At its heart, Mea Historia is dedicated to collecting and preserving oral histories through carefully planned and executed interviews. The interview sessions are a chance to share, in one's own words, life’s journey, with its inevitable highs, lows, opportunities and challenges.  The interview is a unique opportunity to identify important individuals, ideas and periods of time and to describe your journey, but also contribute to the story of your family and loved ones.  For the narrator, the interview is positive and affirming of their story; and for the family, it is enriching and enlightening.

We start by gathering background material using the biographical data form, preliminary interview questions, and input from family members. We welcome photographs (either scans or the originals which we will scan) and include in the video oral history interview.  We use the material to develop custom interview questions. The aim is fourfold:

1. To grow rapport and trust with the narrator.
2. To create a fuller biographical record.
3. To make the interview as relevant, meaningful, and rich as possible.
4. To add music to the historical and biographical facts, to give them greater context, meaning, and significance.

The interview is scheduled at a location and time convenient for the narrator, but also optimal for interviewing (quiet and private.)  The interview time ranges from 90 to 120 minutes. Depending on the scope and depth of the project, we may invite multiple individuals (usually family members of the narrator) to contirbute. We make minor edits to ensure that the video interview runs continuously and seamlessly.

"Listening is an act of love."

— David Isay

Dr. Ariel De, Executive Director of Mea Historia, has a PhD in American History from the City University of New York. In the 1990s, Ariel worked on the President's Committee for the Arts and the Humanities, and then at the Library of Congress for more than a decade, including several years with the Library's Veterans History Project. She is a member of the Oral History Association (OHA).

In 2010, Ariel left the Library of Congress to care for her two young children and to spend time with her elderly father-in-law, Nirmal Kumar De.  She spent time interviewing him and other family members. In the process, Ariel discovered that interviewing and documenting first-hand accounts was deeply rewarding for the narrator, her family members, and for herself.

powerful and authentic stories that document the human experience

In addition to this personal experience, Ariel is deeply inspired by the tremendous contributions of the United States Holocaust Museum (and their efforts to document the Jewish experience during the Second World War). The Holocaust Museum has published Oral History Interview Guidelines and the Oral History Association has published Oral History Projects in Your Classroom and Oral History History for the Family Historian. Together, these provide indispensable guidance and a professional standard for oral histories. Creative intellectual activists, such as Studs Terkel, David Isay of Story Corps, Dave Eggers and Voices of Witness, and Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York use interviews and photographs to share powerful and authentic stories that document the human experience.  Their contributions are so significant in deepening our sense of understanding and empathy.

At Mea Historia, we focus on interviews of individual family members with the aim of contributing to family history and legacy for future generations.  The oral history collection, which includes documents as well as audio-visual interview, comprise an archival collection of value to your family and history.