“My father used to say that stories are part of the most precious heritage of mankind.”
Tahir Shah, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams
The first thing you need to know about giving an oral history is that you DO NOT have to know or talk about the larger story that surrounds the time period. Oral histories are about personal memories.
Milton & Cora West were the first Mill Family I wrote about on this blog, as told through the eyes of Jackie Howell Wall, oldest of their 18 grandchildren. Click here to read about Milton & Cora. The second Mill Family was Annie & Jim Casey, remembered by their daughter ‘Maggie,”Mary Casey Langrehr. Click here to read about Annie & Jim Casey. Both stories were greeted with great interest and appreciation, because in some sense, they were everyone’s story that grew up in the Mill Village, or worked at the Mill. It triggered many precious stories.