The Great Thanksgiving Listen

Today in the United States it is Thanksgiving, a national nondenominational day to gather with friends and family and give thanks in appreciation of what we have.  I hope you are having a good and happy Thanksgiving and are able to spend it with people you care about.

Tomorrow is The Great Thanksgiving Listen, launched by StoryCorps in 2008 (originally called the National Day of Listening).  It was deliberately scheduled on the same day as the (now infamous, as far as I am concerned) Black Friday, a day of rampant commercialism that officially used to kick off the pre-Christmas spending season (but that seems to have crept all the way into August at this point).

The Great Thanksgiving Listen, or just The Great Listen for short (#TheGreatListen), is a day when you are encouraged to talk with family, friends, and community members and record their stories.  An old proverb, attributed to multiple cultures, says that when an elder dies, a library turns to the ground.  If we don't record people's stories and share them, those stories disappear when the person passes away.

So set aside some time tomorrow to interview a relative or friend and record that person's story.  Use a mobile phone, digital camera, videocamera, cassette tape, the StoryCorps app, or whatever you have handy.  Write it down if you have to!  (StoryCorps does have recommendations for questions, equipment, and resources for people to conduct their own interviews.)  If you are with more than one family member, make it a family event and have multiple interviews.  Save those family stories and share them with other family members.  If you interview a community member, share the stories with that person's family and maybe the local library.  Make sure your family's and friends' stories are not forgotten.

StoryCorps has several specific "initiatives" focused on oral histories from particular segments of the population.  Visit the site to learn about the Stonewall Outloud (LGBTQ), Memory Loss, Military Voices (service members), and Griot (Black Americans) initiatives, in addition to others.

The Great Thanksgiving Listen 2019

This week the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving, when people gather together in appreciation of their families and friends.  And as a genealogist or family historian, this is a particularly special time because all those family members and friends are gathered together in one spot, making it the perfect time to sit down and share stories, one of the most precious things you can collect.

In 2008, StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project begun in 2003, launched the National Day of Listening, when Americans are encouraged to record the stories of family members, friends, and community members.  StoryCorps designated the Friday after Thanksgiving as the Day of Listening as a deliberate contrast to the commercial perspective of Black Friday.  This year the event has been rebranded as The Great Thanksgiving Listen, with a tag of #TheGreatListen (plus the organization has a new logo!).  And if you pledge ahead of time to participate, you will receive e-mails during the week to prepare you with ideas and tools.

Set aside time this Friday to interview a relative or friend and record that person's story.  Use a mobile phone, digital camera, videocamera, cassette tape, the StoryCorps app, or whatever you have handy.  Write it down if you have to!  (StoryCorps does have recommendations for questions, equipment, and resources for people to conduct their own interviews, since you have time to plan ahead.)  If you are with more than one family member, make it a family event and have multiple interviews.  Save those family stories and share them with other family members.  Make sure your family's and friends' stories are not forgotten.

After Thanksgiving, if you have time and are in one of the right locations, StoryCorps has recording booths in some cities in the United States and also conducts mobile tours, where people can come and record interviews.  These must be reserved ahead of time.  One of the benefits of doing a StoryCorps interview is that the recording is preserved in the Library of Congress with the rest of the collection.

StoryCorps has several specific "initiatives" focused on oral histories from particular segments of the population.  Visit the site to learn about the Stonewall Outloud (LGBTQ), Memory Loss, Military Voices (service members), and Griot (black Americans) initiatives, in addition to others.

National Day of Listening 2018

This week we will celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States, when people gather together in appreciation of their families and friends.  And because all those families and friends are gathered together in one spot, it's the perfect time to sit down and share stories, one of the best things you can collect as a family historian or genealogist.

In 2008, StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project, launched the National Day of Listening, when Americans are encouraged to record the stories of family members, friends, and community members.  StoryCorps designated the Friday after Thanksgiving as the Day of Listening as a contrast to the commercial perspective of Black Friday.

Make the time this Friday to interview a relative or friend and record that person's story.  Use a mobile phone, digital camera, videocamera, cassette tape, the StoryCorps app, or whatever you have handy.  Write it down if you have to!  (StoryCorps does have recommendations for questions, equipment, and resources for people to conduct their own interviews, since you have time to plan ahead.)  If you are with more than one family member, make it a family event and have multiple interviews.  Save those family stories and share them with other family members.

After Thanksgiving, if you have time and are in one of the right locations, StoryCorps has recording booths in some cities in the United States and also conducts mobile tours, where people can come and record interviews.  These must be reserved ahead of time.

StoryCorps has specific "initiatives" focused on oral histories from particular segments of the population.   Visit the site to learn about the Griot (black Americans), Historias (Latino Americans), Military Voices (service members), and Teachers initiatives, in addition to others.

