Sharing Our Stories: Family History Storytelling at Northeast Library

by Tom M.

Every family has interesting stories. In my own family, both my wife and my sister have started to think about how to present all that they have discovered about their own families.

The library can help everyone learn how to tell these family history stories, starting with an innovative workshop on the subject presented by genealogy librarian Mahina Oshie at the Northeast Library on Wednesday, October 22, from 6-7:45 p.m.

Come to learn about library, community and Internet resources for uncovering, recording, writing and publishing your own family history stories, as part of the library’s Sharing Our Stories storytelling program series.

Comic book memoirs and family secrets

Several talented cartoonists have used comics memoir (also called graphic memoir) to chronicle their family stories. Alison Bechdel has rightly received much acclaim for her books Fun Home and Are You My Mother? which closely examine her relationships with her father and mother respectively. Below are several more comics which deftly explore complex familial relationships.

You’ll Never Know Trilogy by C. Tyler

Over the course of the You’ll Never Know Trilogy, Tyler explores her relationship with her father by examining his traumatic World War II experiences and how they shaped her childhood. Tyler also details her present day relationship with her parents and the challenges she faces in raising her own daughter. Lush watercolors and innovative design frequently give the books the feel of a personal artifact or family album.

Closing the Drawers: Photo collection focuses on a family’s 80 years in Fremont

The Fremont Branch is hosting a display of photos tracing the history of a Scandinavian family and the Fremont home they shared for more than 80 years. The photos will be on display from June 17 through 30, with an Opening Reception in the Library this Thursday, June 19, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

Michael Kleven presents a collection of historical and contemporary photos relating to the community of Fremont and to his family’s eight decades in the neighborhood. When his great grandfather, Peter Lantz, acquired the house at 4231 5th NW in the late 1920s, he added “built ins” in the Swedish style — a bench with a dog house beneath it, an ironing board, a mail drop box and a wall of drawers in the kitchen. Marks of Peter Lantz’s style remain today in arched doorways and in several pairs of small diamond-shaped windows. Hands across six generations have opened the drawers that Peter built, now we close them for the last time.

Michael’s mother, Sandy Kleven, writes: