This is something I’ve always wanted to do since I’ve started genealogy research for my family.
When I was way younger I had 2 great grandmothers I didn’t know what a great grandmother was until I was older to me they were just my grannies. I lost one of them years ago and there isn’t a lot about her out there. Someone I knew in my lifetime and I’ve had to dig deep to find records about her.
I’ve still got family left who know a lot about my family history and I’d like to interview them before I don’t have a chance anymore has anyone done this themselves?
Not a formal interview, but one time when I was much younger my Grandma came out to visit. For some reason we were all sitting around the table one evening, and I had a tape recorder. We all started talking and I hit record and just sat there and listened. I flipped the tape when it ran out and continued taping. She passed away probably 5-10 years later and I held onto the tape. Once technology caught up, I digitized it and turned it into a cd. I break it out now and then and listen to her talking about our family history. Since then I have made it a point to record family members, even if it’s just to hear their voices again. So get after it…
Edit: I will add this, I am so glad that I didn’t try and dominate the conversation and I just let her run with it. Make sure you give the person you are recording the latitude to just talk and reminisce.
We did this when we were informed that my dad had to be leaving us very soon, and just asked some more questions about the past while recording :). It’s such a luxury to be able to hear them even when they’re gone. We also have our grandparents and parents reading a book to us on tape -> into mp3.