Latest Articles
How to Write Your Own Life Timeline
Before writing a memoir, recording an oral history, or assembling a family archive, one of the most useful things you can do is build a personal timeline. A…
How to Conduct a Video Interview With an Elderly Relative
A video interview with an elderly relative can preserve not just information but presence — the sound of a voice, the way someone gestures, how their face changes…
How to Digitise Old Photos and Where to Store Them Safely
Old photographs have a way of disappearing. They fade in shoeboxes, warp in damp attics, and go missing when families move or estates are cleared. Digitising them is…
Preserving digital memories
A family album that lives only on a phone or a social‑media feed disappears the moment the device is replaced, the app is retired, or the account is…
Organising family photos and documents
You open an attic box and find a jumble of glossy prints, brittle negatives, a handful of slides, and a cassette of home movies. The items are mixed…
Preserving Immigration Stories: Recording a Family’s Journey to a New Country
Immigration stories sit at the heart of many family histories. The decision to leave a country, the journey itself, the first years in an unfamiliar place — these…
Reflecting at a milestone birthday
A photo of a birthday cake with thirty candles sits on the kitchen table, the frosting slightly uneven from a hurried slice. The calendar on the wall marks…
How to Interview a Sibling About Shared Family History
Siblings hold a unique position in a family’s story. They experienced many of the same events, knew the same people, and grew up in the same household —…
50 Questions to Ask an Elderly Parent Before It’s Too Late
There is a particular kind of grief that comes not from losing someone, but from realising you never asked. We put off the big conversations because there will…
Preserving someone’s story after they die
A week after a loved one passes, you may find a pile of postcards, a half‑finished scrapbook, and a group chat buzzing with stories. Those details are still…
Life review questions
You pull a stack of letters from a drawer, each one dated with a year and a place you once called home. The paper feels thin, the ink…
Writing an Ethical Will: Passing on Values, Not Just Possessions
Most people have heard of a last will and testament — the legal document that distributes possessions after death. Far fewer have heard of an ethical will, also…