Background & Work Samples

About Life History Services

Work Samples: Video, Audio, Print Productions

Short Oral History Video Clips
- Inge B
- Rabbi Alvin Fine
- Louis H
- Dan N
Sample Full-Length Videotaped Oral History (Dr. Seymour Drescher, Distinguished Professor of History and Sociology, 2 hour interview)

Sample Print Memoirs
40 Transcripts and Biographical Summaries – Proxmire Oral History Project
Genealogy Tree
Sample Audio Interviews, Biographical Summaries – Proxmire Oral History Project
- Ellen Proxmire
- Ralph Nader

Sample Letters Of Reference

Michael Engel (Shoah Foundation)
Paula Freedman (Congregation Emanu-El)
Peter Gottlieb (Wisconsin State Historical Society/William Proxmire Oral History Project)
Ellen Proxmire (William Proxmire Oral History Project)
Richard Riley (former U.S. Secretary of Education)
Google Reviews (2016)

Articles By Or About Anita Hecht

Anita Hecht, of Life History Services LLC, Focuses on Skills, by Libby Atwater
Suggested Skill Sets for Professional Personal Historians, by Anita Hecht
Historian for Hire: Recording Our Family Stories for the Next Generation, by Brennan Nardi
Bibliography of Articles by or about Anita Hecht and Life History Services

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

I have done several limited oral histories for certain parts of my public life, but yours was more of a complete picture of my role as U.S. Secretary of Education. I am very pleased with the final product. You handled the interview, written biography, and transcript in a professional and effective manner. It would be a pleasure for me to recommend you to others for a very professionally-done oral history.

Richard Riley

Former U.S. Secretary of Education & Governor of South Carolina, States’ Impact on Federal Education Policy Oral History Project

I wanted you to know how meaningful the making of the oral history was for me. You are just a pro.

Fae

Grandmother, California

All we can say is that we were overwhelmed! The videos and print biographies were beautifully done, the music was most appropriate and, according to our three children, we looked great! Seeing ourselves on the video and sharing many experiences that we had never shared with our children was beautiful. We wouldn’t want to change anything.

Katy & Shawki Ibrahim

Educator & Engineer, Parents & Grandparents, Indiana

I thank you very much for the interest you placed in this work, based on your intelligent and skillful questions that did not interrupt the flow of the conversation, but were inserted at the appropriate places.

Rina

Daughter, Mexico

It’s been a wonderful experience. One great advantage of an oral history conducted by a pro, like yourself, is you think at the time you know everything you’re going to say and remember. And then in the context of a focused, professional interview, a light goes on and you remember things that had been buried. We’re talking about the obvious, and suddenly, buried, hidden under the obvious, is new stuff. It’s wonderful!”

Kenneth Roy Feinberg

Attorney, Special Master, 911 Victim Compensation Fund

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

My siblings and I used your services 16 years ago to record my parents’ life histories as a gift for their 60^th anniversary; however, I have found, particularly in the 4 years since my mother’s death that having this recorded hour with her where she blossoms back to life has been a treasure that I value more than words could adequately express. As a ritual that I now hold sacred, I watch the video twice a year.

Margot Keen

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

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