Recollections of Collections
Our hobbies and collections say a lot about us because we spend time, effort, and often money to pursue them — not out of obligation, but out of passion. Before I conduct an oral history interview with someone, I often go through a pre-interview process to get to know the interviewee. This enables me to craft thoughtful questions and guide the interview productively.
A key part of the pre-interview process is learning about their passions. Whether they collected old baseball cards, porcelain dolls, or classic cars, I often ask them to walk me through their collections because I am amazed at the stories that will come from the conversation. I will often learn about poignant memories that led them to find their passions and the memories they gathered while pursuing them.
Today, I want to talk about how you can use this as another tool for capturing your own story. I will start by giving you an example of how to use this tool.
As a child, I remember coming across my father’s collection of National Geographic magazines in the attic. Listening to him talk about why this collection meant so much to him, made me want to start my own collection, but it took me a few years to articulate my passion which was making and collecting memories. I soon realized I could do this by saving tickets and receipts from events I went to.
Around 10 years old, I started saving plane tickets from my trips to visit my grandparents in California; I saved the movie ticket stubs from Showboat Movie Theater when I saw new releases with my girlfriends; I saved my first concert ticket from when I saw Garth Brooks at the Spokane Arena; I saved the train receipts from when I lived abroad in Europe; the plane tickets from our honeymoon; and tickets from our family outings with the kids.
On the back of these tickets and receipts I try to write who I went with and why we went. If I wanted to pass down a story to my children, I would have the skeleton of a comprehensive life story with just these artifacts. When my children are older, I will sit down with them and go through each of these memories and record the conversation on video or audio. Their questions will organically trigger memories that I may not have thought of otherwise and the story will tell itself.
Whether you choose to write these memories down or record them on your phone or video camera, you can get a good start on capturing these memories with some basic questions. Why did you want to pursue your collection or hobby? Do you have a specific memory that prompted you to get started? Was it a life-long interest or did you come across it later in life? Was there a family member or friend who taught you how to get started? Go through certain artifacts and describe how you came across them.
You can also discuss practical topics like the value of your collection and how you want it preserved or disbursed when you are no longer able to maintain it. This will help the next generation understand, not only more about who you are, but also more about the legacy you want to leave behind. Who knows, your passion might inspire the next generation to pick up where you left off …
Remember to enjoy the journey and as always feel free to reach out to me through my website: www.sarajaneruggles.com.