A personal history is a story of your life - the important characters, places, and moments that make up your life memories. Each personal history is as unique as you are, and so is your special way of telling it. Some people tell their whole life story from early childhood to the present. Some focus on one especially compelling life event or time period. Many want to pass along their values, hard-earned wisdom, and philosophy of life. Others describe how different life was in earlier times than it is today. No two personal histories are the same. Each in its own way reflects the special experiences, victories, disappointments, hopes, and dreams of you, the storyteller.

what does a Personal Historian do?
The job of a Personal Historian is to help you identify what you hope to achieve with your story, determine who your audience is, and decide what format will be best for you - a book, audio CD, or video/DVD. Then the Personal Historian will interview you to elicit the memories that you want to include. After the interview, the Personal Historian will gather together your stories and your photographs if you wish, edit them to your liking, and prepare your personal history in your chosen format.

what is the difference between a Personal Historian and a Genealogist?
Genealogists research facts by looking at public records - births, deaths, baptisms, marriages, land ownership, etc. to establish when and where people lived and died, and how they were related to each other. In other words, Genealogists create factual family trees. Personal Historians preserve living records of experience - memories that bring to life the facts produced by the Genealogist. In other words, Personal Historians put the "leaves" on the family tree - the stories that make the people and places of the past come alive. Personal Historians and Genealogists often work together to create a full and rich family history.

If you are seeking the services of a Genealogist, click here.