Reflect
Story Preservation Workbook
A place to record the people, places, memories, and ordinary acts of care that helped shape a life.
Begin with the story
Whose story, memory, or moment are you preserving?
About when did it happen?
People
Who was there? Record names, relationships, and anything a future reader would need in order to understand who these people were.
Places
Where did this happen? What would someone notice about the room, house, street, school, workplace, neighborhood, or landscape?
Ordinary care
What small act, routine, habit, object, phrase, meal, ride, conversation, or welcome mattered more than it may have seemed at the time?
What happened?
Write the memory in your own words. Exact dates are helpful when known, but an honest approximation is better than pretending certainty.
Why does it matter now?
What did you understand later that you could not have understood then?
Permission and privacy
- I have separated what I personally remember from what someone else told me.
- I have avoided including sensitive information that does not need to be preserved.
- I have considered whether another living person should be asked before this story is shared publicly.
- I have marked uncertain dates, names, or details as uncertain rather than presenting them as fact.
Digitizing checklist
- Scan or photograph original documents and photographs at a useful resolution.
- Use filenames that include a person, place, approximate date, or event.
- Keep at least one backup separate from the primary device.
- Record who supplied the item and anything known about its origin.
Carry it forward
What is the one thing you hope another person understands because this story was preserved?
Phase 1 layout prototype · Final wording requires authoritative-source reconciliation