Before I Forget: From Personal Memory to Family History

Abstract

This article presents findings from a field study of 8 persons older than 50 who were undertaking a range of activities with the intention of “recording their memories for posterity.” We describe practices associated with dealing with inherited family archives; the creation of new artifacts (such as scrapbooks and collections of letters) out of repurposed archived materials; and the recording of one's memoirs. Our analysis leads us to emphasise a distinction between “personal” memory and memory “for family,” noting that although memory is used in the construction of a sense of one's own history, and in enabling personal reflection on the past, the work that is bound up with processing archives and producing new artifacts is heavily influenced by a desire to make them accessible and relevant to children and grandchildren, both now and in the future. The tending to, and crafting of, these materials can be understood as a means of creating a “joint” past and reinforcing a wider family narrative. We conclude that through these practices, memory is used a resource for self but also for future family life.

Notes

Acknowledgments. The study reported here was part of a wider project that also involved Richard Banks, Xiang Cao, John Helmes, and Abi Sellen. Thanks go to them, to the three anonymous reviewers of this article, and to the participants.

HCI Editorial Record. First manuscript received December 6, 2010. Revision received June 20, 2011. Accepted by Stephen Whittaker. Final manuscript received December 19, 2011. — Editor