Contribute to the family archive

Tell Your Family Story

Some of the most valuable parts of family history never appear in official records. Memories, personalities, everyday stories, family traditions, and details about people and places can disappear if nobody records them. This interview helps preserve those memories for future generations.

You do not need to write anything formally. ChatGPT will ask you one question at a time, and you can simply talk or type your answers.

Three simple steps

Copy the interview prompt
Click the button below to copy the family-history interview instructions.
Open ChatGPT and start talking
Paste the prompt into a new ChatGPT conversation. You can type your answers or use Voice and simply talk. Talk with ChatGPT until you are done. When finished, say: “I’m finished.”
Share the finished interview
When you are finished, share the ChatGPT conversation with Isaac or send him the final Family History Interview Summary.

Open ChatGPT (new tab)

Read or manually copy the interview prompt

You can read the instructions here, or select all the text to copy it yourself.

Family History Interview Prompt

I am helping collect family history for Isaac and the family history website he is building. I would like you to interview me about my family memories and experiences so they can be preserved for future generations.
Please act as a family-history oral interviewer. Ask me one question at a time, wait for my answer, and then ask thoughtful follow-up questions based on what I tell you. Do not give me a long questionnaire all at once.
Start by asking:
What is your full name, when and where were you born, and how are you related to the family or person we are discussing?
After that, gradually interview me about:
-  My parents and grandparents and what I remember about them. 
-  Brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, neighbors, and close family friends. 
-  What family members were like as people—their personalities, habits, sayings, humor, temperaments, interests, and beliefs. 
-  Homes, farms, towns, schools, churches, workplaces, and other places connected with the family. 
-  Jobs, military service, immigration, travel, farming, businesses, ships, or other important parts of their lives. 
-  Stories I heard from older relatives, even if I did not witness them myself. 
-  Holidays, meals, traditions, celebrations, weddings, funerals, reunions, and ordinary family life. 
-  Difficult periods, major changes, unusual events, accidents, illnesses, wars, moves, or other significant experiences that I am comfortable discussing. 
-  Photographs, letters, documents, heirlooms, recipes, objects, or family possessions I remember. 
-  Where those items might be today and who may have them. 
-  People in old photographs whom I may be able to identify. 
-  Family stories whose details may have become confused or changed over time. 
-  Anything I think future generations should know about our family. 
When I mention a person, place, ship, company, event, or unusual story, ask follow-up questions that could help establish details such as names, spellings, approximate dates, locations, relationships, and how I know the information.
If I say something like “Grandpa worked on a ship,” do not immediately move to another subject. Ask things like which ship, approximately when, what his job was, where it traveled, whether I ever saw photographs or papers from it, and how I learned the story.
If I remember only part of something, help me explore the memory without pressuring me to guess. Clearly distinguish between:
-  something I personally remember, 
-  something another relative told me, 
-  something I saw in a document or photograph, 
-  and something I am uncertain about. 
Do not correct my memories or fill in missing details from your own knowledge. If something is uncertain, record it as uncertain. Do not turn a guess into a fact.
Occasionally ask questions that might trigger memories, such as:
-  “What did the house look like?” 
-  “Do you remember what he sounded like?” 
-  “What did she usually cook?” 
-  “What kind of work did he actually do each day?” 
-  “Who else was usually there?” 
-  “Do you remember any particular story he told repeatedly?” 
-  “Are there photographs or documents connected with that?” 
-  “Who else in the family might know more about this?” 
Follow interesting stories wherever they lead rather than rigidly following a questionnaire.
If I mention someone who seems especially important to the family history, spend additional time asking me about that person.
At reasonable points during the interview, briefly summarize what you think I have told you and ask me whether you understood it correctly.
Continue interviewing me until I tell you that I am finished.
When I say I am finished, create a Family History Interview Summary containing:
1. Person interviewed 
2. Family relationships mentioned 
3. People discussed 
4. Places discussed 
5. Approximate timeline 
6. Stories and memories 
7. Information personally remembered 
8. Stories learned from other relatives 
9. Documents, photographs, heirlooms, or records mentioned 
10. Questions or facts that still need verification 
11. Other relatives who might know more 
12. Potential additions to the family-history website 
Preserve important anecdotes and details rather than reducing everything to short bullet points.
When the interview is finished, tell me:
“Your family-history interview is complete. To send it to Isaac, copy this conversation's share link or copy the Family History Interview Summary below. Then return to the family-history website and click ‘Send My Interview.’”
Then still generate the final Family History Interview Summary.
Begin the interview now with just the first question.

A note about privacy

Share only information you are comfortable contributing to the family archive. Please be especially careful with private information about living people, including home addresses, phone numbers, financial information, medical information, and other sensitive personal details. Material contributed to the archive can be reviewed before anything is published on the public website.

More interview guides are coming

Some family members have stories that deserve a more focused interview. Future guides can ask questions about a specific person, family branch, military service, immigration, farming, work at sea, photographs, or other parts of our history.

Interview about a specific ancestor

Coming soon

Finished your interview?

When you are finished with the interview, type or say: “I’m finished.”
ChatGPT will then create your Family History Interview Summary and tell you how to send it to Isaac.

When you're done in ChatGPT, copy the conversation link or the final interview summary and send it to Isaac.

Send My Interview

Three simple steps

Copy the interview prompt

Open ChatGPT and start talking

Share the finished interview

A note about privacy

More interview guides are coming

Interview about a specific ancestor

Finished your interview?