The short answer
Sit down with one parent or grandparent in a quiet room, put your phone on the table and record, and ask about one subject at a time, starting with something concrete like the house they grew up in. Afterwards, give the file a clear name, keep a copy in a second place, and share it with the family. The way to get a whole life story is not one long interview but many short conversations: one question a week is enough.
Written on 13 October 2026 by The Memory Palace, a small team in Leuven, Belgium. The practical tips come from StoryCorps, the Oral History Association, the Smithsonian and the Queensland Museum (sources at the bottom).
Before you start
- Ask, and say why. Tell them what the recording is for and who will hear it: the children, the grandchildren, only you. The Oral History Association puts informed consent at the start of every interview. In a family that can be simple, but ask it out loud, and agree that they can say "this part stays between us".
- Choose one subject. Childhood, the first job, the wedding, the war, a move. One subject per conversation keeps the story on track and makes the recording easy to find later.
- Bring something to look at. A photo album, a school report, a recipe card, an old map of the village. Objects bring back names and details that a question alone does not.
- Pick a time and a place. A moment when they are rested, and a quiet room. StoryCorps says a quiet, cosy room with a door and a rug works best.
- Know your phone. Make a test recording and listen back, so you know where the record and stop buttons are. The Queensland Museum's two tips for oral history are exactly that: have a chat first, and know your equipment.
Twenty good questions, by theme
You do not need all twenty. Pick two or three for one conversation, and let the answers lead you.
Childhood
- What did the house you grew up in look like? Walk me through it, room by room.
- What did an ordinary school day look like for you?
- Who were your best friends, and what did you get up to together?
- What did your family eat on Sundays or on holidays?
Work
- What was your first job, and what did you do with your first wages?
- How did you end up doing the work you did for most of your life?
- Who taught you the most at work, and what did they teach you?
- What part of your work are you proud of?
Love and friendship
- How did you meet your partner, or the person who mattered most to you?
- What do you remember about the day you decided to stay together?
- Which friends stayed for life, and why those?
- What do you know now about love that you did not know at twenty?
Hard times
- What was the hardest period of your life, and what got you through it?
- Was there a time when money was short? How did the family manage?
- Who did you lose too early, and what should we know about them?
- Is there something you would do differently?
Advice
- What would you tell yourself at twenty?
- What should your grandchildren know about where the family comes from?
- Which family tradition do you hope we keep?
- What would you like to be remembered for?
Three follow-up questions work after almost every answer: What happened next? Who else was there? What did that feel like? They often bring the best part of the story.
Want more? Our twenty questions to ask your parents is a free sheet to print, with a different set, in five languages. The ten questions to ask your grandparents work well for a first visit, and StoryCorps keeps a long list of Great Questions by theme, from growing up and working to love and relationships. The Smithsonian's free Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide has sample questions about family, work and traditions.
Recording tips
- The phone is enough. The voice recorder that is already on your phone works. Check that there is storage space, and put the phone on do not disturb so a call does not interrupt the story.
- Distance. StoryCorps advises holding the phone a fist's distance from the mouth of whoever is speaking. On a table, put it on a folded cloth or a book, so knocks and cups do not come through.
- Silence. Switch off the television, the radio and fans, as StoryCorps advises, and close the window. A recorder hears the clock and the fridge that you no longer notice.
- Say who and when. At the start of the recording, say the names, the date and the place. In twenty years, that sentence is what tells the family what they are listening to.
- One subject at a time. If the story wanders, let it; but come back to the subject before you stop.
- Photos on the table. When they talk about a photo, say out loud which one it is ("the wedding photo with the bicycle"), because the recording cannot show it. Afterwards, take a picture of that photo with your phone so the two stay together.
- Let silences be. Do not fill a pause straight away; the next sentence is often the important one. Nod instead of saying "mm-hm".
- Stop in time. Stop before they get tired, and say what you would like to ask next time.
After the recording
- Name the file. Put the date, the person and the subject in the name, for example 2026-10-13_grandma-Anna_childhood.
- Keep two copies. The Oral History Association advises making several digital copies of the original recording. In a family, that means the phone plus a computer, a drive in another house, or a private online place.
- Write three lines. Who speaks, when it was recorded, what it is about, and the names that come up. Those lines make the recording findable.
- Transcript, but keep the voice. Many phones and programs can make an automatic transcript. It helps you search and quote, but check names and places by hand, and keep the original audio: the way someone tells a story is what the grandchildren will want to hear.
- Share with care. Ask the storyteller before you share a recording outside the family. In The Memory Palace, a recording sits in a room next to the photos it belongs to, and the room stays private until you invite someone.
How to keep it going: one question a week
A life story rarely fits in one afternoon. What works is a rhythm: one question, on a fixed day, every week. Keep a list of new questions that come up in the answers, and let the grandchildren add their own.
In The Memory Palace, the weekly question does that for you. You invite a parent or grandparent; only after they say yes to the invitation do they get one question a week by email. They answer by pressing a button and talking, or by typing a few words, without an account or an app, and the answer arrives in your palace. Stopping is one click under every email. If you would rather start on screen together, the free family interview asks one question and two gentle follow-ups, without an account.
Which tools you need
- A phone with its own voice recorder, for free.
- The StoryCorps app, free, guides a conversation and records up to 45 minutes; StoryCorps Connect records a remote interview by video call in the browser.
- An app to keep it all together. We compared Remento, Storyworth, Tellus, StoryCorps, FamilySearch Memories and The Memory Palace in the best apps to record your grandparents' stories and voices.
For the practical side of a longer sit-down interview, read our guide to recording a family oral history interview.
Sources
- StoryCorps, Great Questions: storycorps.org/participate/great-questions
- StoryCorps, StoryCorps Connect: storycorps.org/participate/storycorps-connect
- StoryCorps DIY course, the StoryCorps App: diy.storycorps.org/courses/one-small-step-diy-participant-course/lessons/the-storycorps-app
- Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide: folklife.si.edu/the-smithsonian-folklife-and-oral-history-interviewing-guide/smithsonian
- Oral History Association, Best Practices: oralhistory.org/best-practices
- Queensland Museum, Top two tips for recording oral history interviews: blog.qm.qld.gov.au/2012/11/23/top-two-tips-for-recording-oral-history-interviews