Living Family History: A Multimedia Biography

I recently read the book Living Family History: Creating a Multimedia Biography by David A. Beardsley. The book is a step by step instruction for creating a multimedia (primarily CD-ROM or DVD-ROM) family history or individual biography. As a scrapbooker and self-proclaimed family historian, I was quite interested in what a project such as this would involve.

A historian by profession, David Beardsley creates multimedia family histories as a service to families. In his book, he offers the secrets to creating your own. Since it’s a huge project to tackle, it’s safe to say that his job will remain secure—as not everyone will be ready to devote the hours of work required to complete their multimedia family history. Reading this book before you start a project of this magnitude is a great way to either prepare you for the task ahead, or to convince you to hire a professional to do the nitty gritty work. Either way, you'll be inspired to create a valuable keepsake for your family.

In the book, Beardsley does a great job of describing what a personal history is and why a multimedia version is beneficial. Being able to include photos, sound clips, video, and text in a website-like format allows each viewer to “choose their own adventure” and navigate to the portions of their interest. The combination of video and print media in CD or DVD format also gives the author the freedom to include a more complete set of information and memorabilia.

From the hardware and software equipment to the video interviewing process and the final editing, Beardsley explains each step in detail, giving tips for success and cautions as to what problems you may run into. His instruction is straightforward and easy to understand. While the programs and equipment you use for the project may not be as simple, he does a good job of letting you know where your hang-ups may lie and how to work around them.

After reading this book, I found that there are hundreds of possibilities for taking this information and transforming it into fantastic family histories. In addition to full family or personal histories, events can also be recorded in this fashion.

• A wedding album complete with ceremony and reception video, a photo slide show, the ceremony transcript, a spreadsheet of gifts received, a list of guests, and a family tree.


• A baby album complete with a pregnancy journal, video of the new baby, interviews with the parents right after birth, photos, and scans of a birth certificate and hospital bracelet.


• An anniversary gift complete with letters from friends and family, sound clips, pictures of the couple over the years, a relationship timeline, and interviews with family and friends as well as the couple themselves.

We started small and created a wedding DVD for my brother-in-law and his new wife. We included a photo slide show in addition to the chapters of video from the rehearsal, ceremony and reception. We also included an edited “highlight” video set to music to give a 10 minute overview of the day. We gave it to them over Thanksgiving and they loved it! Now I’m afraid my other brother-in-law wants one of their new baby!

The Living Family History: Creating a Multimedia Biography is available in e-book or paperback form. It can be purchased at www.biofilesllc.com.

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