Interview Transcripts

Life History Services recommends creating print transcripts of all oral history interviews. We lightly edit, index, and professionally proof all of our transcripts for accuracy, readability, and accessibility. Transcripts are delivered in hard copy and digital formats and may serve as:

Stand-alone documents
Backups to recorded interviews
Source material for print memoirs, biographies, and edited audio and video programs

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

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

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

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

Fae

Grandmother, 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

I was pleased beyond any expectations. Anita has the technique and ability to make the interviewee feel comfortable.

Myer

Attorney, California

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

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

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

You conduct the interviews with insight, being inquisitive enough to make it interesting and yet with the discretion to make the person feel comfortable

Ariel Cojuc

Grandmother, Mexico