This summer my cousin got married. Since I’ve already been through the wedding circuit several times, when I started thinking of what present I could buy him, I realized I wasn’t interested in ordering an item from an online registry, as though I was doing his shopping. I didn’t want to get china or flatware or potholders. The idea of spending time finding ‘the right’ gift to buy outside the registry wasn’t that appealing, either.
Instead, I turned to what I do for a living: creating legacy books. (I sometimes refer to these books as personal history books but the content is very similar.) In this particular case, I had a good foundation for a book: my mother (my cousin’s aunt) had written about 30 pages about her childhood, her memories of her grandparents, and growing up with her brother (my cousin’s father).
To that I added:
Interviews with my other cousin and his wife that I transcribed and edited
A short piece written by my cousin’s mother
A short piece written by a second cousin
Photographs
Maps
Other ephemera such as correspondence, post cards, civil records, and military records.
The result was a beautiful navy blue book with gold lettering that simply said: Family, The Rouets and Bissons. It totaled ninety pages, and was composed of about 218 images and 5,000 words. For my cousin, who is very family-oriented, I couldn’t have picked a better gift. He is already imagining handing this book down to his future children.
What exactly is a family history book?
Family history books can be whatever you want them to be. Their focus can be the history of generations long gone, or of more recent generations. Some people also choose to include the story of a family business, when there is one, as part of their books.
The subject and contents of the book is based on the interests of the family. It’s also based on the material available. There is no rule for how many photos or how many words go into a book. Families who don’t have much archival material can add items found through research and oral history. On the other hand, families who have a lot of material will have the opposite problem: they will need to cull their archive and pick the most important items and stories. Easier said than done!
The one commonality that arises is the interest of the creator in passing down the stories and legacy of the individuals mentioned in the book. That’s where the heart and soul of each project lies.
Why do family history or legacy books make such good gifts?
What’s interesting about these books is that they are surprisingly good vehicles for honoring and preserving the memories of both loved ones and families in general. Telling the story of how two ancestors met, or the hard times they faced, gives us a chance to share history without judgment. We learn at our own pace, quietly reading and reflecting while we watch our ancestors’ lives develop. This is true too with family history videos, of course, but there is something special about books that adds an extra sense of importance to this topic, in my opinion.
No two books are alike. These books represent you:
If you are gifting a family legacy book to a loved one, consider printing multiple copies so books can be distributed to children, as well.
Your family
Your stories
Your history
Your values
Your personality
Your interest
Your wisdom
Being able to package that and gift it seems almost unbelievable, but that’s exactly what family history books are about.
Can I do this myself?
Family history projects can absolutely be a DIY project. There is both a technological component (scanning, photo editing, layout and design, online printing) and an ‘offline’ component (writing, editing, proofing, organizing, curating). It’s unusual for one person to have the skill set to undertake all the steps necessary to produce a legacy book. Happily, many of these different components can be outsourced. If you’re a bad speller, hire a proofreader. If you don’t want to scan photos, take them to your local photo shop. You can read more about the pros and cons of do-it-yourself family history books in this article.
Of course, even if you have the skill set but simply don’t have the time, take a look at the list of members at the Biographers Guild of Greater New York. All of us are involved in some aspect of legacy preservation and bookmaking and we’d be happy to answer your questions.
Do it now.
I’m incredibly happy I chose to produce this book for a wedding (as opposed to a funeral). It added to the joy of the occasion and made both the book and the wedding itself more special. We always think there will be more time. My best advice: there is no time like the present!
I wish you good luck with your project, whether you do it alone or hire someone to help you.
Clémence Scouten, based in the Philadelphia area, helps people curate and preserve their family history stories and materials, providing an array of end products from archived collections to memoirs.