Resume/Bio (Old Portfolio)

For twenty years, Life History Services has assisted both private and public clients with documenting their unique stories and history.

What follows is a cross section of client testimonials, past projects, work samples and past presentation. For further samples or information on specific projects or trainings please contact us.

Past Projects

Personal, Family, and Business Histories

Over the past twenty years, Life History Services has produced over 400 privately commissioned projects. Full production services have included project design, all pre-interviewing, interviewing, equipment, post-production editing, archiving, and distribution. A few representative samples include:

Devotion & Momentum. Full-length narrative couple’s memoir to celebrate 50^th wedding anniversary, 2016.
Circling the Globe. Full-length, first-person narrative memoir with supplemental family genealogy and archival photo archive.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Five-hour digital audio oral history, preserved on digital audio (searchable CDs and project hard drive). 2013.
A Legacy of Love. Six-hour, digital video family & business history, with two first-person narrative memoirs. 2004.
Look at Us! Five-hour video history project, preserved on searchable DVDS, with accompanying print transcripts, 2005.

Congregations

Solana Beach Presbyterian Church, Solana Beach, California (2002)
Congregation Emanu-El, San Francisco, California (1998-2001, 2005-2006)

Community & Public History

The Stephen Spielberg Foundation for the Visual History of the Shoah (1995-1997)
The Missouri Lead Belt Jewish Oral History Project (2011-2012)
The David R. Obey Oral History Project, The Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, (2014)
Senator William Proxmire Oral History Project, The Wisconsin Historical Society, (2008-2011)
States’ Impact on Federal Education Oral History Project, New York State Archives, (2013-present)

University-Based

The George Mosse Oral History Project, The University of Wisconsin Mosse Humanities Program, (2010)
UW-Madison Oral History Program (2009-2010)
Performing the Jewish Archive Oral History , University of Leeds, England, (2016)

Professional Training & Presentations

Freie Universität, Faculty, Summer School Program in Media Research and the Visual History Foundation of the Shoah, Oral History Training for Scholars. (2015-2016)
University of Wisconsin–School of Social Work, Guest Lecturer, Oral History Training for Social Workers. (2016)
Capitol Lakes—Continuing Care Retirement Community, Presenter, Legacy Planning Program, Madison, WI. (2014)
Madison College Seminar, Workshop Presenter, Writers on Writing, Madison, WI. (2014).
Wilson Law Group Estate Planners, Keynote Address, Annual Meeting, Madison, WI (2012-2013)
Institute of Life Review and Reminiscence Conference, Conference Presenter, Boston, MA. (2011)
Senior Summer School Writing Instructor, Autobiographical Writing for Seniors, Madison, WI. (2005-2011)

Click to view FAQ’s

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

My parents felt comfortable with you and shared details that might have been lost forever had you not been such an experienced and professional interviewer.

Edith

Editor, Wisconsin

You know how to make your interviewee comfortable and your questions come at the right time—they do not interrupt thought, but keep the conversation flowing; moreover, they lead to substantive answers.

Louis Heilbron

Attorney-Educator, California

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

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

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

So many gave time and thought to our oral history project, but the key to its success is the work of Anita Hecht, the oral historian who conducted all the interviews. I found she was totally qualified to handle the broad range of topics pursued and the broad variety of people interviewed.

Ellen Proxmire

US Senator William Proxmire Oral History Project of the Wisconsin Historical Society

As the Archivist of Temple Emanu-El, an historic San Francisco congregation founded in 1850, my association with Ms. Hecht began in 2004 when she and I embarked on a project to digitize a series of decade-old oral histories she conducted in the 1990s. I cannot emphasize enough my respect for Ms. Hecht’s professionalism and for the initiative, creativity, and practicality she brought to our project. Furthermore, as I watched each of the interviews she conducted on behalf of Temple Emanu-El, I was especially struck by the sensitivity with which she guided her subjects. It was readily apparent that her preparation for each interview was extensive and that her ability to gain the trust of each subject and engage him or her in a lively, meaningful conversation was impressive. In addition, the supplementary written materials, which accompanied each interview could not have been more expertly produced.

Paula Freedman

Archivist, Edith S. Green Oral History Project of Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco, CA

Being videotaped was so much easier than I had anticipated. Many of my concerns were eliminated at our first preliminary meeting.

Raymond Marks

Banker, California

Your gentle questioning and sympathetic manner helped me search and express ideas that had never occurred to me, but lay buried in my subconscious.

Joseph

Cantor-Educator, California