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Motivation and Inspiration for The Family Historian in Us All!

In a nutshell, I want to help ensure that as many stories about you and your family are preserved and past on to your children and grandchildren as possible.

I try to do that through a combination of inspiring stories and reviews of cool "Tools and Toys" that a family historian (like you) has available to them on the Web. I want to make it easier for you and above all else.... a lot of fun!

Jun 19, 2009, Father and Son

Another Storycorps short audio recording. These recordings are wonderful and this is just one, of many. With Fathers Days approachingI thought this would be very appropriate!

"Brian Miller talks to his son, Johnathan Emerson, about adopting him as a single dad nearly ten years ago."

Also be sure to visit my Father'sDay Poem page:

http://www.familyhistoryproducts.com/fathers-day-poem.html

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Jun 19, 2009, My Grandfather

On my 32nd birthday I went to visit my native place. My grand father was still alive and I was always very fond of him. He was the person who taught

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Jun 10, 2009, Family Reunion Activities - Family Reunion Game Ideas that Spotlight Family History and Inspire Family Unity

When planning family reunion activities, don't forget to include games and activities that help share family memories, genealogy and family heritage

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Jun 9, 2009, A Printable Family Calendar - A Great Father's Day Gift?

Create amazing printable family calendar and share family history. Insert pictures, family events and facts...and print monthly calendars for years to come

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Jun 8, 2009, Family Traditions Grow Lasting Memories

Kristen Shamus wrote a beautiful article, in The Detroit Free Press over the weekend.

It was about her memories of planting flowers with her grandmother and mother.

In the article she said "Seeing my older daughter and my mother in the garden, creating their own memories, brought tears to my eyes on Sunday -- and left me with a feeling that we'd come full circle."

One other note from the article that really hit home, for me was

"There's something to be said for feeling a connection to relatives long gone through the things we have in common, despite the din of modern-day life."

Hope you enjoy the article and if you have some time, please be sure to visit my Family Tradition page:

http://www.familyhistoryproducts.com/family-tradition-ideas.html

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May 27, 2009, Fathers Day Poem, Fathers Day 2009, Story for Fathers Day 2009

A Fathers Day poem entitled

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May 26, 2009, New Article: How to Use Writing Your Autobiography to Help You Better Understand Yourself

For most of us, all traces of our lives are forgotten within three generations of our passing.

Writing about your own life is enjoyable, cathartic, and maddening at times but in the end it can bring us some understanding and peace.

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May 24, 2009, Quotes on Memories: The Past

Here is a quote that I really like: Dont let the past ruin what you have got today!

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May 14, 2009, Family History Products... writing an autobiography, family history software

Writing an autobiography for yourself or a family member is now made simple. Get a copy of the MemoryGrabber e-book and get started today!

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Apr 22, 2009, ....All My Pics Are Gone!

I just received a email from a friend, telling me that her apartment caught fire and that she lost everything.

She and her baby are okay, but she lost her pictures. That is very tragic. Here is part of her email.

"everyone is okay...72 units went down. Ours was on the top right in the middle of the flames so we don't have anything left. Luckily I have insurance and they are giving me moola..just sucks cause all my pics are gone!!"

------

Wow, 72 units. I think it is safe to say that she isn't the only one that lost family photos.

My advice is to spend a little time each week doing something to preserve your photos.

I try to do something, in this regard, every Sunday afternoon.

Upload them to photo websites, make copies on a disk, and/or send extra copies to family, etc.

Do whatever it takes!

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Apr 21, 2009, Write an autobiography, writing an autobiography, familyhistory, lifestory, LDS

Write an Autobiography with our Downloadable Workbook; Nearly 900 questions, lists, activities etc

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Apr 15, 2009, Another Amateur Photographer with Tons of 35mm Slides.

My only worry using a web based service to back up my digital images, is this: What happens, especially in this economy, if the web service decides

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Apr 11, 2009, Our Past Experiences and Those of our Forebears.

I’m an only child as was my dad, but his mother came from a large family. A couple of years ago, a second cousin of my father decided to put together

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Apr 11, 2009, Personal Journaling - Journaling Life

Personal Journaling is Just One of Three Things We Leave our Kids

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Apr 5, 2009, How to Get A Reluctant Relative to Talk

What do you do when you have a parent or grandparent that is less than thrilled about talking about their life story?

The best tip that I can give is to ask them to talk about somebody else in thefamily.

So instead of asking your elderly mother "Tell me, mom, about you when you were going up", instead ask them to talk about memories that they have of you or somebody else in the family.

