Many family stories have been lost because they were never recorded. I
have first hand experience with my family. My great grandfather, Emil
Schacht, was one of the first architects in Portland and I have only a few
of his architectural drawings of the homes he designed. I have no
journals, no diaries and no correspondence to help me know the
adventures he had coming to America and getting his business going.
I was fortunate, however, to be able to record my great-uncle’s memories
of coming to America. John Tschida came over from the Austro-
Hungarian Empire at the turn of the century with high expectations and
spoke no English. The stories of how he found work and moved into the
American way of life show his strength of character. My family has told
me many times how much they enjoy rereading his stories that I took
down in his oral history.
Because of these two different experiences with my family, I have studied
the process of Oral History. Oral Historians are trained to get as
complete and reliable a record as possible through a researched and
recorded interview. By preserving the tapes and transcripts, the Oral
Historian will give you an oral and written preservation of the stories
you have listened to all of your life. As an Oral Historian, I want to help
other families save their special stories for future generations.
My grandmother, Elsie Tschida, was six years old and living in San
Francisco during the earthquake of 1906. Now that the centennial
anniversary of the earthquake has been celebrated her story is even more
precious to me.
