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Writing local history and family history

(July 27th 2013)
Report by Coralie Smith

The Motueka and District Historical Association were given some tips on writing up their local history from a young, vibrant speaker who prefers personal names are not put online for privacy reasons. The tips we got given are worth sharing so here they are:-

1. Talk to the people involved in the subject, group history or family that you are writing about. Practise oral history skills and if necessary join the National Oral Association to get some ideas or go to a workshop on oral history. Get a broad range of people to speak to as time and budget allows.
2. Referencing. There is nothing more annoying than reading a statement and there is nothing to say where the statement came from be it a newspaper, book, person. The reference doesn't have to be formal and consistency of references is good but it must be there.
3. Verify information from various sources particularly events that occurred. Again talk to people, read the newspapers of the day, look at original records. Don't rely on one source. Don't be afraid of gaps. Be honest at what may be missing. You can declare this in the introduction or at the end or in the narrative.
4. Identify some of the gaps in history and write on those eg. Woman, Maori, Business, children, minor religions, minority groups.
5. Collaborate with others - don't let your ego take over or the egos of a few. There's always room for others to add to the story.
6. Look out for local opportunities to write and get funding for the work. Eg Get your idea together and some research started before going to your local council or funding agency and presenting your idea. They are more likely to say yes when they can see it will help their work especially if it is fulfilling a need for the community.
7. START writing as you research. Don't wait till you have everything because that day never comes.

These 7 points are valid for family history as well. You might want to get someone outside the family to help with the oral history as often people open up to outsiders - depends on the family.

Quote of the day:
"You can teach skills but you can't teach enthusiasm". If you can get people in the community be it through WINZ or Community Services or at any level of society to be enthusiastic about history and heritage then grab them and give them the skills and get them researching and writing.

 
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