Hand-Picked List of Helpful Links
We hope these links will assist you as you learn more about creating memoirs and oral histories. Topics addressed include Writing and Editing, Oral History, Reference Sites, Quotations, Photographs, Focus on History, Copyright Laws, Military Sites, Ethical Wills, Northwest History, Christian Writers, and Associations.
WWI Veterans from Southwest Washington
In the Service The Great World War Honor Roll Southwest Washington was published by F. H. Cole Printing Co of Centralia Wash, No copyright date was found but usually these books were printed about 1921 and in fact this book has a receipt dated 1920.
This book is unusually descriptive and that prose was created by “Mrs. Kina Bower, Historian, who arranged the information in story form so that it could easily read and understood.” Some of the example biographies were chosen because of her prose.
This book was published after the “Centralia Murder” on Armistice Day. (I intend to add the account from the book and give references to other books on the subject.)
Grammar and Usage Guides
Purdue’s Writing Lab
The lab provides wonderful handouts on general writing as well as specific issues, such as English as a Second Language, grammar, spelling, punctuation, research and documenting sources, professional writing and practice exercises.
World Wide Words
Researcher and writer Michael Quinion compiled 1,400 pages of World Wide Words, which identifies English words and phrases and what they mean, where they came from, how they have evolved, and the ways in which people sometimes misuse them. He also offers a free newsletter.
Creative Teaching Web Site
A humorous list of grammar rules, written so that each sentence violates the rule described.
Editing Resources
Northwest Editors Guild
The Northwest Independent Editors Guild, founded in 1997, is a regional alliance of more than 175 professional freelance editors: developmental and substantive editors, copy editors and proofreaders in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.
Stylebooks
The Writer’s Handbook
This site, the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, provides a quick look at citations for articles, books, encyclopedia entries and other sources, as stated in the 14th edition of The Chicago Manual of style and the 5th edition of Turabian’s Manual for Writers.
MLA Citation Guide
The Academy of Art University Library website offers Modern Language Association (MLA) Citation Examples so you can quickly find out how to properly credit sources in the context of a book or within a bibliography, footnotes or other list.
Florida State University style guides
This comprehensive website links to occupation-specific style guides as well as overall style guides, including the AIP (Physics) Style Manual, the American Medical Association Citation Style, the American Psychological Association rules for documentation, MLA documentation guides and frequently asked questions and electronic styles
The Chicago Manual of Style Online
If you are a member, you can use a search engine to find a relevant entry in the most current edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The site includes forums, questions and answers, and the full content of the stylebook. It’s well worth the money.
Oral History
How to Do Oral History on Video
This website, designed to help teachers guiding students on how to conduct oral histories, offers tips on equipment and interviewing as part of the World War II History Class, created through a grant from the Washington state Superintendent of Public Instruction’s office.
This primer, on the University of California Santa Cruz Web site, offers a working definition of oral history memoirs as well as tips on tape-recording equipment, contacting interviewees, breaking the ice, basic interviewing techniques, ethical and legal considerations and post-interview activities.
Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History
This step-by-step guide, prepared by Judith Moyer, discusses the definition of oral history; the sequence for research; guidelines and tips for asking questions; paperwork such as field notes, life history and forms; the accuracy of oral history; pinpointing problems in the interview; an extensive bibliography; and links to other oral history resources on the Internet.
Oral History Workshop on the Web
The Institute for Oral History at Baylor University in Central Texas offers a very complete guide to oral history interviewing, including interviewing techniques, equipment tips and a transcription style guide. This Workshop on the Web offers an introduction to oral history, tips for family oral histories, ethical and legal considerations, equipment considerations, interviewing tips, transcribing information and a transcribing style guide.
The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide
This 65-page guideline describes oral history interviewing and lists possible questions to ask.
Oral History Questions
This “recipe for my life history” offers 104 ideas and questions to get people started recalling their pasts by describing specific details about children, home cures, favorite vacations, wedding dress and other topics.
A Script for Video or Audio Interviews with Family Members
The script covers family history basics, early childhood memories, elementary school memories, high school memories, higher education, military service, adult life, career, marriage, children, travel, interests any personal effects felt as a result of historical events and taking stock and summation.
50 Questions for Family History Interviews
This About.com guide by Kimberly Powell lists 50 questions to ask relatives to gather information for a family history.
This site lists basic questions to ask family members during interviews.
Reference Sites
Biographical Dictionary
A valuable classroom resource, the dictionary covers more than 28,000 notable men and women. The dictionary can be searched by birth years, death years, positions held, professions, literary and artistic works, achievements and other words.
Biographical Directories
The University of Pennsylvania Web site links to books and other sites identifying biography directories that have been written, such as the American National Biography, Who’s Who in the Twentieth Century and World Biographical Index. It also links to the African American Biographical Database, Biographical Database of the United States Congress, the Oxford Guide to People and Places in the Bible and dozens of other directories.
