Start & Run a Personal History Business. Jennifer CampbellЧитать онлайн книгу.
the vision of someone else. They don’t want the responsibility or the risk of running their own business; they can forget about work at the end of the shift. Is this you? Are you satisfied to get paid for a job knowing that the person paying you is probably making money off your efforts? There’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not the mindset of an entrepreneur.
Entrepreneurs want to be in control of their financial future. They want to reap the rewards of their own work and are willing to commit to making their dreams come true. They have a vision of what the business could be in a year or two or five, and they accept that they’ll have to do a lot of grunt work and learn all aspects of running a business. They tend to be leaders. They have enough confidence in their abilities and their products to patiently but assertively build a clientele, and carve out a lucrative niche for themselves in the marketplace.
One more word about attitude: There’s a big difference between wanting something and making it happen. Ideas are a dime a dozen. They are meaningless without action. Turn your ideas and your dreams into reality by setting real, attainable goals for yourself and your business. What do you want out of life? What do you want out of your work? Go out and get it.
2. Start Here; Get There
In this chapter we’ll start building the foundation for your personal history business. My suggestions are designed to advance your core knowledge about the broad field of personal history and memoirs. When you finish reading this book and follow up with some of the suggested resources, you should be comfortable talking to potential clients. You can apply what you learn to your own particular area of interest and build a meaningful, rewarding business.
2.1 Total immersion: Absorb as much as you can about the field
Search your library and the Internet for “personal historian,” “memoir writer,” “business histories,” “corporate histories,” “oral history,” “memoirs,” “family history,” whatever your interest. You’ll find enough information to keep you reading for weeks. Bookmark especially useful sites.
2.1a Associations
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of associations and groups from which you can learn. Here are a few to get you started:
Association of Personal Historians (APH)
The mission statement, from the website www.personalhistorian.org, is “The APH is a not-for-profit international trade association. The purpose of the Association is to advance the profession of helping individuals, organizations, and communities preserve their histories, memories, and life stories. APH focuses on providing educational, training, and networking opportunities to help professional personal historians, from beginners to advanced, build their personal history businesses.” The APH has an active listserv where members can post questions, discuss issues, share resources and problem solve, a quarterly newsletter, educational materials, and an annual conference. (You can attend the conference without being a member, but as a member you get a discount.) Annual dues are around $200 and there are about 700 members worldwide, with most in the US. APH members work in a wide variety of media and formats. Search the member directory and check out websites of personal historians to see what they’re offering and how they’re pricing their products and services.
Explore Oral History Associations
There are several excellent oral history associations that you may want to join, depending on your interests. The WWW — the World Wide Web, or the wonderful window on the world — is a fountain of knowledge and inspiration. Look at the resources section at the back of this book for a list of oral history associations, or just search on Google.
The websites for these associations, some connected with academic institutions, will give you a good idea of best practices, latest research findings, interesting projects, annual conferences, and much more, including education and training. Do a search for oral history courses and workshops. Baylor University Institute of Oral History, for instance, not only has wonderful how-to resources and a collection of oral histories on its website, but it runs workshops on how to conduct an oral history. Countless other sites have fascinating recordings, such as firsthand accounts by former slaves, immigrants, Holocaust survivors, people who founded towns and businesses, First Nations and Native Americans, and just about every facet of society around the world. What a treasure chest we are building!
2.1b Institutions and ongoing projects
Stories are being gathered all over the world. This list is just a sample of the hundreds of institutions and projects devoted to preserving the personal histories and reminiscences of everyday people and specific groups:
• The Memory Project: This project collects firsthand counts and digitized artifacts and memorabilia of WWII veterans. It is an initiative of the Historica-Dominion Institute, a Canadian charitable organization that promotes the history, heritage, and stories of Canada.
• Pier 21: Canada’s Immigration Museum in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has an informative, interesting website, and the museum itself is a fascinating place to visit. Between 1928 and 1971, more than 1.5 million immigrants, war brides, displaced people, evacuee children, and Canadian military personnel passed through its doors. Pier 21 has a wonderful collection of more than 2,000 stories, 600 oral histories, books, films, photos, and documents about the immigration experience and WWII. It also offers one-on-one research help.
• Ellis Island: This museum in New York has extensive resources including a Family Immigration History Center. Much like Canada’s Pier 21, it provides visitors with assistance in investigating “immigration history, family documentation and genealogical exploration.”
• Vermont Folklife Center: This facility has thousands of recordings, films, photographs, and manuscripts, and on its site you can access excellent Field Guides (Digital Audio Field Recording Equipment, Field Recording in the Digital Age, Digital Editing, and Resources on Preservation).
• StoryCorps: This organization is part of the American Folk Life Center. It is one of the largest oral history projects, with more than 50,000 everyday people’s recorded stories, many of which are recorded through the project’s mobile and semi-permanent Story Booths. As described on its website, StoryCorps is “ … a nonprofit whose mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.” Stories are archived in the Library of Congress. Check out the site for lots of resources including a do-it-yourself guide.
• American Folk Life Center: The American Folk Life Center at the Library of Congress strives to preserve folklife — “the songs we sing, the stories we tell, the crafts we make.” It is home to StoryCorps (above) and the Veterans History Project, which “collects, preserves, and makes accessible the personal accounts of American war veterans.”
• Family History Centers: Branches of the massive Family History Library in Salt Lake City, run by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, Family History Centers offer free assistance to locate ancestors, and their website, www.familysearch.org, has online resources and classes. It will be mainly of interest to genealogists, but it’s an organization you should be familiar with.
2.1c Join a memoir-writing group or take a workshop
Check local institutions such as the library, university, or college to see if they offer memoir-writing classes. You might also find local groups that get together to offer support and feedback. There are hundreds (if not thousands) of memoir-writing retreats, online courses, and distance education opportunities that will coach you in the art and craft of memoir writing. “But wait,” you say, “I don’t want to write my own memoir!” To which I say, “How can you help other people tell their life stories or write their memoirs if you haven’t experienced it yourself?” It will be enormously valuable to your