How does the postal service deliver letters to a place where the streets have no names? Our storyteller explains how it worked in his boyhood village in Sri Lanka.
Photo courtesy of Lankapura.com
Archive for the ‘Oral History’ Category
Where The Streets Have No Names
Friday, February 25th, 2011How does the postal service deliver letters to a place where the streets have no names? Our storyteller explains how it worked in his boyhood village in Sri Lanka.
Photo courtesy of Lankapura.com
Now That’s a Prediction!
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010Our storyteller this month shares his obsession with the movies. As a boy he kept a record of every movie he saw, and here he recalls one new actor, in 1938, who showed “promise.”
Remembering Dad
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010Susan, front left in the photo, fondly remembers her father. For him, “Everything was family.”
Learning English
Thursday, April 1st, 2010Bill grew up in the Jewish neighborhood of Brighton Beach, in Brooklyn, in the 1930s and ’40s. He eventually went to college, earned two master’s degrees, developed guidance systems for NASA’s Saturn rocket program, and became a respected home builder in Connecticut. He married his high school sweetheart and together they raised three beautiful daughters. Bill is now retired and a proud grandfather of four. Here he tells the story of how he learned to speak English at age six.
Just Bring Me Grandchildren!
Monday, March 1st, 2010Ruth celebrated her 100th birthday in October 2009. The family asked me to produce a video containing old photos and a recording of Ruth telling her life story. At first, Ruth was reluctant to do the project because she felt she hadn’t accomplished anything noteworthy or worth documenting. (One of the most common reasons why families miss the opportunity to record an elder’s stories.) Turns out that Ruth, as a high school history in the Bronx, taught Jonas Salk (developer of the polio vaccine) and William Safire (Pulitzer Prize winning writer). Needless to say, her family is very happy to have Ruth’s stories to share with future generations.
The Last Orange
Monday, February 1st, 2010Barrett saw a lot of combat during World War II. Despite the hardships–or maybe because of them–he maintained a deep appreciation for the simple things: a hot meal or even a piece of fresh fruit. This video was produced for the Rotary Club of Brookline, Massachusetts, in association with the Veterans History Project.
A Common Person
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010This month’s story is unusual in that I did not record it myself. I heard it this morning and was so moved by it that I wanted to share it with you.
So often, family members do not want to record their life stories because they feel that they didn’t do anything extraordinary, certainly not anything worthy of “a memoir.”
I hope this story inspires you to seek out those extraordinary stories locked inside the seemingly “common” people in your life.
If the audio player does not appear above, click this link: Listen to the Story
Bocce
Sunday, November 1st, 2009I interviewed Bob over the telephone from New York. I can conduct interviews in person or via telephone, to anywhere in the world.
Click Here to Play and Pause the Audio
Uncle Joe
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
If you do not see the video below, click the link to be directed to the video on YouTube: Play “Uncle Joe”
My father had eight siblings. His last-surviving brother, Joe, has lived in South Carolina since 1941, far–geographically and culturally–from his birthplace in Rhode Island. (Listen for the unusual S.C./R.I. accent.) I interviewed him recently, via telephone, and he told me a surprising story about how he got his name.
Kindergarten Song
Saturday, August 1st, 2009
If you do not see the video below, click the link to be directed to the video on YouTube: Play “Kindergarten Song”
Nadia, who turns 100 next year, recalls her first (and only) day of kindergarten in Russia, in 1916. She rode in a sleigh on her way to school and got frostbite. It took years for her toes to recover from the damage.