Quotations
Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations
The Web site offers the 10th edition of the book compiled by John Bartlett, with a search engine to track down specific quotations, passages, phrases and proverbs, and it identifies the source of these familiar quotations.
Quoteland
This Web site helps you find quotations to make sure they’re correct and identify the source. If you don’t find the quote, you can follow the link to the Quotations Forum on the site and pose the question.
Photographs
The Library of Congress website featuring 160,000 black and white photos and 1,600 color photos from 1935-1945, the Great Depression through World War II.
Scanning tips
This site features photo scanning tips provided by Wayne Fulton, who explains the basics for photos and documents so people can get the most from their scanners.
Focus on History
National Trust for Historic Preservation
The National Preservation Week, created by the National Trust in 1971, spotlights grassroots preservation efforts throughout the country. It is scheduled for May 3-9 in 2004, with the theme “New Frontiers in Preservation.”
Copyright Laws
Copyright and Fair Use
This incredibly comprehensive Web site sponsored by Stanford University describes copyright, fair use, the public domain, permissions, releases, U.S. agencies and lists dozens of copyright Web sites.
Copyright Crash Course
The University of Texas offers a free crash course on copyright, addressing the use of photos, images, videos or other items; defining fair use; copyright management; concerns with multimedia creations and the digital revolution; and a tutorial with a test.
10 Big Myths
Brad Templeton explains 10 Big Myths about copyright. For those who don’t know about copyright, the site offers a brief introduction to copyright.
United States Copyright Office
The Web site offers information on copyright basics, answers questions, outlines fees for copyright searches, tells how to register a work, and provides information on patents and trademarks.
Fair Use
Cornell Law School offers a checklist for determine whether something falls within the exclusive rights of fair use of copyrighted material.
Copyright infringement and remedies
This Cornell Law School site links to the sections of the Copyright law, including infringement, remedies, damages and profits, attorney’s fees and other issues.
Copyright Fact Sheets
The U.S. Copyright Office offers information circulars and fact sheets, which can be downloaded from its Web site.
What is Copyright Protection?
This Web site, written and maintained by a licensed attorney who specializes in financial tax law, explains copyright laws, fair use and international copyrights in a question-and-answer format.
Military Sites
Veterans History Project
The Veterans History Project seeks to honor the service of the nation’s 19 million war veterans by collecting their stories and experiences so that future generations will know about their lives, service and sacrifices. The United States Congress created the Veterans History Project in 2000. The project calls upon the American Folklife Center and the Library of Congress to collect and preserve audiotaped and videotaped oral histories, along with photos, letters, diaries, maps and other memorabilia.
California State Military Museum
This Web site provides dozens of links to sites such as the National Museum of the United States Army, United States Army Center of Military History, Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Army Aviation Museum, Calvary Museum, National Infantry Museum, Military Police Corps Museum, Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor, Transportation Corps Museum, West Point Museum and others.
The War Times Journal Archives
The WTJ Archives features online editions of military memoirs, dispatches, correspondence and eyewitness accounts. It also features galleries of rare or interesting military photos.
Ethical Wills
The Legacy Center
The Legacy Center helps people preserve their values, beliefs and stories in ethical wills so they can be passed on to family members through gathering information and preserving it for future generations.
Northwest Region
Museum of History and Industry
The museum, which opened in 1952, attracts more than 60,000 visitors a year. The museum collects, preserves and presents the history of the Northwest, including through oral history preservation.
Oregon Writers Colony
The colony’s website features an events calendar that describes upcoming sessions for writers in the Pacific Northwest.
Pacific Northwest Historians Guild
According to its Web site, the Pacific Northwest Historians Guild promotes the study of history, preservation of historical resources and publication of materials relating to Pacific Northwest history.
Pacific Northwest Writers Association
The Pacific Northwest Writers Association, established in 1956, helps writers develop their talents through education, access to the publishing industry and involvement with the writing community.
Washington State History Museum
The museum on Pacific Avenue in Tacoma features exhibits, special events, educational courses, tours and a magazine.
Associations and Extras
Oral History Association
The Oral History Association, established in 1966, brings together people interested in using oral history to collect human memories. Members include local historians, librarians, archivists, students, journalists, teachers, academic scholars and independent personal historians.
The Dash
The website of Linda Ellis, the author of the wonderful 1998 poem, The Dash, which describes so well why personal historians are in the business of preserving those stories that came between the dash (date of birth and date of death). Her site also has a beautiful poem called A Letter to Cancer.
We also have a list of recommended books. Learn more about preserving memoirs in an electronic age and how we can help you create a memoir. We hope you will contact us with your questions.
While you’re here, you might want to see more on bookbinding and resources. Have you thought about preparing your spiritual legacy? Julie Zander also offers help for historians.
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