Welcome to Life History Services!

You are here because of a story that should not be lost, something precious, worth saving, sharing and learning from. Time marches forward, but we can capture what is meaningful before it slips away. Whether it is a personal history, family history, business, non-profit, or institutional history, Life History Services is here to help.

Since 1997, we have been offering archival-quality oral history interviewing, digital audio & video recordings, and memoir writing services across the nation and the globe. We are glad you found us. Your legacy is a meaningful and priceless heirloom worth capturing and sharing.

We are here to help you start today!

During COVID-19—
Many of us have more time and opportunity to reflect on where we have been, where we are now, and what we would like to pass on to the future. See our Remote Services for options available from the comfort of your own home. Also, please visit our Blog for insights, video and audio clips, and related articles.

Public History

Personal & Family History

Services Overview

You have a way of putting your subjects at ease and making them feel as though they and their personal stories are the most important of all the ones you have done.

Marvin Schonberg

Administrator/Writer, California

Anita’s work is something we treasure. I have always believed in leaving a record of our family’s history to my children, grandchildren, and beyond, but I had no idea how captivating and meaningful the process would be. Our project soon became multigenerational, with Anita skillfully interviewing my parents, my wife’s parents, and my children as they grew up. Words are inadequate to express how much I treasure the gift these well-written and recorded family stories will be for my family as the future marches on. Anita is the best.

Scott Cook

Founder & CEO, Intuit

I believe that your work will prove therapeutic to some who feel the loneliness of not being able to share memories of their lives. Thank you for your interesting and stimulating presentation.

Jan

Director, Senior Center, California

I learned so much. I had no idea my grandmother spoke 5 languages! I also realized that my aunts both earned their masters degree – such modern women for the 1940s!

Helen

Daughter, Wisconsin

Thank you for sending me my oral history. You certainly do exceedingly professional and interesting work, and I hope your services can continue to be put to good use with respect to many subjects and people!

Judge Richard Cudahy

United States Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit

The preliminary meeting also made me more comfortable so that at the interview itself, I could relax, ignore the camera and just have a pleasant chat, reminiscing with you.

Melvin

Retired Businessman, California

Ms. Hecht created an atmosphere of trust and comfort, both of which helped me to relate the rather difficult yet significant experiences of my life.

Hans

Holocaust Survivor, Wisconsin

In oral history as in journalism, accuracy is paramount. As the retired Washington bureau chief of The Milwaukee Journal and its successor, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, I worked with Anita Hecht on the William Proxmire Oral History Project. Throughout the project, Ms. Hecht was thoroughly professional, but most importantly, the end product was impeccably accurate and professionally executed.

Frank Aukofer

Retired Journalist, Washington DC, US Senator William Proxmire Oral History Project of the Wisconsin Historical Society

We were very, very pleased with the results [of the oral history project]—the rapport you established with each of the various members, of different ages and attitudes, and the business like manner in which the job was done.

Don Green

Chair of the Edith S. Green Oral History Project, Temple Emanu-El, California

I did not think that I was deserving of being put on tape. [However], this record of my personal history will give me a kind of immortality, touching the minds and hearts of my grandchildren.

Harold

Grandfather, California