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APH Members in the News

My Turn: Saving a life, for those left behind
by Jane Lehmann-Shafron, Los Angeles Times 12-12-2011
Jane's own cancer diagnosis led her to want to preserve memories of her father for her own children. (Peter Shafron / April 21, 2009)

Why memoir writer Deb Moore enjoys telling stories of others' lives.
by Terri Finch Hamilton 12-11-2011
The whole process makes her think some pretty deep thoughts. Read other stories by Terri Finch Hamilton | The Grand Rapids Press.

Personal Historians: Uncovering Our Family Stories
Mike Thompson (KNPR) interviews Barbara Tabach, APH 2011 Conference chair and Nikki Silva of NPR's Kitchen Sisters" (radio documentarians) 10-12-11

10 unique jobs that keep the world working
by Kaitlin Madden (Guampdn.com 7-10-11)
When Jennifer Campbell says she's a personal historian, people think she's a ghost writer or genealogist. She tells them she is neither. "What I do is help people tell their life stories by interviewing them and writing a narrative from their answers," she says.

Personal storytellers capture the tales, memories of people's lives
By Jennifer Miller (Des Moines Register 7-1-11).
Sherry Borzo, Pat McNees, and Larry Lehmer talk about what personal historians do.

Personal History Productions
Personal historians Susan Milstein and Andi Reese Brady tell Frank Samson how they developed a business interviewing people about their lives and presenting their stories as audio CDs or beautiful bound books.
Aging Boomers Radio Show, Sonoma County, CA 4-25-11. Listen to the interview.

Start Your Biz for Under $150. Really.
By Kate Ashford (More magazine, February 2011)
Five shrewd women launched new companies--and careers--for less than the cost of a pair of boots. Jennifer Campbell was one of them: Start-up cost for her personal history business: $52 "This doesn't feel like work to me," Campbell says. "It's just so rewarding."

Personal documentaries capture memories, values
By Hannah Sutherland, Peace Arch News, 2-24-11
Rebecca Robinson tells how she taught herself to edit videotaped interviews of seniors into DVDs for the family.

Mindfulness and meditation make a marriage
Story about personal historian Jurgen Mollers
By Louise Rafkin, "On the Couch," San Francisco Chronicle, 2-6-11

Getting to Know You: A How-To Story for Kids on How to Interview Family Members(pdf)
The Mini Page, Dec. 25-31, 2010) (c) 2010 Universal Uclick (2.0MB) [must include credit!]
Beth LaMie and Pat McNees were interviewed for this supplement to Parade Magazine

Author Offers 6 Tips to Make Writing More Interesting
By Carma Wadle (Deseret News, 9-26-10)
Don't compile data, says Dawn Thurston. Tell a story. Write at the gut level, revealing how your experiences affected you, and infusing your story with warmth and humanity.

Bequeathing Smart Strategies: How to write an ethical will.
Lauren Foster interviews legacy expert Susan Turnbull (Barron's 9-18-10)
You leave your family more than an estate. An ethical will, an extralegal, nonbinding document, is meant to communicate values and family feelings. At the end is a fine example of a brief and loving legacy letter from a mother to her children.

From Generation to Generation (pdf)
By Dara Kahn, B'nai Brith Magazine, Fall 2010
Part of it is introspection, says Ruta Sevo, APH member who participated in Pat McNees's life story writing class at the Writer's Center in Bethesda. "A lot of bad things happen as you age...[There can be a sense of] constant loss. But your memory of the past gets richer. It's very satisfying to close the loop."

Rotary club documents veterans' stories
(KVOA.com, Tucson, 11-26-10). Text and video of Steve Pender interviewing veterans, shows how professional interviews are set up.

Your Life Story - One Chapter at a Time
by Cherlene Richards (Keloland News, 8-16-10)
"Everyone has a story, but not every story is heard." Kathleen McGreevy is changing that in Sioux Falls, SD."People in KELOLAND are now archiving their lives, saving them one chapter at a time."

Mama Always Comes Home Debbie Brodsky, APH member (Bethesda Magazine, 2-10) writes about creating a deployment video - a military mom's messages to her children

Older Entrepreneurs Target Peers
By Laura Lorber (Wall Street Journal 2-16-10)
Laid off from a job in public television, Jennifer Campbell started chronicling lives. Campbell's typical clients are age 60 to 65, and, lke her, want to capture their parents' stories on CD-ROMs or books.

A bridge to the past: Personal historian helps tell stories
By Jacob Livingston (Idaho Voices, Spokesman-Review, 2-7-10)
APH member Katie Vaughan helps father of six tell his story in the book "Dreams Become Realities."

