How to record your family history

What to record, and in what form

Form	What it keeps	Good for	Keep in mind
Audio interview	The voice, pauses, laughter and turns of phrase	Most people; a phone is enough	Label and back up the original file the same day
Video interview	Faces, gestures and objects being shown	Heirlooms, recipes, skills, places	Larger files; light the face and keep the camera still
Written memories	Stories in the writer's own words	Relatives who prefer to write or live far away	Ask follow-up questions in writing too
Photographs with captions	Who, where and when	Prompting stories	Write captions while someone still knows the names
Documents	Names, dates, places and addresses	Checking what memories leave unclear	Scan them and keep the originals safe
A family tree	Relationships across generations	Helping future readers find their way	Note where each fact came from

Most families start with audio interviews and photographs, then add documents to check the details. You do not need all six forms, and you do not need to start with the oldest generation's whole life. One recorded conversation this month is a real beginning.

Step 1: Decide what the project is for

Write down who the recordings are for: your immediate family, a wider circle of relatives, a local archive, or a book. The audience decides how much permission you need, how carefully you store the files and what you can share later. Then choose a scope small enough to finish: one person, one branch of the family, or one theme such as migration, work or a family business.

Step 2: Start with the people, gently

Many families begin with the oldest relatives and anyone whose health or memory is changing. Ask; do not insist. A specific, small request works better than a big one: “Could I record you for twenty minutes about the farm?” is easier to accept than “I want to record your life story.” If someone says no, respect it and try a different form—some people will write a page, label photographs or talk while cooking. Our guide on when a parent doesn't want to record covers this in more detail.

Step 3: Agree on permission before you press record

Before the first session, explain why you are recording, who will hear or read it, where the files will be kept and that the storyteller can skip questions, stop at any time and review what you make from the recording. For a private family copy, a short written note or a spoken agreement at the start of the recording is often enough. If the recording might go to an archive or be published, ask for a signed release; the Oral History Association recommends one, and most archives have their own form.

If you record a phone or video call, tell everyone on the call that you are recording and get their agreement on the recording itself. In some places, recording a call without every participant's consent is against the law.

Step 4: Gather what you already have

Collect photographs, letters, certificates, old addresses and any family-tree notes before the interview. They make good prompts, and they help you spell names and places correctly. Start a simple list of the people and places that come up, with the spellings you have confirmed. Our guide on organizing family photos, letters and recordings shows a way to keep them together.

Step 5: Prepare a short question outline

Choose five to eight open questions rather than a long script, and ask for scenes instead of summaries. “What did your kitchen look like when you were ten?” brings back more than “What was your childhood like?” Begin with something easy and pleasant, and leave difficult subjects for later sessions, if the storyteller wants them at all. For ready-made lists, see questions to ask your parents and questions to ask your grandparents.

Step 6: Set up the recording

• Choose a quiet room with soft furnishings; turn off televisions, fans and appliances that hum.
• Place the phone or recorder on a steady surface closer to the storyteller than to you, and switch the phone to do-not-disturb.
• Record thirty seconds and listen back before you begin, so you catch a muffled microphone or a noisy room early.
• Check battery and storage; plug in if you can.
• For video, light the face from the front or side, set the camera at eye level and keep it still.
• A small clip-on microphone improves sound noticeably, but it is optional; a phone in a quiet room is usually enough.

Step 7: Record the conversation

At the start, say the date, the place and who is present, and repeat the permission out loud. Ask one question at a time, follow the story wherever it goes, and leave silences—people often add the best detail after a pause. Do not correct the storyteller mid-story; note names and dates to check later instead. Stop after thirty to sixty minutes, before anyone is tired, and plan another session rather than one long one.

Step 8: Label, back up and describe the files the same day

Give each file a name that will still make sense in twenty years, such as 2026-09-24_Helen-Moore_session-01.m4a. Keep the original recording exactly as it was made and edit only copies. The Library of Congress recommends keeping at least two copies in different places, checking once a year that they still open, and copying them to new storage about every five years.

Write a short note for each session: who spoke, when and where, the main topics, the names and places mentioned, and anything the storyteller asked to keep private. That note is often more useful to a future reader than the file name.

Step 9: Transcribe or index the recording

A transcript makes a recording searchable and much easier to turn into writing. Automatic transcription is a good start, but check every name, place and date against your list. If a full transcript is too much, make an index instead: every few minutes, write the time and a line about what is being discussed. Mark passages you cannot hear clearly as inaudible rather than guessing.

Step 10: Check facts and keep every version

Compare dates and places with the documents you gathered. When a memory and a record disagree, write down both and where each came from; do not silently “correct” the story. Two relatives remembering the same event differently is part of your family history too.

Step 11: Share in the form each person agreed to

Before sharing, look again at what the storyteller asked to keep private, and at details that could hurt living people. You might share the full recording with close family, a shorter family-safe version with everyone else and a printed booklet at a reunion. If you want to deposit the recordings with a local historical society or library, ask them about their release form first.

Turning recordings into written stories

Recordings are the source; written stories are what most relatives will actually read. Our guide on turning an interview into a memoir chapter shows how to go from a transcript to a chapter without inventing detail, and building a book from voice recordings covers the step after that.

MemoirWell is built for this part. A guided conversation about one memory, spoken or typed, becomes a chapter draft that stays private until the storyteller has checked the names, dates and places it mentions, looked at a family-safe version and approved it. Relatives can be invited to read along or help write, and the book downloads as a PDF or EPUB. The first chapter is free.