Entries tagged as ‘family stories’
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There are some entertaining items in this Monday’s Link Roundup. One of my favorites is Vintage Tech Ads: The 15 Funniest Videos. How times have changed! And if you want to check out the popularity of your surname take a look at Find the Popularity of Your Surname. My surname, Curtis, is most popular in Australia. It surprised me. I would have said England.
- The Rise of Self-Publishing. “Last year, according to the Bowker bibliographic company, 764,448 titles were produced by self-publishers and so-called microniche publishers. (A microniche, I imagine, is a shade bigger than a self.) This is up an astonishing 181 percent from the previous year.”[Thanks to Mary M. Harrison at Morning Glory Memoirs for alerting me to this item.]
- a brief history of book printing and binding. “Youtube is an invaluable source to help us visualize a process. Here is a curated overview of book printing, from letterpress, the same process that produced the Gutenberg Bible, to the Expresso Bookmaker, and back to contemporary letterpress and hand binding.”
- The Practical Archivist. “Hi there! I’m delighted that you found my corner of cyberspace. There are oodles of Practical Archivist articles for you to enjoy, with information and advice that will help you become a better family archivist. The only question remaining is…Where would you like to start?” [ Thanks to Sarah White for alerting me to this item.]
- Vintage Tech Ads: The 15 Funniest Videos. “IT World has a humorous look back at hi-tech advertising videos of only a few years ago. Remember these ads with robot phone wars and naked spokeswomen in bathtubs? But looking back on them now, it’s hard not to find them amusing. And, yes, a little embarrassing. Cassette tape players, the Magnavox Video Writer, MS-DOS 5.0, and a young William Shatner all await you.”
- Singing Out. Written by Molly Beer and David King Dunaway, the book “is culled from more than 150 interviews and the story it tells spans seven decades and cuts across a wide swath of generations and perspectives, shedding light on the musical, political, and social aspects of the folk revival movement. In the original article below Beer looks at the experience of writing a book with another author.”
- Find the Popularity of Your Surname on PublicProfiler.org. “Just how popular is your surname? Is it popular in other countries? This web site will tell you. It won’t find your ancestors but, with less-popular surnames, it may give clues as to the emigration patterns of extended family members. Don’t try this on Smith or Jones, but with less-common surnames, it may provide clues.”
- What Makes Great Marketing… Great? “Marketing has always been about telling great stories. The problem is that telling great stories is not an easy thing to do. The reason most Marketers struggle with telling great stories is because they have not spent enough time deconstructing what makes a great story. Ira Glass is here to help. Glass is a well-known radio personality with NPR. He is the producer and host of This American Life, and there is probably nobody more suited to explain the schematics behind brilliant storytelling than he is.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: family archivist, family stories, Life stories, link roundup, Marketing, Personal historian, self-publishing, vintage tech ads
Another Monday and I have more great links for you. One of my favorites is Castaway. Here are five incredible stories, each centering on a message in a bottle. Don’t miss it! For the frugal, be sure to check out Changing Font To Save Ink.
- Legal Issues Affecting Writers. [Live Webinar $49; April 15th at 1:00 pm Eastern; duration: 75 minutes.] “Learn about the legal basics of concern to both fiction and nonfiction writers, and how to safely prepare and protect your work while not treading on the copyright or privacy rights of others. This session will also discuss how to get the most out of your publishing contract, for both articles and books.” [Thanks to Nancy Heifferon, APH Marketing Director for alerting me to this item.]
- Changing Font To Save Ink. “A Wisconsin university has found a new way to cut costs with e-mail — by changing the font. The University of Wisconsin, Green Bay has switched the default font on its e-mail system from Arial to Century Gothic. The university says the change sounds minor, but it will save money on printer ink when students print out e-mails in the new font.”
- bringing order to digital photo collections. “As more of our photographic images reside in the virtual world, we have not yet developed new systems for keeping track of them. I worry that a generation or more of photographic images will be lost. Here are two books that offer a new system for the digital era.”
- Making Web Video That Sells: eBook Review. “With the ever expanding growth of high speed internet connections, video is cropping up on most major websites more and more. Whether you are informing potential purchasers with a screencast or hoping to direct the next viral experience, video is something that most designers and developers should have at least a basic understanding of.”
