Audio Heirlooms

02/23/2024

First in a series of creative ideas for Games, Gifts and Gatherings: The Disposable Camera Photo Book.

Ever want to know the daily routines of your parents? The people, places, things your niece and nephews find most meaningful?

Included here are examples of books from my archives, How To Instructions, a budget section and more.

Lemme know if you do it yourself!

The first in a series called How To Have Fun With Your Friends: Games, Gifts & Gatherings.

12/17/2021

12/03/2020

"On 1800HappyBirthday, people can find the birthday of a person who has died at the hands of police and leave a voice mail that’s available for the public to access. These messages are screened to keep racists and other bigots out, but they are otherwise open for any memory or thought. Gorjestani says the medium of voice mail—available to nearly everyone—lends a rawness that often is missing from a written tribute. “There’s a nostalgia to them,” he says. “It’s sentimental, like someone is trying to get ahold of you. It’s a confessional tool. Any human being can use them." (article linked in comments)

1800 Happy Birthday is a voicemail project created to honor the Black and Brown victims of Police Killings and Systemic Racism by allowing people to leave and listen to voicemails left for the victims on their birthday

07/16/2020

Museums are working overtime to collect artifacts and ephemera from the pandemic and the racial justice movement, and they need your help.

05/19/2020

It’s easy to put these conversations off. It’s human nature to say, “I’ll get around to it eventually.” But why shouldn’t “eventually” be now?

I’ve spent years collecting intimate interviews. Take it from me: A conversation about life’s big questions is the very definition of time well spent.

02/24/2020

This goes right up our alley

EXCLUSIVE: NBC is going to fuse comedy with shocking real-life stories in True Story, a hybrid alternative-scripted series hosted by Ed Helms (The Office, The Hangover) and Randall Park (Fresh Off …

11/27/2019

Spending the holidays with family? Sit down a family member and record them with your phone. You'll be glad you did it later!

My dad has led an interesting life. Born in Berlin in 1930, he moved to the US in 1933. He served in the US Navy, then went to law school…

10/11/2019

This is a nice piece where two children reflect on their trailblazing mom. But I can't help but want to hear these stories in the mother's own voice.

This is your daily reminder that when people die, they take their story and their unique voice with them. Whether or not you ask our help or do it yourself - do yourself a favor and sit down and record the people you love. You'll thank yourself later.

Flip and Christine Cuddy remember their mother, Susan Ahn Cuddy, a Navy gunnery officer who served in World War II.

10/10/2019

We interviewed Bob and four of his closest friends for his Audio Chronicle. Also featuring Bill Safire. This story name drops author Betty Friedan and the infamous Roy Cohn. Fascinating life experiences here....

10/10/2019

The grandmother who inspired Audio Heirlooms. Cheers to Alice, my favorite storyteller. I’m so glad I got her adorable laugh and favorite sayings on tape a million times (“I’m tellin’ ya!”) She was my first Audio Heirlooms project and always my favorite.

10/10/2019

During family photos, the groom’s parents talk about their son and their own wedding. Click the link the our bio for more samples!

10/10/2019

Your wedding is a busy day, and you can’t be everywhere at once. An Audio Wedding can document some of the interesting interactions that you missed, and preserve the special voices and stories of your favorite friends and family.

10/10/2019

All your favorite people are in one place. It’s the perfect time to record your mom talking about her own wedding! Listen as Kirsten and her mom get their first manicures on her wedding day. Check the link in our bio for more audio samples!

07/24/2018

Only one season, but we loved this Gimlet podcast on family stories.

A family history podcast hosted by A.J. Jacobs. They say we’re one big family: this is the show that proves it. You will be filled with delight… or abject horror. You never know. It’s family.

07/12/2018

TLDR: Record your mom's voice

“My mother was sick for most of my life. She had nineteen years of treatment for Hodgkin’s disease. But she was the kind of mother that would come home from chemotherapy, vomit in the bathroom, and then still cook dinner for all of us. And she did this while getting a PhD in clinical psychology. She just loved being a mother. Even after the chemotherapy destroyed her ovaries, she adopted two more children. She passed away I was twenty-five. Shortly after she died, I realized that I couldn’t remember her voice. I’ve just never been an oral person. It was maddening. It felt almost disrespectful. I had all these old videos of her, but they were silent. So I thought I’d just never know what she sounded like. Then last night, my sister found a small cassette in an old box. It was from my mother’s answering machine. And she picked up the phone during one of the recordings. It was a month before she died. She was so sick at the time. But she said to the person: ‘Nicholas is coming to visit me, so I stayed up late baking, and I’m waking up early to clean.’”

11/28/2017

04/01/2015

Makes sense to us

Dave Isay opened the first StoryCorps booth with the intention of creating a quiet place where a person could honor someone who mattered to them by listening to their story.

03/18/2015

Last night we introduced to the world the StoryCorps app. It's a chance for everyone to record the voices and preserve the memories that are so meaningful to each one of us. Getting started is as easy as downloading the free app and following these simple steps:

1) Choose someone to interview.
2) Pick great questions. Find a quiet place to record. Listen closely.
3) When you're finished, share your interview with the world.
4) Help create an archive of the wisdom of humanity.

Here is where you can find the app as well as more information:

https://storycorps.me/