publish a book telling the family’s story.”
A LIBRARIAN’S LEGACY (AND THE FAMILY HISTORY SHE ERASED)
While Belle da Costa Greene “was very much a public figure in the forefront of New York high society, her personal history was shrouded in secrecy, the continuance of which she took an active role in ensuring.” Now the Morgan Library is honoring the dual life of its inaugural director with a new exhibition.
SACRED PLACES
“Her room just completely speaks of who she was.” How do you make a portrait of a child who isn't there? Photographer Lou Bopp photographed the still-intact bedrooms of kids who were killed in school shootings.
Family history & storytelling resources
TURKEY AND TALES
Last week I shared a roundup of some of the most helpful and popular stories on the Modern Heirloom Books site to help you preserve your family stories this Thanksgiving.
HONOR, SERVICE, AND SACRIFICE
A new Smithsonian guide covers “Veterans Day history, personal stories, military branches and awards, and intergenerational activities to honor the legacy of the country’s veterans.”
‘DAD, I WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE WAR’
“My father would never talk about the past, not five years ago, not five minutes ago.... That’s not the way you survive in battle.” Becky Ellis in conversation with Crista Cowan about opening the door to her father’s wartime memories. Listen in below, or read the transcript here.
...and a few more links
New heritage preservation app Fireside launches to help families capture video memories.
Norman Maclean biography uncovers personal stories of beloved UChicago author.
Queen Elizabeth’s final diary entry was “as factual and practical as ever,” says her biographer.
Memories are not only in the brain: cells throughout your body store memory.
Norah Rami on tracing her history at an archival epistolary exhibition in India.
Read an excerpt from Letters by Oliver Sacks, edited by Kate Edgar (Alfred A. Knopf, 2024).
Short takes
Life Story Links: November 5, 2024
A treasure trove of recent stories about memoir writing, legacy preservation, and personal and family history, curated by longtime biographer Dawn Roode.
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
—Wordsworth
Vintage postcard with an illustration of the New York City riverfront, circa early 1900s; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Where are the stories?
‘TELL ME MORE’
“By mastering the art of follow-up questions, you become a skilled facilitator, drawing out details, emotions, and lessons that make each story unique and deeply personal.” How to level-up your family history interviews.
SNIPPETS OF HIS BOYHOOD SLIPPED OUT
Though her father was always reluctant to tell stories from his youth in Russia, “little things would drop out...and I’d think, ‘Oh, that’s a good story.’ All the while I was compiling the evidence,” Sheila Baslaw says. The 92-year-old has released a children’s books highlighting one of those family stories.
SHARED FAMILY MEMORY
“I pointed to a picture and asked, ‘What was her name again?’ He closed the book and softly said, ‘I don’t remember. And now there’s no one I can ask.’” Jill Sarkozi on how to answer family history questions when family elders are gone.
Memories made physical
THE FAMILY PHOTO LIBRARY
“One risk of photographing your life is that you’ll create an illusory version of it, a selective visual record that reflects your wishes rather than reality.” Joshua Rothman on what you can learn from photographing your life.
THE REAL VALUE OF ALL THAT STUFF?
“As one of my first clients aptly put it, they hired me to ‘prevent the boxes that went unopened and unsorted from my grandparents' house into my dad's attic, from going unopened and unsorted into my attic.’” Clémence Scouten offers up concrete advice for what to do when personal memorabilia becomes part of an estate.
LEAN INTO YOUR SENTIMENTAL SIDE
“Your life and memories deserve to be preserved in beautiful ways.” Crafty influencer Martina Calvi is inspiring a resurgence in scrapbooking—the good, old-fashioned glue-and-paper kind.
A WINDOW TO HISTORY
In Ruth Hunduma’s short documentary The Medallion (watch it here), the story of Ethiopia’s Red Terror is told through a family artifact and a mother’s memories.
SYMBOLS OF THE STRUGGLE
“For some reason, we never once took a family portrait with all three generations in one frame. But we had the corkboard, testament to the things that mattered to us across eight decades.” How protest pins taught the author about her family history.