- Memoir rooted in cherished, storied objects. “We look to moor our identities in things of the past,” says Seth C. Bruggeman, who teaches public history at Temple University. “We define who we are by the objects we choose to value,” Bruggeman says. “We have an almost religious belief in the power of objects to convey meaning.”
- Cast Away: 5 Amazing Stories of Messages in Bottles. “Whenever a message in a bottle is discovered on a beach or floating in the ocean, it feels like something out of a fairy tale. The idea that two people have made a connection that mathematics would say is virtually impossible gives us hope that life is more than a series of random events. Here are five stories of the almost unbelievable connections these messages have brought about.” [Thanks to Larry Lehmer of Passing It On for alerting me to this item.]
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: family stories, genealogy, How to, legal issues, life story, link roundup, memoir, web video, writers
This Monday’s Link Roundup is a marvelous mix. Make sure to check out the teleclass, workflow: key to a profitable personal history business by cj Madigan. For those of you looking for another personal history product to offer, take a look at Storyteller illustrates the arc of people’s lives who are no longer able to speak. There are some great business tips to be found in What a flight attendant taught me about business. Enjoy!
- workflow: key to a profitable personal history business. A teleclass. April 28, 2010. “How, exactly, do you get from a completed manuscript in Word to a printed and bound book? There’s more to it than just “giving your Word file to the printer”. This teleclass addresses that question for writers, editors, graphic designers, personal historians and others involved in producing privately published books, whether they do the work themselves or subcontract the various services involved.”
- Storyteller illustrates the arc of people’s lives who are no longer able to speak. “Blanchard, 57, creates what she calls “I Am Stories” for the elderly who have lost their ability to speak and express themselves … About four years ago, Blanchard wrote out a simple, one-page story about her mother, Lois Eades, who lives at St. Peter Villa, and taped it to the wall in her mom’s room. She hoped that people coming in to care for her mother would read it and learn something they hadn’t known before…Blanchard eventually typed up her mother’s story, framed and matted it, along with a photograph, and hung it in her mother’s room. Now she offers the same service to others for $150.”
- When Was the Last Time You Told Your Story? “As I write in the epigraph to The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, writing is “truly a tool of wizards, witches and sorcerers.” It’s through the alchemy of our stories, lived authentically and shared truthfully, that all worlds change, beginning with our own.”
- What a flight attendant taught me about business. “Over the past few years I have been traveling on airplanes a lot. So much that I started to pay attention to the flight attendants because although they are taken for granted, they are actually pretty smart. Here is what you can learn about business from them:”
- The Rainbow Tree Genealogy Becoming Important for Gays. “Should there ever be some gay, lesbian or transgender descendant from one of my many cousins in the future, I want them to look at our family tree and see that they are not alone. I want them to take pride in our shared history and feel that they are loved, included and valid. Gays and Lesbians have been systematically deleted from history for far too long and it’s time we started owning our rightful place in the records of our families.”
- Play gives survivors a chance to say ‘Hear Us!’ “Every playwright strives for verisimilitude, but that’s something Toby Armour didn’t have to worry about with “Hear Us!” The plain truths, the biting reactions and the raw emotions the East Haven writer captures are the verbatim words from survivors who have suffered the loss of a relative or friend through murder — people from in and around the Greater New Haven area whose stories we may have seen in headlines.”
- Blogging Fears and How to Overcome Them for Good – Part 1. “I asked you guys to spill your guts about what your blogging fears were, and you totally came through. Not everyone would be willing to say what they’re afraid of about blogging. But enough of you were brave enough to give me eleven different blogging fears, which gives me a lot of great material to work with to create a super-helpful post for you.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: business tips, family stories, Gays, genealogy, Lesbians, Life stories, link roundup, storytelling
The things you discover on Monday’s Link Roundup! Have you ever heard of “cowboy poems”? I hadn’t until I came across Tales from the ranch. Just a another creative way to capture life stories. But my favorite site has to be the newly created Popular Science Archive. With 137 years of magazine history, it’s a treasure trove of stories and images of changing life styles over the years.
