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Eliza Woolley

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Professor Bills

English Language 410R

2 December 2014

Comment [KH1]: Dont forget to update the

date of when this paper is due.

Professor Bills
Six Things You Shouldnt Forget When Preparing Grandmas Oral History
Youre one of the lucky ones! You have recordings of your grandma (or grandpa, father,
great-uncle, great-grandmother, etc.), and you can hear Grandma telling stories about her
amazing life. What comes nownext? Can Should you just type them up, print the transcript out,
and give it to your family members right away? Not quite. Oral histories were given verbally and
need a little work to best excel in written form. Doing the six things suggestions listed below
with that transcript will make gGrandmas life much more accessible to her readers of all ages.
With these additions, her readers will crack open her book, read it, and return to it again and
again. Read on to find out what you shouldnt forget when preparing that history!
I will include examples from work I did on the oral history of a deceased greatgrandmother, Alice Nelson Cannon. Well call her Grandma Alice.

#1: Find out who shes name-dropping.

Chances are, Grandma will mention people. Maybe she will say: Mima, Mario,,
Janna,, or Alina., and so on. Although you probably wont be able to find much about some
of them, others are important, and you can find out who they are. When readers kKnowing who
these people, were helps readers can better imagine what gGrandmas life was like. For example,

Comment [KH2]: Who is your audience?

Keep this question in mind when revising.

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(was Janna a friend or her friends stepmother? Understanding these relationships will help
readers better understand why Janna or Alina are important to grandma.). Figuring out the right

Comment [KH3]: Maybe something like this

sentence?

spelling will help you find more information on the person and possibly help you find others who
knew that person and can tell you more about your informant.
How can you figure it out the right spelling of the names? There are a couple of ways. Of
course, the most direct way would be to ask the informant directly, but thats asking the
informant is often impossible. The next best way option is to talk to one of the informants

Comment [KH4]: Why impossible?

Because the informant may not remember?

friends, siblings, or children. If databases like FamilyTree have information about your extended
family, they can be a great resource for finding out who cousins are.
Include your findings in the history via footnotes or endnotes. It may also be useful to

Comment [KH5]: Include this paragraph

with the previous paragraph?

haveConsider using a family tree in the front of the book to show who was in the household and
how people were related.
Figuring out who people are from your informants past can be frustrating, and you dont

Comment [KH6]: OK? Clearer now?

have to try with everyone. If you feel overwhelmed, set a limit on the time you spend researching
each name. You can also ask friends or other family members for research help! Remember that

Comment [KH7]: Consider explaining how

family members could help with research.

if you dont get these names figured out while preparing that history, then no one will.

Comment [KH8]: Too much pressure on the

reader? Consider deleting this phrase or
softening to something like these sentences:
Preparing family histories takes time and
effort. Determine up-front how much you are
willing to spend because what you have to
offer is different from anyone else.

Example:
[Raw transcript] Well, as I say, that home had many memories. Thats where Leeda Bulican
Horse came to live with us. And she stayed with us for many years. I just loved her! And when

Comment [KH9]: Capitalize horse?

she married, I thought that wed never find anyone like [Linghamwhoever was talked about
before]. Oh course, we never did. Also, Emma came to live with us, Emma Mosher., Mosheer,
however you say it, came to live with us there and stayed with us for a long time. So, we had
Leda World and thats why she came, she was a sort of nurse. She came after Mamas death and

Comment [KH10]: Comma here?

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Franklin wasbut the new baby neededFranklin needed someone to receive his own rolls
and then we went to Lena World and came to stay with us at that time, soon after. And another
one was people that I learned to love.
As you can see, this excerpt has several problems, and the biggest is a name that starts
with L. By talking with Grandma Alices daughter (who is , my great-aunt), I eventually found
out that the L name was probably two different people: Lena Walkinghorst (Leeda Bulican
Horse), who lived with the family, and Lena Warlton (Leda World), who was the daytime nurse
for the baby, Franklin.

#2: Define jargon and less-known words.

Jargon can be puzzling to readers. ThisJargon can include military terms, pop culture
references, slang, and farming terms, and anything from another language. Remember, this
history will be for the ages. In 75 seventy-five years, will most people know who Mickey
Rooney was and why gGrandma was thrilled to meet him? Probably not. Sso save your reader
some puzzlement: include a footnote explaining who he was. (If you are able to, try to iInclude
his a picture, too.)
Sometimes, the recording might be difficult to understand. (Ssee the example in the tTip
#1.). Part of this struggle might be the persons informants accent. If your informant isnt
available to consult, have someone else familiar with the persons voice listen to itthe recording.
The other personis could be the persons informants relative or friendson. You can also try
consulting someone else familiar with the accentfor example, another person who grew up in
the Bronx.
Example:

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Woolley 4
[Grandma Cannon talks about her dad being a Seabee, referring to a giant, etc.]

Comment [KH11]: Consider going into this

idea (here in the example) in more depth.

#3: Reorganize the transcript (as needed) and include headings

Organization is a crucial part of preparing an oral transcript for public consumption.
Often, people meander from topic to topic as they talk and revisit stories later to add details or
names they have forgotten. Grouping all the details of a story together; this process is extremely
useful to your readers because the story will become clearer. Try to organize the stories in
chronological order or by topic.

Comment [KH12]: Great tip! I recently have

worked on a family history of my grandma.

Headings are an essential part of organization, . They breaking up pages of text and
helping readers recognize when the speaker is changing topics. Additionally, hHeadings
generally also help returning readers find their favorite stories and sections faster.

Comment [KH13]: Perhaps we make all the

headings should be consistent.

