Including Historical Perspective in your Personal History

Most people underestimate themselves. There are golden nuggets of personal history waiting to be mined out of every life. First of all, consider that we have been living through one of the most event-packed periods of our history. We have seen U.S. Presidents come and go. We have been through wars, depressions, recessions, and inflation. We have gone from splitting wood to splitting the atom, from crystal sets to satellite TV, from mustard plasters to heart transplants, and from washtubs, iceboxes, blackboard arithmetic, and crude biplanes to washing machines, refrigerators, computers, and space flights to the moon! You have seen all this firsthand. You have learned much, you have struggled through it, raised families in the midst of it, and you have thoughts and feelings about it. This is now your chance to tell about it.

Link your life story to history. You have lived during a time of important historical events. When you link what was happening to you to such events you are placing your life in time and place. Who was President when you were born? Where were you when Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic, when Prohibition ended, during the Great Depression, at the time of Pearl Harbor, D-Day in France, the stock market crash, the day President John Kennedy was shot, the day when U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, the events of 9/11?

There are wonderful resources on the Internet to help you “remember” some of the events of your lifetime. Check out the following:

http://www.1970sflashback.com/ Substitute year(s) of choice)

http://www.fact-index.com/ Use Fact Index search field to find a year or span of years

http://www.wikipedia.org/ In the Search field, type in 1960s (or any year of choice) and it will bring up all kinds of topics (cultural events, social events, world history, etc.)

http://www.crazyfads.com/ Put in particular decade and see what the latest fad was!

http://www.ourtimelines.com/ Create a timeline for yourself and see what else was going on in the world. Also check out who your contemporaries were!

http://dmarie.com/timecap/ Enables users to create "Time Capsules" for any date in history from 1800 to 2001. Results include headlines, famous birthdays, songs, TV shows, books, and toys for the date given.

www.fiftiesweb.com/fifties.htm A lot of stuff about the 1950s, but also some of the 60s and 70s.

http://www.google.com/ Use the Google search engine using key words such as fashion trends 1960s, or slang terms 1950s, etc.

You will find ingenious ways to include historical background information in your life history. In doing so, you add more color to your history by showing how your life has paralleled such important historical happenings and what impacts they may have had on you and your life. Help your reader experience history as you saw it!