Schmid, Libby. Personal history 90 year old white female, Bern, Idaho. 1983–1985. Audio recording, Library of Congress American Folklife Center. https://www.loc.gov/item/afccal000337/.
During the 2025–2026 school year, the United States will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In this lesson, students will reflect on their family history, beginning with listening to an audio recording of an elderly woman in a remote town in Idaho whose 90 years of experience spans two centuries. This will lead to an oral family history interview of a member of the student’s family. The purpose of these activities is to respond to the question, What does America mean to me? and how recording our family history preserves and honors our American experience.
Preserving family history, particularly oral history, allows students to remember significant events, learn from ancestral experiences, and preserve important knowledge to pass down to future generations. This oral history of an elderly woman demonstrates how oral histories can be conducted. Guidelines for this activity can be found on the provided link from the Library of Congress.
Source: https://www.loc.gov/static/portals/families/documents/PreservingFamilyStories.pdf
- What questions does the interviewer ask? Why do you think he asked these questions?
- What other stories came from this interview? How might recording these experiences better help preserve this history?
- How do these stories reflect life in a rural community?
- How might knowing your family history help increase the value of the American experience in your life?
ELA Standard
CCCS: 6th Grade Oral and Digital Communications Strand OC. 4. Report orally on a topic or text or present an argument, sequencing ideas logically and using pertinent descriptions, facts, and details to accentuate main ideas or themes; use adequate volume and clear pronunciation.
Social Studies Standard
6-12 United States History: Historical Thinking Skills. 6-12.HT1.6. Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).
- Invite students to listen to the oral history of this 90-year-old woman from a remote town in Idaho and record what stands out to them. Using a T-Chart, they will record on the left side what they learn about the 90-year-old woman.
- Using the same T-Chart, ask students to write down impressions on the right-hand side that they have about their own family history and what stories they would like to know more about.
- Help students brainstorm particular individuals they could interview and what questions they would like to ask. The provided link from the Library of Congress will help guide them through this process.
- Consider asking students to interview veterans or other prominent members of the community in an effort to show appreciation and a desire to preserve the history they have been part of creating.
- If possible, consider using YouTube, StoryCorps, or other online resources to help preserve recording.
- Title and save your interview
- Give your recording a clear name like:
Nana’s Story—Growing Up in Idaho in the 1950s.- Save it to your computer or cloud storage or upload to YouTube (set as private/unlisted unless you have permission to share publicly).
Otte, June, B. J. Shorak, Lee Martin Wagner, National Court Reporters Association, and Sue Burkholder. Lee Martin Wagner Collection. Interview transcript. Library of Congress Veterans History Project. https://www.loc.gov/item/afc2001001.88470/.