Post by nzbc on Jun 12, 2016 16:33:45 GMT 12
Imagine being able to pull out an audio tape of your grandparents, or great grandparents or great-great grandparents telling stories about themselves, or other family members. What a treasure you would have.
By hearing their voices and listening to the way they tell their tales, you would not only get a glimpse into their lives, but into their personalities. You would know them in a way able to bring photographs, official documents and entries on census dockets to life, adding a rich dimension to the family tree.
Ralph Lowen, a retired psychotherapist from Amherst, has made it his mission over the past five years to get that started for future generations, as he makes his way through Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden counties recording people’s memories. He takes donations if people offer them, but has done the work for free in an effort to help people preserve family stories.
He has produced about 80 family stories so far, delving into feelings about race, religion and other strongly held emotions and beliefs.
It is a great and simple idea. We commend him for spending his time and money on such a worthy effort.
Oral history has a long tradition. Lowen says he was first impressed by these accounts when he was a Peace Corps volunteer decades ago in Senegal, West Africa, and watched how news, information and culture were passed along by word of mouth.
But he hadn’t thought seriously about it until, at a funeral, one of his own relatives expressed regret about not having asked her father family questions.
Since then, he has traveled to nursing homes, hospitals and senior centers – and anywhere else people want to meet – to record personal histories. While others have created businesses out of serving a similar purpose by making videotapes, that can be a more complicated proposition. Lowen points out that when people are very old, and in some cases ill, they may not wish to have their images preserved. Just getting a voice down is a easier matter.
Lowen makes digital recordings and then gives CDs to his subjects. He doesn’t change them in any way. He just cleans up extraneous sounds. “One of the amazing things is to see how impassioned people get with they tell their stories, he said.
It is a gift for younger family members to receive the stories. And the process can be uplifting to the elders doing the talking.
Stan Ziomek, 91, of Amherst, says that at first he was reluctant to sit down with Lowen and talk about himself, but once he got going, he had fun. “It was like reliving my life all over again and I enjoyed it,” he told Gazette reporter Fran Ryan. He has given CDs of his reminiscences to each of his six sons.
In 2008, StoryCorps started a National Day of Listening, encouraging families around Thanksgiving Day to share stories with on another. That public radio project, in operation since 2003, has produced five books of family stories, along with regular broadcasts and podcasts.
It’s something we should all take to heart. Having someone like Lowen help you get your stories down helps. But short of that, it’s not a bad idea to just turn the recorder on, and start talking. Your listeners will cherish the result.
www.gazettenet.com/Oral-history-editorial-2114545