A VAULT OF CREATIVITY
“The Bob Dylan Archive had long been a subject of rumor and legend.... It was kind of hard to picture Mr. Don’t Look Back himself boxing up old notebooks for posterity. But if he didn’t, someone did.”
Of memoir and memoirists
GIRL MEETS WORLD
“You sometimes buy high heels but you never wear them, because who wants to be caught by shoes in which she can’t run away.” Read a beautiful excerpt from My Good Bright Wolf: A Memoir by Sarah Moss.
STAR STORIES
“Candid, intelligent books that reveal the humans under the headlines, the dark side of the spotlight, and the epic stories that the tabloids could never capture”: Oprah Daily rounds up the 25 best celebrity memoirs of all time.
ORIGIN STORY
“Over the years, I’ve often been asked about my upbringing, my time at Harvard, and co-founding the company. Those questions made me realize that people might be interested in my journey and the factors that influenced it.” Bill Gates’s memoir, Source Code, will be out in 2025. (Meanwhile, Gates disputes much of an author’s reporting in a new biography about him.)
‘LEFTOVER LOVE’
“Over the years she told me her stories and I told her my stories. Both of us recognizing and accepting the way they rhymed and the way they didn’t.” A story about intergenerational friendship.
‘MEMORIES OF DISTANT MOUNTAINS’
A peek inside the illustrated notebooks of memoirist and Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, arranged by the author not in chronological order, but emotional order.
...and a few more links
A review of Francine Prose’s memoir 1974: A Personal History
Podcast features personal accounts of Mississippians who lived through WWII.
“If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do a thousand pictures say?”
New app, Autobiographer, aims to preserve life stories through “adaptive conversation.”
A look at free speech and hate speech through a memoirist’s lens
In Washington, preserving the memories of veterans, one headstone at a time
The best sentimental gift ideas for 2024, according to Good Housekeeping
Short takes
Life Story Links: October 22, 2024
Covering a 3-week period (we took a week off!), Dawn Roode’s curated roundup for October 22, 2024, is especially rich—bookmark this one, fellow storytellers!
“Memories aren’t merely scenes; they’re microscopic moments: powder sticking to your fingers after scarfing a funnel cake; holding your right arm out of the passenger window to feel it bounce in the wind; the hilarious whine of middle-school voices singing along with Kurt Cobain or Eddie Vedder.”
—John Hendrickson
Vintage postcard featuring an illustration of a lighthouse near Effingham Yorks, postmarked 1907; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
One story at a time
AND THEN…?
“Whether you’re interviewing your parents about their childhood or gathering family history info from your grandparents, good follow-up questions are key.”
INTERGENERATIONAL BONDING THROUGH STORIES
“I wish I had learned more of [my grandfather’s] stories, but he died before I knew what to ask and how to listen,” Rachael Cerrotti writes in this reflection on Lois Lowry’s new book, Tree. Table. Book.”
“WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING YOU?”
Brandon Doman founded The Strangers Project in 2009, and he’s collected (in person!) more than 85,000 handwritten individual stories. “I want to create a space for people to connect with the stories of the people they share their world with, and to connect with their own story. To put it simply, I do this because someone just might need it.” (Want to contribute or immerse yourself in stories? The project currently has a gallery-style exhibition at The Oculus in downtown NYC.)
A RICH LIFE
“I don’t want people to feel that their childhood needs to be their life story,” Ina Garten told a NYT reporter when discussing how the media has reported almost solely on one portion of her memoir. “You are not who your parents thought you were, or whatever bad thing that happened to you.”
OVERCOMING PROCRASTINATION
“The memories and narratives that form the core of a family’s identity can fade—or worse, be lost entirely—especially if a loved one begins to experience cognitive decline.” Jamie Yuenger, StoryKeep founder, on how procrastination is a thief when it comes to family legacy.
