Fun With Nostalgia

You do not have to be an expert interviewer to be successful in capturing memories. There are some basic rules and suggestions that can help.

Have a plan. If you are interviewing a grandparent for example, the simple approach would to use a chronological path. Start with questions about their earliest memories and advance that through the various stages of their life from the early life through teen age years, young adult, and into senior years. Have key questions written down for each but be prepared to ask spontaneous related spin off questions. Follow up questions are very important to maximize getting a thorough explanation of points made. Some of the most important info can come from follow-up questions. For example a person might say they had teachers they liked and those they didn’t like. A good follow up would be to ask if they remembered any of each and explore that further.
How can you record or preserve this information? There are many options. It can be done with a recording device or a video recording or just written it down in point form as you hear it. If you audio record it, you can transcribe it later. You might even put a booklet together as a permanent memento of the conversation. In the case of a family. Member it can be distributed for the family archives.
it is important also to be sensitive to the type of personal questions that you might ask.

it is important to share the purpose of the interview with the person being interviewed. If it is to add to the family archives, if it will be printed up to share with other family members,if it is a school project, if it is just for your personal information to understand your roots etc.