Search the collections at the Center for Jewish History
Center for Jewish History: General Information
Lillian Goldman Reading Room
Ackman and Ziff Family Genealogy Institute
Interviewing your relatives, especially the oldest ones, is the first step in family history research. By interviewing a relative, you gather facts about family history and stories about the past, and you record the voice and personality of an individual. Relatives will often protest that they know little or remember nothing, but you may be surprised at the amount of factual information conveyed in reminiscences. Interview anyone who might be helpful—not just grandparents and parents, but collateral relatives like aunts, uncles, and cousins.
Brown, Cynthia Stokes. Like It Was: A Complete Guide to Writing Oral History (NY: Teachers & Writers Collaborative, 1988). D 16.14 .B76 1988
DeBlasio, Donna Marie, et al. Catching Stories: A Practical Guide to Oral History (Athens, OH: Swallow Press, 2009). D 16.14 .C379 2009
Ritchie, Donald A. Doing Oral History: A Practical Guide (NY: Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2003). D 16.14 .R57 2003
Ritchie, Donald A., ed. The Oxford Handbook of Oral History ( NY: Oxford University Press, 2011). D 16.14 .O95 2011
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Oral History Interview Guidelines (Washington, DC: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1998). Directed toward interviewing Holocaust survivors. D 16.14 .O744 1998
Zimmerman, William. How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies: How to Tape Record, Video or Film Your Life Stories (NY: Guarionex Press, 1988). CT 22 .Z55 1988
Guidelines:
https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Questions-for-Interviewing-Family-Members?language=en_US
http://blog.myheritage.com/2013/06/10-tips-for-interviewing-family-members-2/
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Creating_Oral_Histories
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/migrations/seek2/family.html
http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/01/07/conducting-interviews-genealogical-research
Sample Questions:
https://www.familytreemagazine.com/premium/20-questions
http://www.jewishgen.org/infofiles/Quest.html