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Show SEQION 2008 SATURDAY. JUNE 14. Elyssa Andrus EDITOR eandrusheraWextra.coni 344-255- 3 LaRae Free Kerr It's All Relatives x& ' ("'til V ' i HISTORIES AT REUNIONS Family i other column will include lists of questions you could ask. An oral history is a recorded interview by one person with the object of discovering specific genealogical and historical information. Oral histories can be entertaining, revealing, intriguing and the framework upon which you build pedigrees. Just remember, everyone tells the same story differently. To create oral histories you will need a digital recorder of some type. If you don't have one, buy the best quality you can afford. Charles E. Hughes, a speaker at this year's Conference on Computerized Family History and Genealogy, recommends the Marantz PMD 660 at $499. But some digital recorders can be purchased for about $50. You can still use a compact cassette player if you have one. But tapes do not last as long as CDs. Use a microphone placed closely but unobtrusively by or on the interviewee. Internal mics produce poor quality sound. You can also use a digital camera or camcorder, as long as the sound is exceptional. The images will always be valuable, but the - - Si t f i. '' t: I , ,,t' , ,w oMiiJ n nOCP i J I LDS Church scales bach two of its summer pageants in Utah Cody Clark game, but Provo is also a bigger place. As of DAILY HERALD, the 2000 census, Manti had a population of 3,040, and, on a given night, there might just " be as many as 10,000 people in town to see t's a popular story that if you go to see f the "Mormon Miracle Pageant" in Man-- - the pageant, which had a total visitorship of about 86,000 spread over eight nights in 2007. ti, then you'll be trapped until the wee hours of the morning trying to drive (According to the pageant's Web site, ' " out of town after the show. It's also not more than 4.4 million people have attended a true, according to Doug Barton, 59, who pageant performance since 1967. The highowns and operates radio stations in central est attendance on record was in 1995, when Utah and is in his first year as president of Manti welcomed an estimated 196,000 pagthe annual event, which is under the auspices eant patrons. The most recent year with at of the Missionary Department of The Church least 100,000 visitors is 2003, when 103,550 Saints. of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y visitors came. In both 2005, when 79,600 "I've been to BYU football games," Barton showed up, and 2006, with just 77,500, the said, "where it took me longer to get out of pageant suffered its worst attendance since Provo after the game than it does to get out the 71,000 visitors who came in 1972.) Some of the audience members in Manti of Manti after the pageant." The comparison's not a bad one. There are from no farther away than Utah Valare more people at a typical BYU football ley or Salt Lake City, but others come from ' words are what you are after. First and foremost, do it now. Every time a relative dies a whole library about your family around the globe. Former pageant president Dean Hailing, 52, said that the pageant fields numerous requests for translation (which it can't always provide) each year. Standard Spanish and American Sign Language translation is available. The next-mofrequently requested languages, said Hailing, are probably Portuguese and Japanese. The "Mormon Miracle Pageant" which weaves together the life story of LDS Church founder Joseph Smith, events from the LDS scriptural volume the Book of Mormon, and an account of the LDS pioneers who braved arduous circumstances to travel to Utah by oxcart and handcart in the century d is one of three large-scalLDS outdoor historical plays staged in Utah each summer. One of three, that is, until is lost. Do have goals. Don't just say, "Tell me about the family." If you want family group data, stick to that goal, bringing the interviewee back to it time after time. If your goal is to find out information about your own st mid-19t- Church-sponsore- this year. ' In 2008, only the "Mormon Miracle Pageant" and "Castle Valley Pageant," performed in the central Utah town of Castle Dale, will be presented. The third pageant, "Martin Harris: The Man Who Knew," performed in Clarkston every summer for See PAGEANTS, D2 Mormon Miracle Pageant to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Hl. I 4p ' KEVIN Frank .NET . Saints founder Joseph Smith CAnVyES... I'll HELP vou? A A A TRYING TO FINpN FATHER'S DAV GIFT my PAP... for h J in the "Mormon Miracle Pageant" in MantL UELL, YOU'VE CCME PLACE! H0U ABOUT GOT TONS, AND THE TO THE RIGHT A TIE? PRICE 1 .,. I UE'VE IS RI6HT! UMNNH. grandparents, ask questions in chronological order. Start with parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Ask about childhood evdnts, high school, further training and first jobs. Then cover courtship, marriage and children. Discuss employment, community and church service. Finally turn to grandchildren and old age. Make sure your equipment works. Whether you are using pen and paper, audio tapes, visual tapes or digital equipment, practice making it work in the See PERHAPS A HUG U0ULP BETTER. IN FACT. I THINK HAVE THE PERFECT 0NEI OK. v bring the r, interviewee back to him as often as necessary. If your goal is to uncover the life of the interviewee himself, people like your parents and h e, ' The angel Moroni appears reunions, of one kind grace summer Whether your summer is formal or just a gathering of close relatives, you can further your family history by getting some oral histories. Following are some of the suggestions for getting oral histories from the forthcoming book "The Least You Need to Do to Find Your Own True Ancestors." An- i ; 1 ORAL 1' (f j HNMN. 9 GOT P0ES PLENTV HE COLLECT REAP? HE OF KERR, D2 BOOKS. UE'VE P0ES OR 0LP REC0RPS? M NO. SORRY., .11 iff 'i TOASTERS? OBOES? PLASTIC U0MBATS? f I HEVA WHAT'S THAT? i HONEY 0H, UE'RE COLLECTING FOR MOSQUITO NETS, TO HELP SPREAP OF MALARIA iJuohl ARE jJTOrrHE A UAY SIMPLE rri IT ANP TO HELP PREVENT IT. f f &ds SAVrl - tHPJF'i' SHOP "oili i toTHlH&f f y. yfaj(f)i ly) J I - ANPTD VERY SPECIAL SON, TOO. I |