- The Second Military Oral History Conference: Between Memory and History. Victoria, BC, Canada, 5-7 May 2010. “The Conference will bring together academics, students, veterans, and members of the Military to assess the value of oral history in the study of military history and contemporary military operations. More than twenty papers will be presented by scholars from the Canada, the United States and Europe. Registration: $75 General Public; $50 Veterans and Students. Registration include 2 lunches, coffee break and reception. For more information contact: dzimmerm@uvic.ca”
- Tales from the ranch. “Cowboy poems about past and modern ranch life captivated Jessica Hedges when she was a young girl…Cowboy poems are real-life stories put to rhyme and meters, similar to how songs are put together, Hedges explained. They are oral history books that are entertaining.“
- The Pioneers of American Landscape Design. “Chronicles the lives and careers of those who have designed our gardens, parks, streets, campuses, cemeteries, suburbs, and the innumerable other environments in which we live. This dynamic, ongoing series utilizes multiple formats—including biographical profiles, videotaped and transcribed oral histories, tours, and print publications—to educate, inspire, and promote the active sharing of information.”
- Tattered Cover Book Blog. Cathy, a staff member at Tattered Cover Book Store, recommends seven books for Women’s History Month.
- America’s Funniest Family Stories: A Reader’s Digest contest. “So, you think your family is funny? Your father’s stuck in a fashion time warp? Your daughter’s got her foot permanently ensconced in her mouth? Your mother-in-law is so judgmental it’s laughable? Good! We want to hear about it. Send us your funny stories about witty wives, cranky fathers, dim-witted in-laws, silly sons, spoiled pets–and more. You could win $5,000.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: cowboy poems, family stories, landscape design pioneers, Life stories, link roundup, military oral history, oral history
This Monday, with Valentine’s Day not far away, take a look at Us: Americans Talk About Love. Another favorite link of mine is Vintage Ad Browser, a great way to idle away the hours. Did you know that Aspironal is “Better than Whiskey for colds and flu”? [from a1928 medicine ad]
- Digital scribes transfer ancient words into bits and bytes. “In the corner of a quiet government office building, Leah Otak spends her work days in front of a computer and a cassette deck, poring over hundreds of hours of recorded interviews dating back as far as 1986. The interviews contain a massive trove of quickly-disappearing information: the traditional knowledge of elders from the Igloolik area covering everything from shamanism and kinship to traditional navigation methods and hunting and sewing techniques.”
- Vintage Ad Browser. “This site aims to collect vintage ads from a variety of sources, including comic books, CD-Roms, websites, APIs, your submissions, book, magazine & comic book scans, and more. At the moment, this site contains 123,311 ads.” [ Thanks to Melissa Dopp of Reel Lives Media for alerting me to this site.]
- Turn Web Pages Into PDFs. “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a way for you to capture a web page in its entirety, either for future reference or for sharing it with your friends without having to start sending links back and forth? I’d like to capture the web page as it exists today. Luckily, there is an easy method of doing just that. PDFmyURL.com is a web service that captures web sites and converts them to PDF files.”
- A Time-Lapse of a Cover Creation. “After working on the latest cover for Macworld Magazine I wanted to show what is involved in making a cover. I focused on the three main areas: the photography, photoshop and design. I chose a time lapse format to convey lots of information in a small amount of time. The only drawback of time lapse is that since half a day goes by in 30 seconds, the whole process seem so easy!”
- ZOOM – Music Licensing for Videography & Digital Imaging. “For the first time ever, as a professional producer in the United States or Canada who uses music in the production of wedding and event videos, photo presentations and other related productions, you are NOW able to purchase the rights to use copyrighted music from the artists you choose at a price you can afford! The ZOOM License Bundle makes it possible.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: family stories, link roundup, memoir, oral history, personal histories
My favorite link in this week’s roundup is Retracing Memories. It’s an innovative way of getting students interested in both poetry and remembered moments. And for something wonderfully wacky, make sure to scroll down to the bottom and check out Fake Office background noise can help your home business. It’s just what I need. 
- New U.S. Television Series: “Find My Family” on ABC. “…a program with one simple mission — to bring families back together. With the help of a dedicated team of researchers, hosts Tim Green and Lisa Joyner guide people searching for lost loved ones through emotional journeys that will change their lives forever. The heartwarming new series premieres Monday, Nov. 23 (9:30-10:00 p.m. ET), following “Dancing with the Stars.” Full-hour editions of the show will air Mondays from 9:00-10:00 p.m., ET.”
