Family Oral History Across the World presents a process for memorializing family histories, bringing together established oral history standards, exploratory research, and narrative data analysis.
Based on and using a prequestionnaire and over 40 recorded interviews with people from across six continents, the analysis system used in the book presents material from these interviews that brings alive the experience of the family history journey. One of the guiding principles is to encourage readers to interview family members, but also others outside the family unit, and to produce a family history in whatever format works. The book illustrates this through the inclusion of many unusual formats and stories uncovered. The book is divided into a number of themes that emerged through the analysis of numerical questionnaire and narrative interview data. Parts I, II, and III cover changing family demography, case studies, and factors such as memory, emotion, and ethics. Part IV offers a pliable process and practice guide with input and examples from interviews. It also discusses developing approaches to presenting oral histories from both oral historians and other interviewers and writers, such as journalists.
With case studies as well as example guidelines and templates, this volume is ideal both for academics interested in family history as well as professional genealogists and families themselves.
Table of Contents
PART I: ORAL HISTORY APPLIED TO FAMILY HISTORY
CHAPTER 1: ORAL HISTORY AS PART OF FAMILY HISTORY
Family History Defined by Families and by Those Who Study Them
The Role of Oral History for a Family History
Family Oral History as a Research Methodology
Memoirs, Autobiographies, Biographies
A note on the author’s family in a wide, wide world
CHAPTER 2: WHAT MAKES A FAMILY? WHO SAYS?
The Real-time Concept of Family
From Exploratory Research for This Book, Who Says?
Multi-generations, More Interview Opportunities
A note on the author’s family in a multigenerational world.
CHAPTER 3: KINSHIP IN CHANGING DEMOGRAPHIES
Census Data Combined with Other Sources
Backdrop Research to Give Context
What Different Types of Families Have to Say
Alternative family? It never felt like one!
A note on the author’s friends like family
CHAPTER 4: SMALL BUSINESS AND CAREER FAMILIES
National Park Service Families
A note on the author’s family agricultural roots transplanted
CHAPTER 5: THE COLD CASE OF A LOST PLANTATION FAMILY
Oral History Challenged by Silence
Breaking Silence to Find Family and Family History
Finding Grandmother and Her Family
Finding Aunt Ella’s Blue Bloods
Academic Research: Effects of Slavery on Descendants of Plantation Slaves
Demographic Studies and Discoveries, Plantation Effects
A Plantation Descendant on the Plantation Effect Over Generations
A Plantation Descendant on the Value and Validity of Oral History
Author’s Note: A Freeze Frame Connection
CHAPTER 6: INDIGENOUS FAMILIES OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST
Family And Lineage Histories of California Mission Indians
Overcoming Stereotypes and Extinction
The Mission Context and Challenges to Family History
The Role of Mission San Fernando Rey as a Lost and Found
Oral Tradition and DNA: Do They Concur?
Years Later, Changes Affecting Mission Indian Family History
Family Histories in Yaqui Communities
Trilingual Family Oral Histories of the Pasqua Yaqui
Voices from Penjamo, another Yaqui Community
Protocols of Navajo Family Oral History
Toward Indigenizing Family Oral History
Effect of Boarding School on Language and History
Interviewing Family Members, the Importance of Place and Protocol
Author’s Note: Where did they all go?
CHAPTER 7: FAMILIES FROM WAR-TORN, POVERTY-STRICKEN, AND/OR OPPRESSIVE REGIMES
Family Voices, Escaping, Remembering, Moving On
Remembering a German Grandma, Research to Prevent Another Holocaust
Wartime Effects on Australian Market Gardeners
A Japanese American Family Experiences and the Passage of Time
Coming from Poland under Soviet Rule
From Vietnam to France, Leaving the Fear Behind
Coming from Mexico: Murder, Poverty, PTSD, and a Matriarch’s Interventions
Orphaned in the Philippines to a Cross World Family
From the Warm Seychelles to Snowy Canada
Summary Statement from a Dedicated Life
Author’s Note: On Behalf of Dreams
PART III: FAMILY HISTORY MEMORY, EMOTION, AND ETHICS
CHAPTER 8: THE ROLE OF MEMORY IN FAMILY ORAL HISTORY
Quick Examples of Memory Sources and their Range of Emotions
Types of Memory Especially Important to Family Oral History
Family Memory, Autobiographical Memory
Collective, Public, Historical, Individual Memories
Oral Historical: Making Family Memories in Nontraditional Ways
Pointers from an Oral Historian Working in Hospital Palliative Care
Pointers from a Speech Pathologist Working in Home Care Settings
The Reliability and Validity of Memories
Author’s Note: The Purple Chair
Chapter 9: THE EMOTIONAL CONTINUUM IN FAMILY ORAL HISTORIES
Studies About Emotional Content in Interviews
Trauma, PTSD, and Triggering Traumatic Memory
Awareness on the Sadder Side of the Emotional Continuum
Sharing Salient Memories or Not
Collective Memory with Silence, Secrets, Resilience and Kinship
Accessing Family History Interviews, Listener Effects
On the Positive Side of the Continuum: Pride, Joy, Gratitude ,and More
Author’s Note: A Salient Memory Down the Chute
Chapter 10: THE ETHICS OF FAMILY ORAL HISTORY
Starting with Informed Consent
Ethics Considered by Interviewees
From Dialogs on Navigating the Ethics of Family Oral History
A Professor in Dialog: What is Ethics?
