| Life Stories...A Gift For All Ages |
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My grandfather once told me the story of how he built the barn on the old family homestead. Though he only had a limited formal education, he drew up the plans, gathered and cut the wood, constructed the barn with only the help of his brother and a few neighbors, and then painted it himself with only the aid of a twelve-foot ladder. The barn served as the hub of the four-generation farm operation. It was a place for work, for play, and for gathering together family, friends, and neighbors. It was also, as one can imagine, the working stage for an abundance of family stories.
Barn-building in those days was a little bit different than barn-building today. The skills and abilities required for undertaking such endeavors have long been forgotten, as have many of the stories that went with them. Fortunately, I captured many of Gramps' stories on tape and can listen and learn from them today, even though he would be 121 years old if he were still alive. His words, experiences, values, determination, and work ethic have been preserved for generations to come. StoryTelling America seeks to do the same for others by providing an audio and video recording service to help people capture their life stories and to allow people to share not only their own experiences but those of generations before them-stories that they have lived, events that they have observed, and history that they have experienced. Now, they have the opportunity to tell these stories.Samples of stories told by individuals, couples, families, and corporations can be found in the "Sample Videos" menu in the right column of this page. Here is Gramps' story. Though originally produced using the technology of he late 1970s, Gramps was recently re-edited using the "Scan & Pan" technique made notable by documentary producer Ken Burns in his award winning Public Broadcasting series "Civl War" and "Baseball".
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