Craft and memoir
MESSY, VULNERABLE STORIES
“For those of us [book editors] who worked on memoir, the egg we carried was a little more fragile, the pieces we sometimes picked up, the shattered part of ourselves.” Betsy Lerner on the act of writing a confessional memoir as both a ray of hope and a cry for help.
A QUEST FOR ‘NARRATIVE COMPLETION’
When Kyo Maclear took a DNA test to learn more about her father’s ancestry, her long-held family narrative deflated. In this interview, we get a glimpse into the thematic layers of the memoir that resulted, Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets.
PAINTING ACCURATE SELF-PORTRAITS
“I mined my brain, every crevice, searching for parts of me that only I knew. Even though not all the information I obtained was used in my writing, once I brought my protagonist to life and set him aside from the crowd with oddities and quirks, I began my story.” Travis Harman on the craft of character in memoir.
“PATRIOT,” A POSTHUMOUS MEMOIR
“When you lose somebody who’s very close to you, you want everyone to remember him.” In the case of Aleksei Navalny’s, his wife has published his prison memoirs (in 22 languages) for a greater good, too: “to instill hope in the struggling Russian opposition movement, and to keep her husband present in the world.”
Pictures and stories
SNAPSHOTS OF INTIMACY
“A joint memoir by the Nobel winner [Annie Ernaux] and her former lover [Marc Marie] uses pictures taken during their time together to reflect on the transient nature of passion—and of life.”
FINDING THE UNIVERSAL IN THE PARTICULAR
In Juggling Life’s Threads, photographer Adam Lin creates a pictorial portrait of one man’s life (informed by a series of in-depth interviews that guided the photography), digging deep into his subject’s personal life, “where duty and passion intersect.”
Making history personal
SHAPING HISTORY
“History, as the word suggests, is always personal.... Every episode in human history is built on countless individual memories.” Lessons from Germany on keeping memories of historical wrongs alive.
GENEALOGICAL TRUTH-TELLING
“There’s something deeply moving about Bruno and Mire, descendant of the enslaver and descendant of the enslaved, working together to gain a clear-eyed view of their shared history.” A Hudson Valley Reckoning highlights not only the author’s family roots, but also the erasure of enslavement history in the North.
THE HOLOCAUST’S GRANDCHILDREN
“To be of the third generation [of Holocaust survivors]…is to have just the right proximity to the event—close enough to want to keep it in memory, not so close to want it in the present tense; close enough to think it is a part of them, not so close to think it cannot have different meanings for others.”
...and a few more links
Ideas to write a novel based on your life and family history.
Beth Kephart on the memoir responsible for her “memoir obsessed life”
To Coney, With Love collects memories of a beloved Ohio amusement park.
Keep your memories organized and safe with a photo storage box.
Lily Ebert, who kept Holocaust memory alive on TikTok, dies at 100.
Photographer recaptures childhood memories with his grandfather’s 70-year-old camera.
New research shows how brain records complex aspects of social memory.
Short takes
Life Story Links: October 1, 2024
Dawn’s curated roundup for the week of October 1, 2024, includes an array of stories of interest to personal historians, family history lovers, and memoirists.
“Memory arrives in fragments. Truth erupts; it finds us.”
—Beth Kephart
Vintage postcard depicting an illustration of the lake in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, postmarked 1909, Vicksburg, Mississippi; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Personal history miscellany
WORDS FROM BEYOND
Sarah Leavitt says that years after her partner died, a final voice memo her partner left—called “for my beautiful companion”—helped her heal. “I lost my breath: That was the day before Donimo died. How was this happening?”
WHAT WOULD YOU DECIDE?
I recently published a brief 3-part series about choices I wish my clients hadn’t made, in hopes that sharing a few of these differences of opinion might be instructive for those waffling over similar decisions. In part three, a look at the importance (or not?) of photo captions.
OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW
A new study explores “how mental clutter—the stuff we can't seem to forget—affects our memory as we get older.” Two Boston University professors break down the science and explain how age impacts working memory.