Legacy Writers Chronicle Everyday Lives
By Susan Pigg, Toronto Star, 1-2-10)
Fred Eyman had just celebrated his 80th birthday when one of his five daughters handed him a pen and a notepad and asked him to write his life story. "All I could think was, what a monster job. I was overwhelmed," says the former engineer and Courtice farmer. "Then my daughter said: 'What if we got somebody to write it for you?' Read more.

Researching Family History Has Never Been Easier
By Michael Finney (video and text, 7 On Your Side (ABC-7), 12-18-09)
APH member Alli Joseph featured.

Telling Your Story
TV interview with APH member Deb Moore and client Robin Horder-Koop about doing a personal history (5-minute YouTube video, Rachael and Terri, What's West online, 12-15-09)

The Beneficial Effects of Life Story and Legacy Activities or read the same article in pdf format (pdf icon pdf)
By Pat McNees, Journal of Geriatric Care Management, Spring 2009

HistoryCrafters
(Megan Sheridan, Seward Civic and Commerce Association, 9 April 2009)

This I Believe
By Stefani Twyford (Houston Public Radio, 2-13-09)
"I believe in the power of the family story."

Author Offers Tips on Making Personal History a Page-turner
By Robert Walsh (Deseret News, Sept. 11, 2008).
"The goal (of writing a personal history) is so that readers will know what it's like to walk in our shoes," says Dawn Thurston. "And our shoes don't have to be boring."

Seniors record stories to preserve personal history
by Marilyn Gardner (Christian Science Monitor, 5-17-08)
With notebooks, tape recorders, and video cameras, families are coaxing a lifetime of memories from beloved relatives.

No other family's quite like yours, so capture its history
By Andrea Gross (St. Petersburg Times, 50 Plus, 8-28-07)
The real family legacy is the stories, not the sterling. Those funny tales and memories needn't fade with time and distance.

Writing an Ethical Will
Lynn O'Shaughnessy (Ask Lynn 8-18-07)
An interview with ethical wills expert Barry Baines

Life Savers: Capturing your family history is a phone call away (pdf icon pdf)
Mary Helen Tibbs (Memphis magazine, 4-07, PDF) hears about the "legacy videos" produced by Verissima Productions husband-wife team, Rob Cooper and Pam Pacelli

This is your life: Napa writer has novel idea
by Jennifer Huffman (Napa Valley Register 2-17-07)
Hawley Roddick talks about the range of possible personal history products

Preserving Personal Stories: Linda Coffin is a personal historian
By Michele St. Martin (Minnesota Womenï's Press, BizWoman, October 2006)

With personal histories, everyone can star in their memoir
By Marsha King (Seattle Times, 9-29-06)
Features APH members R.J. McHatton, Karen Lynn Maher

The Business of Memory: Families want to preserve their life stories
By Ilana DeBare (San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, 8-20-06) interviews APH Members Teri Duff, Jurgen Mollers, Scott Purcell, and Jeanne Archer

These Stories Will Change Your Life
By APH member Andrea Gross (Newsweek, My Turn, 7-21-06)
What hearing her family history taught her about her mother and father

Recording Your Story
By Logan Molineaux (Daily Herald, Utah 3-6-06)
An overview of the personal history process.

How do you go about writing your autobiography? (podcast)
Jeffrey Zaslow (Wall Street Journal online, June 2006) interviews APH member Paula Stahel on the process

Save a Life . . . In a Story
Capture the stories now from your aging relatives
By Marcia Passos Duffy (SeniorJournal.com 4-12-05)
ï'To this day, I donï't understand why I did not take a tape recorder and just let her talk into it while she spun her yarns. . . .when she died I realized that while I remember some of her stories to tell to my own children, as time goes on I am forgetting the delightful details, twists and turns she gave her stories.ï'

Helpers can jog your memoirs.
Can't find the words, or the time, to record your life story? You can hire a ghostwriter or scrapbook artist to do the hard work for you.
By Dianna Marder (Philadelphia Inquirer, philly.com 11-12-04)

Ordinary People
By Chris Wright (Boston Phoenix 1-17-02). Memoirs used to be the territory of the famous, the intrepid, or the afflicted. Today, everyone's getting into the act, often with the help of a personal historian.

Candid cameras
Average folks pay to put life's memories on videotape
By Ellen Barry (Globe Staff, 6/13/2001)

The Business of Lives: Why People Are Turning to Professionals To Preserve their Life Stories David Maloof, excerpts from Hampshire Life, Daily Hampshire Gazette 8-27-99 Posted on website of Clio Associates

Read more news and earlier stories as well as the bibliography of APH founder Kitty Axelson-Berry.

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