What’s on this site...
How it began: my 99-year old grandpa.
Why doing oral history makes me glad.
News/blog archive highlights: Interviewing, Audio equipment, Oral History Projects.
Current Article
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
How it all began
The idea for this site got its start about 6 years ago from a scrappy little cassette recorder with a built-in microphone and a battery compartment door held shut by a band-aid. That cassette recorder—along with several blank tapes and spare batteries— was given to my grandfather on his 99th birthday by his son. “Dad, use this to tell stories about what you’ve experienced in your lifetime,” my uncle said. Three and a half weeks after that birthday, I arrived back east to spend a few weeks with Grandpa in the dead of winter (He lived alone in a house in upstate New York). One night, I grabbed the recorder from the shelf, popped in a tape, thumbed the red record button down, and said, “Okay Grandpa, what is the meaning of life?” More
Latest News
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Scanfest this Sunday, 20 May
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