Tracing roots of family tree

The World War II ration books connect Eva Tildon to her family’s story. She was in grade school in 1943 and doesn’t remember all the details of using the books to buy meat and sugar in Philadelphia. Still, having the ration books — as well as photos and other bits and pieces of her family history — helps Mrs. Tildon create a story she can pass on to her three grown daughters and their two sons.

“My parents did not talk much about their history,” says Mrs. Tildon, 66, of Camp Springs. “My mother died in 1994. My sister had these ration books, and I said, ’Don’t throw them away.’ It’s become a hobby of mine, learning about our family history. I want to preserve it for my family and the grandchildren.”

Mrs. Tildon and about 50 others were at a workshop at the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Museum last month, learning how to present the past for future generations. Participants brought Civil War-era tintypes, family Bibles, battered autograph books and faded photos, hoping to learn from archivists how to make sure those items last for a few more generations.

There has never been a better time to archive your family’s story, says Sharon DeBartolo Carmack, a professional genealogist and author of several books on writing a family history.

Today’s technology means you can capture legends on audio- or videotape, scan photos and documents onto a CD-ROM and create scrapbooks on archival-quality paper. You can start Web sites for the extended family to view and search databases in hopes of finding distant relatives to fill in the blanks.

“Everyone has a story to tell,” Ms. Carmack says. “For some of us, the further we get away from our heritage, the more important it is for us to record it.”

Robert Hall, the Anacostia Museum’s associate director of education, says family stories give us a sense of ourselves, but also a sense of general history.

“Preserving family history makes historical events seem real,” he says. “I am the youngest in my family. When I talk to my sisters, who are 10 to 12 years older, I am always learning.”

The most basic way to remember the stories that make your family unique is to talk. Start with the oldest relatives and ask them all the questions you can think of, says Maria Goodwin, a Washington historian and genealogist.

“The oldest person may be living history,” Ms. Goodwin told the participants at the Anacostia workshop. “Even if they are frail, you never know what you will find out. Talk to family friends. Sometimes they know as much or more, and they might have a unique perspective.”

Washington genealogist and lecturer John Philip Colletta says even if you have no idea where to begin, some basic interview questions will help you get started. Questions such as, “Where were you born? What was your house like? Who else lived there? Did you go to school?” will get elders talking.

Using props such as photos, birth certificates, newspaper clippings or civic awards will be useful to jog someone’s memory, Mr. Colletta says. Food is also a big memory maker, he says.

“Asking about holiday traditions always leads to a discussion about food,” Mr. Colletta says. “Food is an integral part of our ethnic groups and family traditions.”

What you uncover in interviews may be surprising or even frustrating, the historians say. You might run into relatives who do not want to talk, who prefer to not relive the past or uncover family secrets.

“You may have to convince people that this information is important to you,” Ms. Goodwin says. “Some people don’t want to talk about the past. Sometimes you will get information that is different from what you [expected].”

Says Ms. Carmack: “Our ancestors were human beings. They had faults and failings. You might find alcoholism or violence, for instance. Not to justify those things, but you can put them and the person into historical perspective.”

Mr. Colletta knows how family stories can get twisted and inflated over generations. He used his own family’s legend to write a book called “Only a Few Bones.” The story is about his family, who moved from New York state to Mississippi before the Civil War.

The legend was that Mr. Colletta’s great-great-grandfather was murdered in a slave revolt in his Mississippi store. Mr. Colletta’s research proved the incident took place after the Civil War and the fire may have been set by rival merchants.

The point is, every story has a kernel of truth, he says.

“That is the joy of research,” Mr. Colletta says. “Begin with the oral family lore. Then get into census records and other documents if you want, and you can figure out what part is true and why did it get distorted. The fun is putting the pieces together.”

Dave Isay, a documentary radio producer in New York, wants hundreds of thousands of people to record their family stories.

Mr. Isay is the founder of StoryCorps, a new nonprofit organization that documents the stories of Americans. The stories eventually will be housed in the Library of Congress’ American Folklife Center.

StoryCorps opened a booth at New York’s Grand Central Terminal last fall. So far, more than 500 people have paid $10 for an hourlong session in the soundproof booth. Participants, who can borrow interviewing tips from StoryCorps, leave with a CD of what they have recorded. The Library of Congress also gets a copy for the archives.

StoryCorps is planning on expanding to other cities soon, including the District, Mr. Isay says.

“We are putting oral history in the hands of the people,” he says. “We plan to collect 250,000 interviews in the next 10 years. It is important on many different levels. The soul is contained in the voice. If you make a recording, the soul lives on. By housing these in the Library of Congress, your great-grandchildren can listen to you.”

Viewing history

Writing your family story or collecting items in a memory box or book is also a great way to preserve history, provided you preserve it correctly, Ms. Carmack says.

Those who want to make a scrapbook should use archival-quality paper, Ms. Carmack says. With it, a book can last 500 years, she says.

Archival supplies are free of acid and lignon (newspaper pulp), says Kely Davis, owner of the Ashburn Family Scrapbooking Center, a store that offers many workshops for families to record history together.

Ms. Davis also says scrapbookers should use archival safe pens. Another tip: Don’t write names and dates on the back of photos. The writing eventually will seep through, she says.