National Day of Listening 2017

The Friday after Thanksgiving has been designated as the National Day of Listening since it was launched in 2008 by StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project.  Americans are encouraged to take the time to record the stories of family members, friends, and members of the community.  I'm posting a little later than I intended, but there is still time to participate!

StoryCorps has recommendations for equipment and resources if you want to conduct interviews today or even during the remainder of the holiday weekend.  Take some time to listen to a relative and record that person's memories.  Keep your family history alive by saving the stories and sharing them with other family members.

National Day of Listening 2016

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States, when people gather together in appreciation of their families and friends.  And because all those families and friends are gathered together, it's the perfect time to sit down and share stories, one of the best things you can collect as a family historian or genealogist.

In 2008, StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project, launched the National Day of Listening, when Americans are strongly encouraged to record the stories of family members, friends, and community members.  StoryCorps designated the Friday after Thanksgiving as the Day of Listening, which is tomorrow, so you have one day to get ready!

Make the time tomorrow to interview a relative and record that person's story.  Use a mobile phone, digital camera, videocamera, cassette tape, or whatever you have handy.  Write it down if you have to!  (Although StoryCorps does have recommendations for equipment and resources for people to conduct their own interviews.)  If you are with more than one family member, make it a family event and have multiple interviews!  Save those family stories and share them with other family members.

If you have time to plan ahead after Thanksgiving, StoryCorps has recording booths in some cities in the United States, and also conducts mobile tours, where people can come and record interviews.  These must be reserved ahead of time.

StoryCorps has specific "initiatives" focused on oral histories from particular parts of the population.   Visit the site to learn about the Griot (black Americans), Historias (Latino Americans), Military Voices (service members), and Teachers initiatives, in addition to others.

National Day of Listening

In 2008 StoryCorps, a nonprofit oral history project, launched the National Day of Listening, a day when Americans are encouraged to make time to record the stories of family members, friends, and community members.  It now regularly takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving — which means today!

StoryCorps has recording booths in some cities in the United States, and conducts mobile tours, where people can come and record interviews.  These must be reserved ahead of time.  It also has recommendations for equipment and resources for people to conduct their own interviews.

Take some time today to interview a relative and record that person's story.   Better yet, make it a family event and have multiple interviews!  Save family stories and pass them down to other family members.

Audio Heirlooms

Do you have family heirlooms of the audible variety?  That would be some kind of audio recording, such as of a family event, an oral history interview of a grandparent, or maybe a singing performance by your brother.  As with photographs, these are unique items that should be identified and saved to share with future generations.

It used to be that cassette tapes were often the way these were shared.  I have two cassettes of my aunt's uncles and aunt discussing family history and other relatives.  I even have a cassette with recordings of several of my voice recitals.  Nowadays, however, the most common way to share audio is by electronic files.  If you have old recordings, you should probably consider transferring them to a digital format and then sharing them on CD's or DVD's with family members.  Recently the New York Times published a three-part series on archiving family history; the first part discussed preserving audio, including important things to think about when converting analog to digital.

Some audio recordings are national heirlooms.  The May–June 2013 issue of the Library of Congress Magazine included an article titled "Saving Our Sounds."  The National Recording Registry includes musical, spoken word, and natural sound recordings that span 150 years of our history.  The complete list of titles in the National Recording Registry is available online and includes such things as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, Fanny Brice singing "Second Hand Rose", Scott Joplin playing ragtime, and Ishi, the last speaker of the Yahi language, singing and telling traditional stories.  Some of the recordings themselves are online also.

If you don't yet have audio heirlooms to share with family members, there are some resources to help you start.  The StoryCorps oral history project allows you to record yourself and/or a relative, gives you a copy of the recording on a DVD, and archives your recording in the Library of Congress American Folklife Center.  And this coming Wednesday, August 7, Marian Pierre-Louis will give a presentation on conducting oral history interviews and sharing them, through Legacy Family Tree Webinars.

I wish I had a recording of my father's swing band performing on Ted Mack's Amateur Hour.  But if they didn't record Gladys Knight (the winner) that night, they sure as heck didn't record my father.

StoryCorps Oral History Project

I recently heard about a U.S. program that allows people to record and share their stories.  StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit oral history project that has collected and archived more than 30,000 interviews from more than 60,000 participants since 2003.  Each interview is recorded on a CD given to the participants and is archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.  It has a weekly broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition.

StoryCorps has three permanent locations around the country (New York City, Atlanta, San Francisco) where you can go to record your interview.  It has a mobile recording trailer that travels to other locations.  It is also possible for groups to arrange their own recording sessions.

The Web site has a question generator to help you plan your interview ahead of time.  There are links to information about StoryKits and do-it-yourself instructions, if you want to make your recordings at home.  There's even an iPhone app.

StoryCorps' mission is to "provide Americans of all background and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives."  How many stories would you like to preserve from your family and friends?  How many stories have already been lost?