I'm sorry to say I don't recognise your old username, so Hello if I've never said it. I would love to hear what you learnt about your family history, it wasn't clear but is your new username related to that? Usernames and aliases are a funny thing, it's literally the first thing you pick on most websites and communities, and it can completely shape others perceptions of you, but as time goes by its importance becomes less as you put more of yourself (or a character you are playing) out there.
That's understandable, I created Ay-Nawn half a year ago, but I haven't touched it until about a month or two ago. That said, hello to you as well. Over the spring I was really listening a lot to NPR's StoryCorps which got me thinking about how much I didn't know of my own family's story on my dad's side. My dad's a relatively quiet man whose father passed away before any of his own kids were born. As I've grown up, most of his side of the family seemed to be on the decline. Up to this point I've only heard of my grandpa in passing. That's where I started. I have a couple hours worth of interviewing on tape (although I realized afterwards I ran out of memory for the full 5 hours). He participated in the first expedition to explore the Antarctic. It was called Operation Highjump, led by Admiral Byrd. Some of the documentation, letters and photos are some bona fide pieces of history gold. The name itself turns out to be the last/only remnants of a strain of Greek in my family line. Before Anglicization upon entrance to Ellis Island (fleeing persecution from both Stalin and Hitler), the name was believed to have been Kantos. I hope to get a lot more content digging deeper over this Summer seeing as we'll have family historian in the States soon. Further, consolidate and reorganize the audio into a bit of an oral history would be ideal. EDIT: I was able to squeeze this into getting a grade out of my interviews thus far, hehe. You can probably see where the clerk at Ellis Island got my latest last name from Kantos. This in particular was when I started at my grandfather's story. That night my dad showed me his dad's letters to his to-be-wife, his papers and photos from the Navy that had been collecting dust under the bed. You can see some of the photos as the ad hoc transitions. Needless to say, I was up all night reading letters and documents. Found out more things than my even my father had known about his as it turned out.I would love to hear what you learnt about your family history, it wasn't clear but is your new username related to that?
Oh my goodness that is wonderful! He sounds like an interesting man, do you plan on digging further back? There's something about family history that I think is so important to preserve but I think it's not something that has survived as a tradition into the modern era. Family Bibles, scribbled in sex ed books and spoken living histories aren't something you hear much about anymore in the Western world, so I commend you for taking your own steps to preserving your family's. My own granddad has always been full of fantastic tales and only recently we discussed recording them and editing into a book; what are your plans for your recordings?
I do plan on digging further back, and, eventually, may come to be my generation's family historian. The night after reading through what I could, I had been told there's documentation on both sides of the family, but the other side is undergoing translation from Yiddish by an elder cousin. It's appreciated. That's theme I scratch the surface of while going through what I have available. In reference to long term goals aside from what's previously mentioned, I have no grand plan as of yet aside from consolidating both lines once inherited. I have thoughts of creating a digital library and transcribing the recordings - 'clipping' the appropriate portions to whomever it concerns. Also, digitizing the documents as to preserve them.Family Bibles, scribbled in sex ed books and spoken living histories aren't something you hear much about anymore in the Western world, so I commend you for taking your own steps to preserving your family's.