Pictures and Stories Client Profile - Fred Ball

April 4, 2014 Alison Taylor

A photo from Doug Robinson's article "Dynamo Fred Ball wishes he were still working." Photo by Matt Glade, Deseret News.

What a treat to see this article in the Deseret News about our friend and client Fred Ball! Tom and I had the great privilege of helping Fred create a book about his fascinating and inspiring life a couple of years ago. The newspaper version included a photo of his book, I'm Not Lucky, I'm Blessed proudly displayed on his coffee table.

Show, Don't Tell: Including Detail in Your Story

April 2, 2014 Alison Taylor

When you describe your childhood home, can your reader picture it in his mind? Does he know what it was like for you to live there, what you did there, and how you felt? Create a mental snapshot with interesting detail.

How to Choose Pictures for a Memoir or Family History Book

March 31, 2014 Alison Taylor

You've written your narrative, and now you're ready to choose what photos you want to go with it. But how do you choose the gems from the stacks and boxes of slides, photos, and documents? Here are a few things to consider:

Family Mementos - Keep or Toss?

March 28, 2014 Alison Taylor

Are your mementos bringing you joy or weighing you down? (Photo by Julia Freeman-Woolpert) — Are your mementos bringing you joy or weighing you down? (Photo by Julia Freeman-Woolpert)

Making decisions about our "family history assets" can leave even the neatest of the neatnicks among us paralyzed with fear.

What do we do with the accumulation of photos, objects, and other memorabilia that have been handed down to us or that we have collected ourselves? Keep it and burden yet another generation with boxes of stuff? Toss it and face the possibility of losing something of true sentimental or monetary value?

A "Story Genealogy" Book - By the Numbers (Part Two)

March 26, 2014 Alison Taylor

In this book we created for a client, we started with a couple about five generations back and included all their descendants to the present time. This chart shows the couple's eight children, each of whom are numbered. We used their birth order as … — In this book we created for a client, we started with a couple about five generations back and included all their descendants to the present time. This chart shows the couple's eight children, each of whom are numbered. We used their birth order as the chapter order for the book.

In the last post we talked about creating a story book about your ancestors, starting with yourself (or your subject) as number one and going back in time.

You can also create a descendancy book: start with an ancestor a few generations back and movie into the present time, highlighting each of his/her descendants.

A "Story Genealogy" Book - By the Numbers (Part One)

March 24, 2014 Alison Taylor

Want to create a book about your ancestors, but don't have a clue where to start? Start with a simple pedigree chart.

At Rootstech last month, a woman stopped me in the hall after my presentation and told me she wanted to create a book about her ancestors, but she didn't have any idea how to organize it. How many generations to include? What if she had more information about some ancestors and very little about others? What order should she put it in?

Save the Date - UGA South Davis Family History Fair

March 21, 2014 Alison Taylor

Yes, we know it's a month away, but you won't want to miss this! A staggering number (110, if I counted right) of genealogy and personal history classes for only twenty bucks (that includes the e-syllabus!) At Woods Cross High School, April 25-26.

(Tom and I will each be teaching personal history-related classes there.) Hope to see you!

Click here for more information.

A "Thank You" Book for Mothers/Fathers Day

March 20, 2014 Alison Taylor

A tribute book can be a great way to honor your parents, grandparents, or other loved ones. You can put one together in a relatively short time.

I've been thinking about my grandmother lately, as March is the month of her birth. This amazing woman, born just after the turn of the last century, lived to celebrate her 100th birthday and passed away just a few months later in 2006.

As a birthday present for her milestone, I made a little book for her, which I brought with me when I went back East for her birthday party.

Using Documents to Illustrate a Personal or Family History

March 17, 2014 Alison Taylor

Images of old paper - letters, passports, report cards, etc. - can add visual interest to your personal history.

Tom is currently working on a short book about his parents and their experiences during World War II. As he sorted through the stacks of paper he inherited after his father's death nine years ago, he came across some ephemera that Wendell, a Naval aviator, had kept from the war.

Reluctant Subject? How to Write a "Tribute" Life Story Book

March 12, 2014 Alison Taylor

You want to write a life story book about a loved one, but he's not so hot on the idea. What to do?

Feb 28, 2024

Speaking at RootsTech 2024

We are so excited to be back at RootsTech live this year! Come by and see the Pictures and Stories booth (#1609) and see some of the many new books we’ve helped our clients create. Alison is giving two in-person classes: The Seven Deadly Sins of Building a Digital Archive, and Making a Genealogy Story Book. Hope to see you there!

Apr 15, 2020

"Novelize" Your Family History Story - Live (sort of) from RootsTech 2020

How do you get from dry genealogy facts to a compelling story? This presentation from RootsTech 2020 will hopefully inspire you as well as give you tools to write your ancestors’ stories. (Audio with slides) Join me on a fascinating journey as I find one of my ancestors and write her story.

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