I Save Lives, One Story at a Time

Does your family tree look bare and uncared for - just names, dates and places?

Let me add the buds, flowers and leaves to it by preserving the stories associated with the members of your family.

History from the Heart can help you in the following ways:

• Teach you to write your own personal/family history in a face-to-face workshop;

• Offers you a 12 week on-line Personal History for Beginners course, where you can work at home on your own computer;

• Will interview, record and transcribe your relative's story and present you with the transcript, or lodge it in your private personal cyberspace vault via the Treasury of Heritage, where you can also store photos, MP3 audio files and video clips.
  

As a Personal Historian and Professional Story Keeper I will provide you with the knowldge, skills and experience to preserve your family history legacy for future generations.

Grab and Go File

In view of recent natural disasters world wide, I began thinking about what I would grab if such an emergency hit my home. These thoughts led me to develope a 'Grab and Go' File, which I have put together and have stored in the bookcase near my front door. My file, a poly-urethane file case, includes the following:

• Copies of our wills, Bank details (numbers, branches, and other account details), copies of our passports, mortgage details and copies of other legal documents.
• Copies of our degrees and other professional documents, marriage certificates and other personal documents for both my husband and myself.
• A small photo album of each child and some significant photos of us as a couple, some family documents of our families eg family tree, diaries, letters and other similar papers.
• Photographs of any family heirlooms including furniture, jewellery etc.

All of these documents are sealed in the airtight file box and I will check them each year. All family members have been notified of both the box location and the documents inside. By thinking about this situation in advance, and being prepared for it, I hope that it never occurs. However, if disaster falls, we are prepared and can grab the file and flee, knowing that all of the important papers and documents are intact, even if we have nothing else.

Espresso Minutes

In an attempt to try various marketing ideas to introduce the people of Perth, WA to the concept of personal history (how to write and preserve it for future family generations) I am offering, for the cost of a cup of coffee, a free 10 minute consultation.

I will be at the Coode Street Cafe, Coode Street, Mt Lawley tomorrow (26th September) from 10-11am and will be happy to answer any question you may have about your own personal history.

The idea is that you buy me a cup of coffee (a strong cappucino) and we'll talk about the problem you are facing - how to get started, how to rediscover long buried memories, do I need to draw up a timeline, should I reveal a hidden family secret....................?

I'd love to see you there.

Annie

Don't leave it too late to preserve your personal stories

I am a personal historian and am currently commissioned to record the personal history of a 92 year old lady, who is in hospital. Although I sent information about my services to the lady's family some time ago, they waited until she had experienced several bad falls, resulting in her speech becoming jumbled and confused. Her mind is quite clear and her memory of many events in her youth and early married years is excellent, however she is unable to articulate her thoughts in a clear manner.

If you have elderly parents or relatives who have memories from the early 1920 or so, please take every effort to sit down with them and encourage them to tell you their stories. Try to write down their responses or use a small digital recorder to capture their memories, then transcribe the words into a document to preserve on archival quality paper.

This is a priceless heritage legacy to leave for future family generation - start saving lives now, one story at a time!