Continued from page 1
• Use a tape recorder to record
interview. Taping
interview will help you gather details that you might miss if you are only taking notes.
• Chat about something else for a while if
person you are interviewing seems nervous at
prospect of being tape-recorded. Your interviewee will soon relax and won't even notice
tape recorder. And once you start
interview, you will find that one subject will lead to another and one question will lead to another.
• Transcribe
tape and write up your notes after you have finished
interview. This, in itself, will provide a fine record of
stories that are told "in their own words." And you will be in good company. Studs Terkel's oral history books are written that way, and they are fascinating to read. Terkel's books include Division Street (1967), Hard Times (1970), Working (1974), The Good War (1984), The Great Divide (1988), and RACE (1992).
• After you have finished all of your interviews and have written down
stories, print
stories from your computer and put them into a three-ring binder. Make multiple copies and give them to family members as gifts. Or you might want to consider publishing
stories POD (print-on-demand). There are many POD companies, and for a price that starts out at a couple of hundred dollars, you can publish
stories as a trade paperback. To find POD companies, conduct an Internet search with
keywords, "print-on-demand."
Here are some examples of questions to help you get started with your interviews:
Subject: school
1. Where did you go to school when you were growing up? 2. Tell me about any amusing or unusual incidents that happened on your way to or from school.
3. What kinds of clothes did you wear?
4. How many students were in your class? How many students were in
whole school? How many grades?
5. What was your favorite subject? Why?
6. What was your least-favorite subject? Why?
7. Who was your favorite teacher? Why?
8. Who was your least-favorite teacher? Why?
9. Tell me about your best friend.
10. Tell me about your happiest moments in school. What was your best accomplishment?
11. Tell me about your worst moments in school. Did you learn anything from your worst moments?
12. What advice would you give to students who are in school today?

LeAnn R. Ralph is a freelance writer for two newspapers in west central Wisconsin, is the editor of the Wisconsin Regional Writer (the quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers' Assoc.) and is the author of the book, Christmas In Dairyland (True Stories From a Wisconsin Farm), http://ruralroute2.com