For Those Interested in Research: How am I Going to Find That? Archives and Mining the Family and the Personal

So, this week I thought I would just give you all some tips on research ideas I use when working on a memoir or essay or any little piece of nonfiction. Some of this you might already do, and so I apologize 

for any redundancy…feel free to skim!

1. Family Oral History: I like to approach this in several ways. First, going to family members who are still around. And even if I feel like I know all the family stories by heart, I would still recommend INTERVIEWING your family members. I recommend interviewing them alone and being as formal as you can about it. Meaning, don’t just try and ask them things while driving to Walmart to buy a new hose. Tell them you are writing a book and ask them if they would mind if you interviewed them for it. Say that you want to “get the story straight.” But also say that you need their help remembering some details. Some people, even your closest family, will get very nervous at the idea of an interview. But try and assure them that it’s not scarey and its not a test they have to prepare for. Make a date, say that it will take no more than an hour.

When you start the interview, bring a recording device and use it. Also bring a pad of paper and pen and use it incase the recording device does not work. When you start the tape/mp3 player, etc. Say “recording…Sarah interviewing Ronald J Messer on April 4, 2011…” etc. This will help it be official, it is also a record of your conversation and this may be important later.

When you are asking your family member about certain time periods always try to use the Truman Capote vertical technique. Mostly for details. Start with “it’s a movie, what is the first shot?” I sometimes would say, “Dad, you have a picture in your head right now of what that scene looked like, describe the picture.” And I also ask about music, food, weather, time of day, cars people were driving, clothes they were wearing. I found out, for example, that my father had a habit of wearing bow-ties for the first three years of my parent’s marriage before I was born….I never remember him in one. This came out in the interview.

For your own sanity, don’t triangulate. Don’t bring up other family members…like “Mom said that…blah blah, do you agree?”

You can also interview other non-family members too, anyone who might help you reconstruct the situation and fill out your memory.

Just remember that this kind of interviewing is really exhausting for the person remembering (and for you) so take it easy and don’t do too much at once!

2. Family Paraphernalia:
This seems obvious but I will say it anyway: Family letters, bibles, lists, notes, ephemera, old birthday cards, photo albums, record collections, year-books (you can get these at the library or high school where you or a person in your family went to school. I went with Nick Flynn to find his father’s yearbook for his memoir…there it was! Right in the library.), receipts, bills, ledgers, canceled checks. Etc. These can all be rich fodder for memories and also details about the family and family life that don’t involve talking to people.

3. Paraphernalia of the Time:
I have already mentioned year-books, but also newspapers, probate records (was anyone ever arrested? Every town has probate records and vital records (birth death marriage)…I always hit the town hall when I arrive at a town and want to learn about someone). Hospital/medical records (sometimes you can’t get these); you can also try Magazines and books that were popular at the time. What was the cover of Time Magazine that month? Who had the #1 selling song? What was the headline of the New York Times? I also find that looking at big coffe-table books of photos of a time period are also helpful. Depending on how far back you are going the Time Life books are always good, “This Fabulous Century”…don’t be snobby! They contain all sorts of popular facts. You might want to try and dig up “expressions” and fad sayings by listening to old radio shows, tv, movies. Look at fashion. I remember that for one or two years in the early 80s or maybe late 70s little tiny stuffed bear clips were in style as a sort of jewelery that dangled from cowl-neck sweaters. I can’t find them anywhere. (They never made a come back…). So, stuff like that. Certain brands of clothing are popular in certain times. Like Woolrich. Or Sweats by Ebe. Or Forenza. Or …the list goes on. Same for all products. Perfume, deodorant, kitchen cleaning supplies, bath soap…and then on to cigarettes, soda, canned meat. Do you get my drift?

The best place to get ephemera for you history types is the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester Mass. All ephemera until 1860 or something like that. So: match books, circus posters, broadsides, everything. They have creative fellowships there…if any of you are going that far back, I highly recommend it!

4. Primary Documents in Archives:
If you want to expand further, you can look into local and national history archives. The problem with history is that it can be very spread out…meaning some archives have manuscript holdings by certain people…but they are all the way across the country from where that person lived. It is sort of maddening. But the good news is that primary documents (meaning letters, family papers etc) that end up in archives are usually catalogued now, so they are easier to find. There are geneaological archives like the New England Historical Geneaological Society; like the Mormons in Salt Lake City (https://www.familysearch.org/); then there are local historical societies in every town (find the tiny red school house and ask for the “town historian”…they are sure to have a treasure trove, or at least will talk your ear off); then there are the bigger history archives. This kind of work (I have done) is a longer discussion and the only way to learn how to do it really is just to start doing it. It can take a lot of time especially if you are driving long distances to get to an archive where you are not entirely sure what it is you will be seeing will be helpful. Also, sometimes it is difficult to get into these places.

5. Living History:
The best and most fun kind of research is to actually go back to places you are writing about in your memory with the sole idea of gathering more information. Nothing is more important than this. Even if the place has completely changes, it’s still worth it in order to smell the air, look at the earth, the rocks, etc. I am a firm believer in going to a place. Sometimes if you can’t find the place exactly, you can find somewhere or some circumstance that is very similar. I don’t remember my house burning down in great detail, but I went to visit a colonial home that had just burned in a similar fashion and took notes. I also talked to experts and got their opinions. But mostly I retraced steps. Great understanding can come in this way.

I hope that all of these research techniques combined can really help you flesh out your great stories. It’s a pleasure to work with all of you. Let me know if you have any questions.