PRESERVE YOUR FAMILY STORY
Every family carries memories, experiences and stories that deserve to be preserved.
I help families transform memories, photographs, documents and personal testimonies into carefully written narratives that can be preserved for children, grandchildren and future generations.
Your story does not need to be published.
It can remain entirely private, created exclusively for your family.
What is this service?
A family story can begin with very little.
Perhaps you want to preserve the life of a parent or grandparent, or maybe your family crossed borders, survived a war, built a business, started again in another country, or simply lived a life whose small details you do not want to lose.
Sometimes a project begins with a box of photographs, a few old letters, or a story that has been repeated around the family table for many years. Other times, it begins when someone realizes that there are still questions worth asking while there are people who can answer them. I work with the memories, documents, photographs and testimonies that are available and help turn them into a clear, carefully written family story that can be preserved for future generations.
WHY PRESERVE A FAMILY STORY?
Family stories are rarely lost all at once. More often, small details disappear gradually as generations pass and the people who remember them are no longer there to answer questions.
Names, places, recipes, journeys, family traditions and the reasons behind important decisions can survive for decades in conversation, yet disappear surprisingly quickly when they are never written down.
Preserving a family story is a way of giving future generations something more than names and dates. It allows them to understand who came before them, what their lives were like and how the family they know today came to exist.
Not every family story needs to become a public book
It can be created exclusively for your family and preserved for future generations.
WHAT KIND OF STORY CAN BE PRESERVED?
There is no single type of family story
A project might focus on:
- The life of a parent or grandparent
Preserving their childhood, work, relationships, decisions and memories. - Migration and new beginnings
Stories of leaving one country, arriving in another and building a new life. - War, persecution or displacement
Personal experiences shaped by historical events. - A family business
How something was created, developed and passed from one generation to another. - A love story
The story of two people whose lives became the beginning of a family. - Several generations
A broader family chronicle connecting different people, places and periods. - A collection of memories
Small stories, traditions, recipes, sayings, photographs and moments that together describe a family. - A mystery from the past
Photographs without names, old letters, documents or fragments of a story that can still be investigated.
You do not need to know whether your story is “important enough.”
That is something we can discover together.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
First, I review your story and the material available. If the project is a good fit, we define the best approachan and move on to interviews, research and the first drafts.
WHAT CAN WE WORK WITH?
Every family preserves its history in a different way. Some have boxes filled with photographs and letters, while others have only a few documents and the memories of people who are still able to tell the story.
Photographs, letters, postcards, diaries, passports, certificates, recordings, family trees and old documents can all help reconstruct the past.
Interviews with parents, grandparents, siblings and other relatives are often just as valuable, because each person may remember a different part of the same story.
You do not need to have everything organized before contacting me. Sometimes a few photographs and someone willing to remember are enough to begin.
YOUR STORY CAN REMAIN PRIVATE
Not every family story needs to become a public book. Some stories are meant to stay within the family, preserved for children, grandchildren and future generations.
Your project can remain entirely private and be created as a digital edition, a small number of printed copies, or a personal family book to be shared only with the people you choose. Photographs, documents, interviews and personal memories are treated as private material, and nothing is published or shared publicly without your permission.
Some of the most valuable books are written for only a few readers.
WHAT CAN WE CREATE?
Every project is different. The final result might be a short story focused on one particular period, the life of a parent or grandparent, a family history covering several generations, or a complete private book combining narrative, photographs and documents.
Together, we can determine which format best fits the story you want to preserve.
A REAL EXAMPLE
A FAMILY STORY THAT BECAME A BOOK
"Before It’s Forgotten" grew from family memories, photographs, documents and historical research. What began as the story of one family eventually became a book.
Your family story does not have to be published. The same process can be used to create something intended exclusively for the people who share that history.
EVERY STORY IS DIFFERENT
The scope of each project depends on the story, the material available, the number of interviews, the research required and the desired final format. A short family narrative can be very different from a book covering several generations and countries.
After reviewing the initial information, I can suggest an appropriate approach and provide a proposal before the project begins.
Some stories disappear not because nobody wanted to preserve them, but because everyone thought there would still be time to ask.
Tell me about your family story
Thank you for sharing your family story.
I appreciate you taking the time to tell me about it. I will personally review your message and the information you have shared, and I will get back to you soon to discuss what might be possible and how we could approach the project.
Every story begins with a first conversation.
Milton Chanes
Please try again later.
There is no commitment at this stage. I will first review your message and contact you to discuss what might be possible.