- Retracing Memories. “There are plenty of paths to poetry but few are as accessible as retracing our own memories. When we ask students to write about something they remember, we give them the gift of choosing from events that are important enough to recall. They remember because what happened was funny or scary or embarrassing or heartbreaking or silly. They may not retain every detail, but they know how they felt, and emotion is the beating heart of poetry. A bonus of memoir writing is that students cannot be wrong about their idea. It’s their memory!”
- Lights, Camera…Last Words. “Some individuals have found a way to breathe life into dry estate-planning documents: They’re supplementing them with personal messages via video. With guidance—and caveats—from attorneys and financial advisers, some elderly and terminally ill individuals, and even some young parents, are picking up video cameras or hiring professional videographers to share their life stories, express hopes for younger generations and explain why they’re leaving certain assets to certain family members.”
- Cooking up a history lesson. “For Pine Ridge Middle School consumer science teacher Sandy Brock, recipes not only carry memories, but history.That is why Brock has developed a semester-long project for her consumer science classes using “The Holocaust Cookbook,” a cookbook that contains more than 200 recipes from 120 survivors of the Holocaust.”
- Fake Office background noise can help your home business. “To sound more professional on the phone, home businesses have started playing a unique CD in the background. It’s called Thriving Office and it’s filled with the sounds people expect to hear from a successful business, such as background conversations, phones, computers and file drawers. One track is Busy and the other is Very Busy.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: family stories, Find My Family, Life stories, link roundup, memories, Resources, The Holocaust Cookbook
It’s Monday and time for some “tasty” links. One of my favorite picks this week is Slow: Life In A Tuscan Town. The book is a reminder of the potential that photos have when put in the hands of a creative story teller. My thanks to APH colleague Marcy Davis for alerting me to this story.
- Slow: Life In A Tuscan Town. “[Author Douglas Gayeton] came from a fast town, Los Angeles, to the slow village of Pistoia, Italy ten years ago and there he fell under the spell of “slow” living. He came to photograph the farmers, spent days with the mushroom hunters, and then, spent days putting together dozens of photographs (called flat film) into one photograph on which he wrote his notes, reminding himself of what he learned that day…There’s so much wisdom in this book from the people of Pistoia that makes us slow down and take stock in a way that we might not normally do in our fast food lives.”
- ‘Notes Left Behind’ Inspired by 5-Year-Old. “Young Girl Left Notes for Her Family to Find as She Died of Cancer. After 5-year-old Elena Desserich was diagnosed with an inoperable kind of cancer, she managed to spread a message of hope and healing.”
- Over 1.8 Million Native American Records Released on Footnote.com. “November 19, 2009 – Footnote.com announced today the release of their latest interactive collection of historical records: the Native American collection. Working together with the National Archives and Allen County Library, Footnote.com has created a unique collection that will help people discover new details about Native American history.”
- RootsMagic Releases Free Genealogy and Family Tree Software. “SPRINGVILLE, Utah, Nov. 19 /PRNewswire/ — RootsMagic, Inc. announced the immediate availability of RootsMagic Essentials, free desktop genealogy software based on their award-winning RootsMagic 4 system. RootsMagic Essentials contains many core features found in its namesake that allow the public to easily start tracing their family trees.”
- Editors Pick: Family Tree Legacies. “Family Tree Magazine editor Allison Stacy and I talked about everything we’d want in one of those “record your family history” books, and Family Tree Legacies: Preserving Memories Throughout Time is the result. We’re a little biased, but we love how well-organized, versatile and pretty it is (and we think it would make a good Christmas or wedding gift).”
- Nurturing the “Grand” in Grandchildren Over the Holidays. “There are at least 56 million grandparents in the country, with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting that more than 4.5 million children live with their grandparents. The report also indicates that African American grandparents are more likely to be their grandchildren’s primary caregivers compared to other ethnic groups. First 5 California recognizes the important role African American grandparents play in the lives of young children. Below are helpful tips on how grandparents can support their grandchildren in their early years. Read to your Grandchildren November is Child Literacy Month and a perfect time for grandparents to make reading a priority when spending time with their grandchildren.”
