documentingmyfamilyhistory

[documentingmyfamilyhistory]

Finished products

This post is a bit overdue and incompasses stuff that I have done from February till now.

In the end of February, I went to Micheals to buy materials for this product. These materials included red cardstock paper, printed designed paper, paper flowers, washi tape, and hole puncher. First, I tried making a journal by following tutorials online. But each method that I tried failed. Instead, I ended up buying a journal that worked just as well. To deal with the photos, I scanned them and had them printed out at my local Walgreens. Lastly over break, I was able to finish all the decorations for my project. I am really proud of what I was able to accomplish and I am really glad that I persevered through this project.

[documentingmyfamilyhistory]

Labeling Photos

Over winter break, I sat down with my grandma and labeled all the photos that I would use. We wrote down the approximately year it was taken as well as the context behind it. With this, it will give me great headway into the scrapbook I inevitably make.

[documentingmyfamilyhistory]

Success! Found gold!

Questions for the interviews have been finalized. The first interviewee, my grandma has agreed to an interview in the coming week. The current soft date is on Friday. Additionally, after doing some more investigation I found that when my great grandma passed away a few years ago, my grandma wrote a memoir of her life in Chinese. This could be a huge help to this project if I could just translate it.

[documentingmyfamilyhistory]

The Discovery

My grandma, who is staying with my family for the time being, remembered an old photo album. After digging around in the attic, we discovered it in a huge box in a corner, lying there untouched for several years and covered in dust. Inside were so many hidden treasures including photos of my mom as a child all the way to adulthood, my family dressed in military medic uniforms, and most surprising of all, most surprisingly my grandma as a child. I had always thought my grandma was born old and wise, not a spry young child with not a care in the world. I have started picking out which ones I would like to include and figuring out how to protect them during this project. Many of these photos are one of a kind and therefore need to be treated with the utmost care during the creation of the photo journal.

[documentingmyfamilyhistory]

The First Connection

Contact with relatives was made on August 30, 2023. Pictures of this caliber do indeed exist. During the call, I saw pictures of my great grandfather in his military uniform in addition to several black and white photos of my family. Seeing those photos hung up on the wall gave me a sense of surreality. I felt closer to myself at that moment which was amplified since we were all celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival. The 7,000ish miles between us seemed to disappear for the duration of that call. After that call, I made a list of possible interviewees that would give me the best information on my family history. The next step would be to contact them, set up a time to call and record the interview. I will need my mom with me to help me translate as well as record the interview in both English and Chinese for the final product.