This takes the spotlight off of theshy or reluctant relative.

"Mom, how did grandpa and grandma meet?"

"Mom, Why is aunt Edna so afraid of the water?"

"Dad, what kind of jobs did grandpa have, over his lifetime?"

"Dad, whatever happened to that old Chevy we owned when I was real young?"

Get them talking about other membersof the family, and the "old days" in general, stories about their life will surely follow.

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Mar 23, 2009, Family Stories are Vitally Important to Your Kids

Your kid's ability to retell family stories makes a difference

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Mar 19, 2009, 103 Year Old Share Her Memories of Her Life

I just love life stories like these.

103 year old Dorothy Young spent sometime at a elementary school and sharedmemories of her life. Memories included were when her family first gota radio and a refrigerator.

She also tells what she was doing when she first heard about Pearl Harbor beingbombed.

Be sure to watch the video clip, onThe Buffalo News Site, about half waydown.

Our older generations are such treasures. It is wonderful that storiesare being preserved like this.

I hope that this rekindles the desirein each one of us to continually workon preserving lifestories within ourown families.

Some of the stories that Dorothy sharedwith the children in this video willprobably remembered better and becomemore useful than anything else they learned during this school year.

Enjoy the article.

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Feb 28, 2009, Life Journaling Prompts: Describe Those in Your Life

Of all the people in your life (especially family members) who would get the AWARD for the most generous, most into politics, most traveled, most inspiring, the best storyteller etc?

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Feb 28, 2009, Journal Writing Prompts for Life Story Writers

Eye-Opening Journal Writing Prompts and Topics to Inspire Writing Your Life Story

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Feb 27, 2009, Mother and Son Share Memories

A short audio produced by StoryCorp, where Roger and Lourdes Villanueva talk about their life and the importance of her son getting his education. A great little story! Enjoy.

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Feb 13, 2009, Working From Home using Site Build It

Why This Website and How It All Started

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Feb 8, 2009, Letter to My Great-Great Grandchildren

Written by Leo VanMeer at age 95

Dear Caleb and Bonnie,

Thank you for coming with your parents to my 95th birthday party...

...The year before my birth, an experimental plane was flown over wind-swept Kitty Hawk sand dunes by Orville and Wilbur Wright, who were bicycle repairmen...

....Only a few decades before you two were born, inventions made possible radio, television, computers, a worldwide telephone system, as well as the Internet...

With love, from your Great-Great-Grandfather who wishes you a long and happy life.

*****
This was written by a man that I greatly admire for all the writing that he did

for his family's sake.

He isn't someone famous, but he willlong be remembered within his familyas THE family historian.

To me, that is what family history is all about!

Read more by clicking the link below!

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Feb 6, 2009, Photo Memory Book to Help Grand Kids

I found this blog post of a grandmother who has grand kids that never met their grandfather. He died before they were born.

Here is what she is doing to help them come to know their grandfather!

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Feb 3, 2009, Great Story! The Great Ice Storm of 1951

Dr. Fleming tells his daughter about being trapped indoors during the Great Ice Storm of 1951.

He also relates a couple funny instances when he proved his principal and college professor wrong. Great story!

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Jan 20, 2009, Inauguration Day! Journal Writing Prompts for Historic Day

Whether you like President Obama, or not,today is a historical day.

Someday your children and grandchildren will wonder what your thoughts weretoday, as the United States inaugurated it's 44th president.

Here are some journal writing promptsto help you share, with your progeny,your thoughts.

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Jan 8, 2009, Video of Graceland Before Elvis

Today would have been Elvis Presley's 74th birthday and I found this littlevideo of what Graceland was like beforeElvis bought it in 1957.

The narrator of this short video, Ms. Cobb, says that Graceland before Elviswas filled with many family memories.

She knows...because she lived there asa child!

What struck me as interesting about this video is how interesting to seevideo footage of anybody in 1935.

People walking, talking, having funand life (in the background..on thestreet) happening!

This, of course, isn't my family butI still find it fascinating. It re-enforces my strong belief that preserving family memories through the written word, family photos andfamily video is so important!

Enjoy this video and happy birthday Elvis!

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Dec 30, 2008, Preserve Family Memories - 2008 Family Year in Review

Preserving Family Memories. A Year in Review: Preserve memories of you and your family over the past year

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Dec 30, 2008, The Vissoc Family Mystery

My family too has an uncommon last name. In fact, I believe it to only exist in the United States and there aren't many of us. My Grandfather,

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Dec 18, 2008, A Good Photo Scanning Service Will Save You Hours and Worry

Photo scanning service - What a relief to finally get those slides, negatives and photos scanned

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Dec 16, 2008, The Phelan Family Chronicles - Happy 25th Anniversary!

