Keepsake resources
Heritage
Preserve migration stories, rituals, and language.
Ask relatives about places, people, languages and traditions. Keep their accounts alongside photographs and records, including differences in what people remember.
Start here
Family interview kit
Worksheet · A small conversation, a clear permission check and a story record
How to interview a family member about their life
A seven-step way to ask a relative for an interview, prepare questions, record the conversation and save it with their permission.
Family traditions: 36 ideas and the stories behind them
36 family tradition ideas for ordinary weeks, holidays, milestones and relatives who live far away, plus eight questions to learn where your own traditions came from.
76 questions to ask your grandparents about their life story
76 questions to ask your grandparents about childhood, school, work, love, raising a family and moving through history, with advice for hard subjects.
Printables
Guides
Cultural heritage story workbook
A workbook for recording your family's traditions, language and migration stories, with fill-in pages for each tradition, phrase and journey.
How to interview a family member about their life
A seven-step way to ask a relative for an interview, prepare questions, record the conversation and save it with their permission.
Questions
34 questions to ask your in-laws with warmth and respect
Questions to ask your in-laws about their lives, their family's roots and raising your partner, and about being family across cultures and blended homes.
- What was your childhood home like?
- Which family story gets told over and over?
- What was my partner like as a child?
38 questions to ask your siblings, from childhood to now
Questions to ask your siblings about growing up together, how your family worked and who you've each become, including step-siblings, half-siblings and big age gaps.
- What's a childhood memory of us that still makes you laugh?
- What role do you think you played in our family?
- What do you wish I understood about you?
42 questions to ask elderly parents about their life and wishes
Questions to ask an aging parent about their life, plus practical questions about care, with tips for memory loss, hearing loss and tiredness.
- What is your earliest memory of feeling loved?
- What did a normal day look like when you were ten?
- What does comfort look like for you now? Think of foods, music or routines.
50 questions to ask your dad, from growing up to fatherhood
Questions to ask your dad about his parents, his childhood and teenage years, starting out on his own, becoming a father and what you were like as a kid.
- What is the earliest memory you can recall with clear detail?
- Where did you and your friends hang out, and what did you do there?
- What was your first job, and what did a normal day there look like?
52 questions to ask your mom, from her own childhood to now
Questions to ask your mom about her parents, the years before she had children, becoming a mother, what you were like as a child, and her life today.
- What neighborhood did you grow up in, and what made it feel like home?
- How did your parents meet, and what did you hear about it growing up?
- What did you spend your own money on that your parents thought was a waste?
76 questions to ask your grandparents about their life story
76 questions to ask your grandparents about childhood, school, work, love, raising a family and moving through history, with advice for hard subjects.
- Where were you born, and what do you remember about the place?
- How did you meet your partner, and what was your first impression?
- What was your first paid job, and how did you land it?
From the blog
Family traditions: 36 ideas and the stories behind them
36 family tradition ideas for ordinary weeks, holidays, milestones and relatives who live far away, plus eight questions to learn where your own traditions came from.
The Proust Questionnaire, with a family version to try
Both historical versions of the questionnaire Proust answered, in English and French, plus 12 original questions that turn preferences into family stories.
Family history research questions and the records to check
20 questions to ask relatives about home, moving and family memory, and how to check the answers in census, vital, immigration, naturalization and military records.
Frequently asked questions
Interview family members about their journey using specific prompts about places, people, challenges, and hopes. Gather documents like photos, letters, and records. Create a timeline and map of the journey to provide context.
Accept that they may not want an interview. A photograph or object is an option only if they welcome it. Do not make preserving a family history an obligation or return to a declined topic.
Ask what the tradition means to the people practicing it and which details may be recorded or shared. Some rituals or knowledge are private; document only the version they approve.