Life story recording at home in Roseland, NJ

How the conversations work

The storyteller isn't a family member, and that helps. People tell a friendly stranger things they'd never think to tell their own kids. Sessions usually move through a life in rough order: childhood, school, work, marriage, raising a family. A good interviewer follows the tangents, because that's where the best stories hide.

One hour is about right for most people. Talking about the past is surprisingly tiring. Booking several weeks in a row gives the storyteller time to cover a whole life without rushing.

Before the first session, the storyteller will usually ask the family a few things. Who's the recording for? Are there stories everyone already knows that must be in it? Any subjects to avoid? That conversation saves time and helps the person feel at ease from the start.

Audio, film, or a book

Pros work in different ways, so read profiles. Some record audio and hand the family clean files at the end. Some bring a video camera and lights and help turn the sessions into a short film. Others help shape the recordings into a printed book with photos.

Think about who it's for. Grandchildren might watch a film. A book is something you can hand to a cousin at a holiday.

Whatever the format, ask how the finished files are delivered and how long editing usually takes. Families often want copies for several households, so it's worth sorting that out early.

Roseland stories

Anyone who's lived in Roseland a long time has watched it change, from the farms and woods to the office parks along Eisenhower Parkway. Those are exactly the details a family loses first. The Roseland Free Public Library has its own past too; there are old photographs of its 1985 groundbreaking in the Rutgers digital archive, and pictures like those make good prompts.

Then there are the dinosaur tracks. The Riker Hill fossil site on the Roseland and Livingston border, known as the Walter Kidde Dinosaur Park, was famous for footprints. If your mother took you looking for them as a kid, ask her about it. The site is restricted now, which makes the memory worth keeping.

Cost and planning

Storytellers set their own hourly rate between $50 and $150, with 1, 1.5 or 2 hour visits, plus a $2.50 booking fee and a 10% service fee. Booking four weeks at the same time is a good place to start, and you can add more if the stories keep coming.