Example:
Here are screenshots of a raw transcript and the reorganized version. Which version would you
rather read? [Screenshot of Dads transcript before and after headings]

Comment [KH14]: Are you planning on

inserting the transcripts later?

#4: Substantive editing

Substantive editing is where you tweak the words on the page to make them clearer.
Youll have already done some of this editing by following tip #3. When done well, substantive
editing makes the history infinitely more readable while retaining the feeling of how Grandma
would speak, or her voice. Here are some major things ideas to consider while substantively
editing the transcript:

Add punctuation.

Comment [KH15]: Great tips!

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Break up the transcript into paragraphs. Make sure each paragraph has a unique topic. Its
all right if some paragraphs are very short. (See the example for #3.)

Take out all or most filler words and phrases, such as and,, so,, uh,, and very.,
and so forth. Only lLeave them in only when if the sentence or phrase sounds choppy
without themthe filler word.

Split up long sentences. Occasionally, combining sentences is also appropriate.

Specify what words like they and this refer to.

Professional editors is are especially useful in this step because: they know how to make

transcripts clear and readable while keeping the speakers voice.

Comment [KH16]: Maybe you could include

a plug here of why youd be best for the job?

Example: [JNC: muddled original paragraph and clear, edited paragraph.]

Comment [KH17]: Will this example be

included later?

#5: Check for minor errors

Look for minor errors like spelling errors,and grammar errors, accidental homonyms, and
repeated text. Dont forget to check the headings and picture captions!

Comment [KH18]: I just made this mistake

in my own family history.

When checking for grammar errors, dont take out all the turns of phrase and usage that
are part of Grandmas dialect. These are charming expressions of the language and the time and

Comment [KH19]: Explain why it is

charming to keep the dialect.

help your reader get a better sense of what listening to Grandma is like. However, make sure that
readers can still understand what is meant by a particular word or phrase and that the dialect isnt
too distracting. Again, footnotes are a useful way to explain what Grandma means.
Keep a separate list of words and names you have trouble spelling. Also, its a great idea
to have a fresh pair of eyes check for errors, too; they editors can pick up errors your brain
automatically fixes.
Example:

Comment [KH20]: Consider explaining the

importance of having a style sheet here.

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[Screenshot of Elm Street heading that should actually read L Street, with explanation. Also,
include an example of dialect voice that should be retained, maybe from MMC or SRW.]

Comment [KH21]: Include this example

later?

#6: Use pictures

Comment [KH22]: In this tip, perhaps we

should try breaking up the paragraphs in
different sections. 1. Getting pictures.
2. What to do after getting pictures (size,
printing, etc.)

Pictures help immerse readers more in your informants life and story. We live in a visual
world and pictures are always welcome. If you dont already have pictures, ask relatives close to

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the informant for pictures of her when she was young. If you dont have access to many pictures,
especially of the person at the time period of the story, find relevant, free stock images at places
like [freestockphoto.com] and [Wiki images with the appropriate Creative Commons license].

Comment [KH23]: Why are brackets used

here?

You may also be able to take your own pictures. For example, if theres a story about a cherry
tree, find or take a picture of a cherry tree. [Include an example stock image with proper
citations.] If grandma mentions a wearing a pink chiffon dress in the 1950s, try to find a similar
picture. Of course, if you have access to the dress, take your own picture of the dress and include
it in the history.
[Caution about illegal images; explain proper sourcing.]
Scan pictures at a large resolution, which . A large resolution means at least 300 dpi, or
dots per inch. T; this size will enable you to print the photo at the same size and quality. I

Comment [KH24]: This tip is very true!

Great suggestion. Even if there arent a ton of
photos, even including pictures of events that
happened, celebrities, pop culture, or
advertisements of the time can be fun.
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recommend scanning it the photograph at a larger resolution so that you can print the photo or
pieces of it at a large size without sacrificing quality. [Include example of high-resolution photo

Comment [KH25]: Explain in more detail?

and pixelated photo.]

If you dont have a scanner or an all-in-one printer with a scanner, your neighbor might; you can
also scan photos at a copy shop onto a USB at a low price [check that this is true]. Make sure you

Comment [KH26]: Side comment?

Woolley 7
save the files where you can find them, and save backup copies elsewhere in case something
happens to the computer or USB stick where the files are.
If you dont already have pictures, ask relatives close to the informant for pictures of her
when she was young. If you dont have access to many pictures, especially of the person at the
time period of the story, find relevant free stock images at places like [freestockphoto.com] and
[Wiki images with the appropriate Creative Commons license]. You may also be able to take

Comment [KH27]: Perhaps we could

provide examples of where they could backup
their copies elsewhere? (Dropbox,
Googledrive, etc.)
Comment [KH28]: Also, who is your
audience? Do you think your readers will be
older? If yes, consider going more in depth
with technology in particular.
Comment [KH29]: Why are brackets used
here?

your own pictures. For example, if theres a story about a cherry tree, find or take a picture of a
cherry tree. [Include an example stock image with proper citations.] If Grandma mentions a
wearing a pink chiffon dress in the 1950s, try to find a similar picture. Of course, if you have
access to the dress, take your own picture of the dress and include it in the history.
[Caution about illegal images; explain proper sourcing.]
Example:
[picture of Grandma Alice that is relevant to another story or example in this buzz piece, perhaps
with a Lena or baby Franklin.]

Conclusion
Publishing a well-done oral history takes research and work. But it your efforts will pays off! By
doing completing these six thingstips successfully, you will make gGrandmas history one for
the ages. When you sSeeing her descendants understand and treasure gGrandmas words is
pricelessand youll know that you have made something with her words of which she can be
proud.

[Author Bio and contact detailsGraded Homework 12.]

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