- Voice of Witness. “… a non-profit book series that empowers those most closely affected by contemporary social injustice. Using oral history as a foundation, the series depicts human rights crises around the world through the stories of the men and women who experience them.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: Douglas Gayeton, family stories, Holidays, life story, link roundup, Native American, oral history
November 9, 2009 · 1 Comment
Better late than never! This Monday’s Roundup has some great ideas for family history gifts and holiday scrapbooking. You’ll also find some interesting memoir links, particularly the one from the Philadelphia Inquirer on Celebrating the memoir.
Celebrating the memoir – fiction’s day is done? “When browsing online or in a bookstore, one might easily conclude that every third person in the country is actively engaged in writing or reading a memoir.”
Ethnicity project reveals students’ shared traits across cultures. “The students were assigned to interview a family member to determine what traits characterize their family’s cultural heritage or ethnicity, and in the process to learn more about themselves.”
Holiday Scrapbooking, Writing, & Remembering. “When orange and yellow leaves begin swirling in funnel circles outside my windows and large pots of soup and stews and homemade bread ignite my taste buds, I begin thinking about holiday memories past and how I will inspire the new ones we will create this year.”
Love Hurts: Betrayal in Memoir. “When you write about your life in essay or memoir, you naturally lean toward things that have some emotional weight: the people, places and events in your life that have had enough heft to have left a mark. Often these things involve family members—whether siblings, mates, parents or children. This is where it can get sticky.”
Now’s the Time to Start on Family History Gifts. “We don’t mean to rush you into the winter holidays—it was just Halloween—but if you’re thinking of giving family history-related gifts this year, now’s the time to start. Many such gifts require prep work: For example, you’ll need to gather, scan, digitally touch up and label photos for a photo CD; start laying out an online photo book or calendar; or collect and transcribe family stories. Maybe you want to check another record or two before finalizing a compiled family history.”
Heinz® Ketchup and Josie Bissett Team Up To Grow 57,000 Wholesome Memories. “As American families turn to simpler pleasures this summer, Heinz® Ketchup and Josie Bissett are teaming up to encourage them to celebrate a priceless part of daily life: memorable moments. At HeinzWholesomeMemories.com, families are invited to share their personal photos and favorite memories, from backyard barbeques to baseball games to family traditions. For each story shared, Heinz will make a donation to the National Gardening Association (NGA), and 57 memories will be selected to win a Growing Wholesome Memories kit, filled with supplies for creating new memories at home. In keeping with the iconic Heinz “57,” the goal is to collect 57,000 inspiring memories.”
Passing on a recipe legacy. “A recipe for wonderful memories and fascinating stories begins with a hand-me-down cookbook.”
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Categories: Monday's Link Roundup
Tagged: family stories, Holidays, Life stories, link roundup, memoir, Tips
Most people when they consider a life story project think of a book. There are a lot of good reasons for producing a book. But I’ll be honest. I have a video bias because producing video personal histories is my specialty. I also produce books but video is my passion. To see a sample of my work click here. So why should you consider a video for your or someone else’s personal history? Here are five good reasons.
- Video conveys the emotional content of a story. Watching someone choke up over a sad memory or laugh heartily at an embarrassing childhood moment powerfully captures a person’s innermost feelings.
- Video shows a person’s special little traits. One of the great strengths of video is that you can see and hear the person being interviewed. We are reminded of their uniqueness by the twinkle in their eye, their infectious smile, or their easy laugh.
- Video harnesses a rich array of media elements. Videos weave together interviews, photos, family movies, archival stock footage, music, sound effects and graphics to produce a seamless and rich tapestry of an individual’s life.
- Videos are highly portable and easily duplicated. A DVD weighs ounces and can be shipped inexpensively anywhere in the world. Now with a high speed connection you can send your video to someone through the Internet. DVDs can also be easily and inexpensively duplicated.
- Videos appeal to a media savvy younger audience. Your children and your children’s children have grown up with computers, videos and text messaging. If you want to get them to sit down with a family member’s life story, chances are they’ll watch a sixty-minute video before they’ll read a lengthy book.
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Categories: Life stories · Personal historian · Video production
Tagged: advantages, family stories, personal history, video life stories
