Interviewing your parents, uncles, aunts, or grandparents will likely not shed light upon the lives of very distant relatives, but it will provide you with valuable insights about the lives and personalities of your more recent relatives—insights that cannot always be obtained from the written record. Interviewing family members will also provide future generations with valuable family history information. Having recently interviewed one of my own family members I offer the following suggestions when conducting family interviews.
First off, if you plan on asking your relative(s) a significant number of questions about their family history, try not to engage them spontaneously. If possible, try to let your relative(s) know that you are interested in asking them some questions regarding family history, and schedule a separate time to talk. If you are able to meet with them in person, ask if they have any family photos or documents they can bring along to the interview. This planning will allow for a more fruitful and enjoyable interview experience.
Once you have scheduled a time to talk, come to the interview prepared. Write out a list of questions you would like to ask in order of priority. Don’t wait until the interview to come up with questions. Writing out a list of questions ahead of time will ensure that you address all of the questions you want to ask.
I recommend beginning with questions that establish basic genealogical facts. If you are interviewing a relative whose life you know very little about, begin by directing the questions toward the interviewee:
You can then transition to questions that aim at identifying the interviewees’ ancestors:
Afterwards, you might continue by raising questions that go beyond the simple genealogical facts:
This is your chance to be creative about the questions you ask. This is also your opportunity to ask questions that you can’t ask your distant relatives! Allow for some flexibility here as well, as your family member may be willing to share stories and other information with you. Make sure you note these stories. Even if your family member shares a story with you or an insight about your ancestry that might not seem entirely correct, still make note of it. These stories are still an important part of your family history/family record, and represent how your family member understands their ancestry.
Your work is not over once the interview is complete. If you took notes during the interview, I recommend rewriting or typing up the notes. When rewriting my interview notes I prefer to create a narrative report, recounting the information obtained during the interview in order of its occurrence. During an interview a family member may explain an event out of order or make a point that they intended to raise earlier when responding to a particular question. Rewriting my notes in a narrative-style format allows me to present the information provided by the family member in a chronological format that is more readable.
Moreover, try to rewrite your notes as soon as you can after the interview. Doing so will allow you to note any details or particulars that you remember from the interview, but did not have the chance to write down while the interview was occurring.
If you decide to record the interview using audio or video devices, I also recommend writing or typing up the actual sequence of the interview (just in case anything ever happens to the recorded copy). Rewriting your notes may also bring to your attention additional questions that can be raised at a future time.
When rewriting your notes, remember that you are creating a document that future family members may look at. Make sure you note the date of the interview, who you interviewed, and your relation to the interviewee. Also, make sure you present your information in a format that is logical and readable. Be clear to distinguish in your notes when you are asking a question and when your family member is providing a response. Use quotation marks to distinguish the actual language used by your family member and your summary of your family member’s responses. I also recommend recording any information from the interview that might be helpful to your family history research in separate research notes, not in the actual interview record.
Lastly, once you have rewritten your notes, I suggest giving a copy of your notes to the person you interviewed not only for them to keep, but also for them to look over. After looking at your notes, your family member may want to add to a particular response or perhaps correct a point that may not have been communicated or recorded correctly. This collaboration between interviewer and interviewee, I believe, is important for constructing an accurate family record.
The above points are only intended as suggestions when interviewing family members. These suggestions are based on my own experience, and may not work for everyone. Moreover, interviews may drift in any number of directions, and a family member’s response to a particular question may inspire additional questions you did not anticipate asking. However, coming to an interview prepared and organizing your notes after the interview, I believe, are essential.
I encourage you, if you haven’t already done so, to make time to talk with your relatives about your family history. The holiday season always reminds me how important it is to talk with our family members and to share stories, memories, and family traditions. You never know, an interview with a family member may help to point your research in an entirely new direction! Happy holidays, and happy interviewing!