IMMIGRANT LANGUAGE INHERITANCE
“Why is it...that some families manage to successfully pass their heritage language onto the next generation while other families struggle to do so?”
ONE-WORD TITLE: ‘DIARY’
“As the Nazis performed executions deep in the Lithuanian woods, one local man took detailed, dispassionate notes. He was unwittingly creating one of the most unusual documents in history.”
COLLECTIVE MEMORY
“Zoomed out, the Internet Archive is one of the most important historical-preservation organizations in the world. The Wayback Machine has assumed a default position as a safety valve against digital oblivion.” Why this digital library is in danger.
World food heritage
STORIES FROM INDIAN KITCHENS
In these cookbooks, Indian food “becomes a portal to memories, emotions, and nostalgia. These authors delve deep into their culinary roots, preserving not just recipes, but the stories and heritage that surround them.”
EGYPT’S FOOD LEGACY
In this episode of The Storied Recipe, Dr. Mennat-Allah Al Dorry discusses the role of food in daily life for ancient Egyptians, why food traditions are disappearing for today’s Egyptians, and her own deep commitment to unearthing Egypt’s ancient food heritage and preserving today’s:
...and a few more links
Short takes
Life Story Links: September 3, 2024
This week’s curated roundup includes insightful interviews with personal historians, new memoirs of note, legacy preservation tips & more memory-keeping ideas.
“A family history is not complete until it considers the time and place in which each individual lived. Our ancestors were affected by the events around them, just as people are now; their relationship to their environment is an important part of the family’s story.”
—Carmen J. Finley
Vintage postcard from a German American Novelty Art Series depicting an illustration of a sailboat, postmarked 1907; from the personal ephemera collection of Dawn Roode.
Interviewers get interviewed!
CREATING LEGACIES
New York–based personal biographer Alan Bergman was profiled in the Scarsdale Insider (as it happens, by one of my former Parenting magazine colleagues 😉).
PERSONAL HISTORIANS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
It’s good for the personal history industry as a whole when one (or in this case, two) of us has a spotlight shone on their business. In this episode of Smart Money, Julie McDonald Zander and Gloria Nussbaum, personal historians based in the Northwest United States, spread the good word. Two of my favorite quotes: “It’s amazing what people will tell you when you ask a question and then shut up and listen.” AND: “We need someone to receive the story.”
Miscellaneous memoir & memory-keeping
FROM DAILY RITUALS TO HISTORIC MOMENTS
“10,000 days, 10,000 photos, 10,000 stories, 10,000 memories,” Michael Deering says of his photo collection. He has taken a photo a day for 27 years, and he’s still at it.
TO CUT OR NOT TO CUT?
“The first draft of your life story is likely to include some stuff you decide to cut later—but should none of your challenges make it into your final book?” Last week I wrote about a time a client and I disagreed on final edits.
THE POWER OF PURPOSEFUL REFLECTION
“Life review arose in the 1960s to help people at the end of their lives articulate and make peace with their legacies. But new research suggests that the process of reflecting on previous experiences has value for people at all ages.”
LEGACIES OF TRAUMA…AND HEALING
Research suggests that engaging with your family history “can boost mental health and act as a powerful tool in helping heal generational trauma.”
INTERCONNECTION OF PHOTOS AND FILM
For people who “can’t decide whether to start with organizing their vast collection of images or focus on recording the rich stories behind those memories,” Texas–based video biographer Whitney Myers has some sage advice.
FOR YOUR MEMOIR TBR PILE
“I feel rich knowing I have all of those memoirs to try out,” Patricia Charpentier says in this video review of the podcast Let’s Talk Memoir, hosted by Ronit Plank:
...and a few more links
How to convert a live photo into a video clip in iOS: a step-by-step guide
When designing books, Claire Huss is unafraid of bold crops and unexpected color combinations
Samantha Dion Baker shares some of her favorite books for creative inspiration
Rejecting denial and embracing sorrow: on writing the story of a husband’s suicide
Using generative AI to perform life reviews at any stage of life
Short takes