Special Situations and Family Dynamics
A Practitioner in Dialog: Quandaries in Family Oral History
Summary Dialog: Learning Ethics
PART IV: INTRODUCTION TO A FAMILY ORAL HISTORY PROCESS AND APPLICATION
CHAPTER 11: PHASE ONE, GETTING STARTED AND ORGANIZED
Leadership Roles: Anchor, Team
Consent Forms, Family Trees, Outlines and Interviews, at the Start
Author’s Note: Inside the Family Tree
CHAPTER 12: PHASE ONE, ORGANIZING TECHNOLOGY
Oral History Recording Technologies with Voices of Experts
Technology and its Back-up Systems
About Training for Recording Interviews
Author’s Note: Zoom for the Holidays
CHAPTER 13: PHASE ONE, LEARNING ABOUT ARCHIVING
Family Established Archives: Chinese, Chiriaco, Moulton
Western Reserve Historical Society Steeped in Context
National Park Service Multigenerational Family Histories
Silent Military Museum Archives, California
Archiving Family History: The Basics
Starter Filing System that Becomes an Oral History Archive
NDMS, Interview Data as a Searchable Working File and Early Archive
Author’s Note: A Bridge and a Voice in the Archived Box
CHAPTER 14: PHASE TWO, INTERVIEWING
The Interview Tenets from the Writings of Oral Historians
Preparing and Conducting Family History Interviews
Example: The Initial Interview
Example: The Significant Memories Interview
Example: The Series of Interviews by Time Periods and/or by Sites
Example: Specialized Interviews
Author’s Note, A Grandma’s Role in Interviews
CHAPTER 15: PHASE TWO, TEXTUALIZING FAMILY VOICES IN CONTEXT
About Family Oral History Transcriptions
Other Approaches to Transcribing
Editorial Integration Beyond Words
Editorial Integration over a Generation
Author’s Note: Family Over Time and Place
The Roles of Interviews with other Sources.
Weaving Multiple Stories into a History
Ways of Sharing Family Oral History
Closing Thoughts from Four Elders and Two Youngers
EPILOGUE: AN ETHICS DIALOGUE ACROSS THE OCEAN
Reconciling differing narratives
The integrity of the narrative
Family secrets or new information
Where will family history interviews be shared?
Promoting the Persistence of Memory
Appendix A: Interview Recognitions, Document and Online Sources
Non recorded Interviews, Phone Conversations, Emails, and Mail
Books and Book Chapters Consulted and/or Cited
Selected Electronic Sites from those Mentioned
Appendix B: Oral History Resources, Training Sites, and Archives Mentioned
Some Oral History Online Training and Related Topics
Some Oral History and Related Organizations on Ethics
Selected Archives from those Mentioned
TV and Online Interviews with the Author
Appendix C Exploratory Research Plans, Forms, Results
Summary of Exploratory Research Approach
Pre-Interview Checkbox Survey Form
Summary of the Checkbox Survey Results
Pre-interview Questionnaire Form
Appendix D: Example Family Tree with Family Advice
Biography
Mary Contini Gordon, Ed.D, Educational Psychology, UCLA with honors has held lead roles in corporations and educational institutions for research and development. She taught the introduction to graduate research in the California State University System. She has authored a family history under contract and biography with the support of NPS, both based on oral history interviews.
'For those interested in capturing their family history before it is lost, this book is the most complete, detailed guide one could desire. Dr. Gordon covers everything from planning to interviewing to media capture; her case studies demonstrate how important such histories can be to descendants seeking to understand their own identities.'
Dorothy Leonard, Harvard Business School, USA
‘Oral history is a valuable but still underused resource for family history. I would recommend this book to anyone considering its use, both for the wider context in which it is presented and explained here, and the wealth of practical and ethical guidance that it offers.’
Cynthia Brown, Freelance Oral Historian, UK
'Mary Gordon's book Family Oral History Across the World has finally provided future authors who wish to write their family's story with a step-by-step guide to how to go about it. Mary Gordon has skillfully added fascinating examples of the ways people from various parts of the world have embarked on writing about their families' past and what they have learnt from this experience, weaving these into her 5-phase approach to writing a successful family oral history.'
Deirdre Pirro, Journalist and Attorney, The Florentine Newspaper, Italy'Kudos to Dr. Contini-Gordon for her well researched new book on family histories. It is full of enlightening interviews and insights.'
Jo Ann Emmerich, TV and Media Executive
‘“Family Oral History Across the World” is a fascinating treatise on how the memory of our ancestors is retained for future generations. The book provides a most valuable service.’
Truby Chiaviello, PRIMO, A Magazine for and about Italian Americans, 2023, p.53 http://www.onlineprimo.com
'This book offers a practical set of processes for collecting oral histories and storing them. It provides ways to get started and plan, the issues to address, and many suggestions on preservation and storage. [...] This book opens up an approach to family stories that can sit happily next to family photos and a family tree.'
Sherryl Abrahart, Genealogists' Magazine, Journal of the Society of Genealogists, March 2024, vol.34, no.9, www.sog.org.uk, UK
