The life history interview has earned a place in the theory and practice of gerontology because it has cultural, therapeutic, and historical-political value.  The cultural value of these interviews is the transmission of past values and lessons of the past to succeeding generations. The historical-political value is that the information gleaned both challenges many of the grand narratives embodied in the country’s conception of the past and adds the experiences of people whose voices were not heard in official versions of the past.  Tom Brokaw’s The Greatest Generation (1998) and Studs Turkel (1996) Coming of Age: The Story of Our Century by Those Who'Ve Lived It are recent examples of New York Times best sellers, and each book is a composite of life history interviews.  The therapeutic value is the way reminiscence helps elder men and women actively create a sense of personal meaning.  A very good example of this can be found in the letters send to Tom Brokaw after his book; he complied many of these letters in The Greatest Generation Speaks : Letters and Reflections (1999).

Life history interviews are reveal the connection between biography and history.   An interview is designed to address specific themes (e.g., experiences as a parent, spirituality, involvement with siblings) across the individual’s life course.  As you listen, probe, and talk with the interviewee, you can typically hear reports of “personal troubles” that reflect “pubic issues” of a particular time.  When you listen to someone reminiscence and “restory” their life history, you are also witnessing the myriad of ways that the individual’s biography has been structured by both period effects and cohort effects (1) .  These are distinct “age effects.”  Pay attention to both. 

To illustrate, someone who was a young adult (age 18-22) in the early 1940s, as America was obliged to enter World War II, lived the period effect of America at war.  So did the more established adult (age 28-32).  Not surprisingly, the two adults experienced the war in quite different ways because of their lived experiences.  Glen Elder and his colleagues (1) , for example, studied the effects of military mobilization for World War II on younger and older American men.  They found that when men were mobilized into active duty after the age of 30, they had to give up more to serve, compared with younger men.  They also had far less to gain from the service – its training, educational benefits through the GI Bill, and leadership experiences – than did men in their early 20s. 

Interview an elder about two aspects of their life, any two.  You choose.  Probe, talk to, do not hesitate to ask the same question again and again in different ways. You are trying to elicit what the elder experienced and you are witnessing the way s/he “restories” the experience.  Once you start the interview, you are likely to be listening and engaged for 20-60 minutes. 

You might want to tape-record the interview.  If you do, you must have the elder’s permission, and I recommend that as soon as the tape starts recording, you “thank” the elder “on tape” for giving you permission to tape the conversation.  Remember, you are doing the life history interview as an “experience” and as a class project.  Do not take it too lightly, nor too seriously. 

The interview needs to be integrated with the theory material you are now discovering.  For example, does the elder’s religious experience reflect continuity theory?  Does her/his experience with WWII reflect a disruption?  (see Passuth & Bengston’s summary article on sociological theories of aging).  A good "how to do it" review of the range of issues you can encourage an elder to discuss in her/his life history interview is found on another web site.  My recommendation is that you narrow the focus of your interview to one or two dimensions, such as experiences as a married person, work and its meaning, faith, or the transition to being a grandparent.  A very good example of a life history interview is found on the web-site of a colleague of mine.  It is ideal for its wedding of theory and information; it is too long an example for you to model fully.  Double-click the underline above to see this interview.   

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 (1)  Elder, G.H., Shanahan, M.J., & Clipp, E.C.  1994.  When war comes to men’s lives: Life-course patterns in family, work, and health. Psychology and Aging, 9, 5-16.