Life Story Links: August 21, 2018
“In books lies the soul of the whole past time: the articulate audible voice of the past.”
—Thomas Carlyle
During a weekend trip to our nation’s capital, I escaped the oppressive heat in the Library of Congress and found inspiration at every turn. The next line of this quote from Thomas Carlyle reads: “the articulate audible voice of the past.” Indeed.
Places in the Heart
READING TILL THE END
“Papa left the summer I turned eight.” Cinella Barnes, who tells the story of her tragic childhood in her memoir Monsoon Mansion, reads excerpts from her book to her hospitalized father in this moving essay on the power of memory and questions left unanswered.
HIBAKUSHA EXPERIENCE
As the only country that has ever suffered nuclear attacks in war, Japan has a responsibility to ensure that memories of what Hiroshima and Nagasaki went through will be passed on to future generations.
ON LOCATION
Clinton Haby of San Antonio–based StoryKeeping prefers to conduct interviews in subjects’ homes when possible, setting the interviewee at ease and capturing a familiar environment for loved ones.
Family History Takes
ODE TO ORAL TRADITIONS
“Those stories, even if they are embellished in the retelling, make a statement: This is who we are. And we remember.”
AN APPALACHIAN ODYSSEY
A genealogist and a neurologist hunt for ALS genes along a sprawling family tree. “What makes [their] work pleasurable is also what makes it hard: Tracking familial disease meant tracking families, and every branch is complicated in its own way.”
BOOKMARK THIS
Last week I offered up a curated list of resources for the genealogist who cares about story.
Paper Trails
BOOKISH NOTES
“All we talk about...is books—your book, my book, this book, that book,” writes Sarah White of First Person Productions in Madison, WI, who shares takeaways from her creative nonfiction residency in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
INSIDE AN INHERITED DIARY
Carol McLaren of Arizona–based Unique Life Stories ruminates on inherited diaries & letters as windows to the past.
...and a Few More Links
Understanding vernacular photography: collecting found photos
Reuniting stumped readers with the books from the edges of their memories—a delightful read for library lovers everywhere
A bundle of old negatives provides a connection to immigrant ancestors and a vision of what Buffalo, NY, looked like generations ago.
Short Takes