List of Questions I Promised

This is just a list of topics and questions I came up with. Once you actually talk to a person, you'll likely get very off topic, which is fine, because most old people will have things to tell you that you didn't even know to ask about. And I figure the questions will differ depending on whether you talk to someone who grew up during the Depression or during Vietnam. Just go with it, and try not to be too anal about getting off topic.

• Obviously, start with the basics. Name, birth date, and place of birth. Maybe ask how they got their name
• Housing. City or country? Modern conveniences? Rooms?
• Family members. Names, occupations, relationships, appearance
• Doctors and health. Ask about childhood illnesses, home remedies, medical facilities?
• Church and religion. Typical Sabbath? How strict? What did they wear? How big was the church? Traditions like communion, baptism, Confirmation, Bar Mitzvah? How much religion was in the home or school?
• School and education. Describe school and teachers. How old when you began? School supplies. School size. How did you get there? What subjects? School lunch? Ask about each level of education the person had.
• Food and cooking. Breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? What kinds of food? Where did food come from? What were your favorites?
• Clothing. Play clothes? School clothes? Church? Clothes for different seasons? Ask about clothes for different stages of life. Pajamas?
• Money and wealth. Do you think your family was rich or poor? Were your neighbors in the same boat as you? Ask about parents' occupations. What was your first job? How much did things cost? Some examples: movie tickets, gasoline, shoes, foodstuffs, ice cream, a house, train ticket, etc.
• What did you do for fun? Toys, games? Did you travel? Swim? Play sports? Who did you play with?
• What was the first movie you ever saw? Did you have a favorite star? Music? Radio? Television? Sports?
• What chores did you do? How were you punished when you misbehaved? What were some rules you had to follow? What was your bedtime and what time did you wake up?
• What was dating like? Where did you go?
• Did you have any pets or animals around the house?
• How did people around you feel about alcohol? Smoking? Were there any other social taboos?
• How were you taught to regard people of other races or faiths?
• What do you remember about politics or major world events?
• Holidays and Customs. How did you celebrate birthdays? Christmas? Thanksgiving? Independence Day? Valentine's Day? Easter?
• How did you get around? 
• What were some of your happiest memories? Weddings, birthdays, parties. 
• What were some sad things? Deaths, funerals, illness, natural disaster, war.
• Where did your family live before they came to wherever? Ask for anecdotes and old family stories. 
• Ask about heirlooms, family photos, and ask if you can see them.
• Obviously, these are all questions not specific to a certain time period.
• If your subject remembers the Depression, you might want to ask about: FDR, the Dust Bowl, poverty, the WPA, the New Deal, the CCC, PWA, National Recovery Administration, etc. 
• WWII: Hitler, rise of the Nazis, Pearl Harbor, the Japanese, War Bonds, Victory Gardens, rations, scrap drives, air raid drills, the Draft, people who were in the service, the Holocaust, Hiroshima, VE Day, and the Nuremberg Trials.
• 1950s and '60s: Cold War, arms race, Sputnik, space race, Korean War, bus boycott, Freedom Riders, integration, Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King, church bombing in Birmingham, counterculture, Vietnam, draft lottery, drugs, Woodstock, lunar landing, etc. 

I am so ridiculously excited about this. I really hope y'all will join me, and feel free to talk about anything that interests you. These are just some suggestions.


Always,
Callie