Over 25 years ago I asked my family of non letter writers / good intentions procrastinators, to write me one letter a year - just one, in November ...

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Dec 12, 2008, Oral History Recording Is Simple - Using Technology to Preserve Oral History with Your Family

The 3 cheap and easy to use oral history recording tools that I use

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Dec 9, 2008, The Bridge ... Has Been Crossed

The past is gone, and the bridge into the future has been crossed

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Nov 30, 2008, New! November 2008 Newsletter

This issue talks about:

- The National Day of Listening- Converting 35mm Slides to Digital Images- Digital Family Photo Preservation- Your Family Story- Quotes on Memories

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Nov 24, 2008, Oral History Recording on The New National Day of Listening

Begin family tradition of oral history recording on The National Day of Listening

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Nov 21, 2008, Resource of The Week - Life on Record

The Family History Products resource ofthe week goes to Life on Record.

Life On Record offers an automated way to have friends and family from aroundthe country call in and record stories,memories, and well-wishes for special occasions.

Those messages can be downloaded into iTunes and can also be compiled onto akeepsake CD by the company.

Additionally, and this is what caughtmy eye, you can call and record yourjournal/lifestory entry. The companythen sends you all your audio recordings on a CD!

Or you can burn your own.

I have all kinds of Christmas gift ideas going through my head, when Ithink on this unique service.

What do you think? Please use thelink below to learn more about ourResource of The Week "Life on Record".

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Nov 16, 2008, Tips for Oral History Interviewing

16 Tips for Family Oral History Interviewing

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Oct 21, 2008, Convert 35mm Slides to Digital and Preserve Your Family Photos

Converting 35mm Slides to Digital Images is an Important Part of Preserving Your Family History

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Oct 20, 2008, Third Generation Harmonica Player

My dad was a harmonica player. He always played the same 3 or 4 songs, but he played them well. Everyone recognized “Skip to my Lou” and

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Jul 21, 2008, Memorygrabber Family Resource Page

Supplemental Files, Info and Fun Things to Help Preserve Personal Histories and Family Memories for Memorygrabber Users

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Jun 26, 2008, Childhood Memories - Memories of Childhood

Time has a way of breaking up our ( childhood memories ) into fragments of miniscule pieces. Pieces so fragile and delicate that they...

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Jun 26, 2008, Our Silver Christmas Tree

One of my earliest Christmas recollections is that of our aluminum Christmas tree. It looked very close to the picture included here. It came

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Jun 9, 2008, Diagram of a Family Tree - Review - Build Family Tree Online

Build a Diagram of a Family Tree - How to Build a Family Tree Online with Geni.com or Kincafe.com

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Jun 4, 2008, Best Memories (are) Found In Boxes

Here is a thought-provoking article written by Glenn Harbison and publishedin The News Observer in Blue Ridge Georgia.

"I’ve never really known why I save them, but I think it was something I learned from my parents. I know I’ve found many in Dad’s and Mom’s albums and boxes filled with historical “treasures.”

I also know others of my parents’ generation saved such keepsakes....I remember looking at countless albums filled with such memorabilia........

...Now, as I look at them, the pains of grief have dulled. Instead, they produce the good memories that those they represent would have wanted us to hold onto."

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Mar 6, 2008, To a Child Love is Spelled....TIME!

A beautifully put together short clip about the importance of many things, including spending time with our children, grandchildren and journaling too!

An older gentleman reminisces as he looks back over old photo albums and journal entries!

Take the time to watch this gem....and try your best to keep a dry eye!

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Feb 19, 2008, New NBC Show "Amnesia" Airs Friday February 22nd

Amnesia asks...How well do you know the events and details of your own life?

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Feb 17, 2008, Product Review: Tribbit - Celebrate, Honor and Preserve Memories

Free service to celebrate someone, events or things that you love - Tribbit

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Feb 14, 2008, An Autobiography in Six Words or Less?

Found this on a blog so I added it to my Quotes on Memories page. On one hand it isa bit funny...on the other it is kind of a sad statement. What do you think?

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Jan 31, 2008, Journal Writing Ideas

Use old hand written letters for journaling fun | Letter writing journaling

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Dec 31, 2007, Journaling and Writing

Monkeys Don't Write - Journaling and Writing

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