Many people are using scanners, digital cameras and other electronic technology to preserve photos and documents. With those gadgets, family historians can restore color to faded photos and share one-of-a-kind items with far-flung relatives.

Ms. Carmack says backup copies should be kept just in case, nevertheless.

“Electronic media makes it easy to add music, video and photos,” she says. “But I caution against it because we haven’t yet determined whether it will last. So put it on the Internet or on a disc, but also save it the old-fashioned way.”

Simple writing is also a way to record stories. Many community colleges and senior centers offer basic classes in writing family histories. One does not need to have serious writing talent — just a story to tell and a copy center to run off a few editions.

“Fifty years from now, no one is going to be criticizing your grammar,” Ms. Carmack says.

However, there are professionals who can help pull the project together. Personal historians can, for a fee, help trace a limb of the family tree, produce a multimedia presentation of memories or do the interviewing and writing of a family’s story.

Ginny Haberman of Greenbelt wanted to get all her family stories in one place before her parents, who are in the their 80s, got too old to tell them. She hired Al Betz, a historian who owns the Life Histories Center in Westminster, Md.

Mr. Betz spent hours interviewing Mrs. Haberman’s parents, Ruth and Win Warren, and writing their life stories. For Christmas 2002, several extended family members got a bound copy.

“My father was in the FBI,” Mrs. Haberman says. “Having someone else interview him gave me another layer of perspective. My mom’s gentle strength came across in the book in a way you don’t see on a day-to-day basis.

Mrs. Haberman, 60, has always been interested in documenting her family’s story. She is a longtime scrapbook enthusiast who helps others learn the craft as a Creative Memories consultant. She calls the scrapbooks and the Warren family history tome “the treasures of my life.”

“Those memories are so important to me,” she says. “In a fire, I would grab those scrapbooks. Some people are into genealogy and family trees. That seems kind of dry to me. I want to know something about all those people.”

MORE INFO:

BOOKS —

• “SOMETHING TO REMEMBER ME BY: A STORY ABOUT LOVE AND LEGACIES,” BY SUSAN V. BOSAK, COMMUNICATION PROJECT, 2003. THIS CHILDREN’S BOOK IS ABOUT PRESERVING FAMILY STORIES AND TRADITIONS FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION.

• “YOU CAN WRITE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY,” BY SHARON DEBARTOLO CARMACK, BETTERWAY PUBLISHING, 2003. GENEALOGIST SHARON DEBARTOLO CARMACK EXPLAINS HOW ANYONE CAN RESEARCH AND WRITE HIS OR HER FAMILY HISTORY.

• “PLANTING YOUR FAMILY TREE ONLINE: HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN FAMILY HISTORY WEB SITE,” BY CYNDI HOWELLS, RUTLEDGE HILL PRESS, 2004. THIS BOOK, BY THE OPERATOR OF CYNDI’S LIST, A POPULAR GENEALOGY WEB SITE, EXPLAINS HOW TO ORGANIZE AND PRESERVE MEMORIES ONLINE.

• “THROUGH THE EYES OF YOUR ANCESTORS: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE TO UNCOVERING YOUR FAMILY’S HISTORY,” BY MAUREEN TAYLOR, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN, 1999. THIS BOOK, FOR CHILDREN AGES 10 TO 14, IS AN EASY-TO-FOLLOW GUIDE TO ORGANIZING YOUR FAMILY’S STORY.

ASSOCIATIONS —

• NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, 4527 17TH ST. NORTH, ARLINGTON, VA 22207. PHONE: 800/473-0060. WEB SITE: WWW.NGSGENEALOGY.ORG. THIS PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION HAS RESOURCES, BOOKS, TIPS AND COURSES FOR LEARNING MORE ABOUT FAMILY HISTORY.

ONLINE —

• THE ASSOCIATION OF PERSONAL HISTORIANS (WWW.PERSONALHISTORIANS.ORG), A PROFESSIONAL GROUP FOR PERSONAL HISTORIANS, OFFERS TIPS ON GATHERING FAMILY HISTORY AS WELL AS A LIST OF PERSONAL HISTORIANS NATIONWIDE.

• CYNDI’S LIST (WWW.CYNDISLIST.COM/ORAL.HTM), A SITE OPERATED BY GENEALOGY ENTHUSIAST CYNDI HOWELLS, OFFERS A LARGE SECTION WITH TIPS AND RESOURCES ON ORAL HISTORY AND INTERVIEWING FAMILY MEMBERS.

• THE LEGACY PROJECT (WWW.LEGACYPROJECT.ORG), A NONPROFIT GROUP DEDICATED TO STRENGTHENING INTERGENERATIONAL RELATIONSHIPS, HAS DOZENS OF FAMILY HISTORY ACTIVITIES TO DOWNLOAD ON ITS SITE. AMONG THE ITEMS IS A 12-PAGE LIFE-STORY TEMPLATE GRANDPARENTS AND GRANDCHILDREN CAN COMPLETE TOGETHER.

• AT WWW.FAMILYTREEMAGAZINE.COM, THE WEB SITE OF FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE, THERE ARE MANY ARTICLES AND ACTIVITY IDEAS FOR FAMILIES TO COMPLETE TOGETHER TO PRESERVE THEIR HISTORY.