Saturday, December 15, 2007

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up!

An interesting new field of study has been brought to my attention. It sounds to be a challenging occupation that demands a variety of skills that are unique to historians, memoirists, and genealogists. The new field is that of Peronal Historian. The demands of the job sound absolutely fascinating.

The basic job description is to ustilize a variety of tools to assist patrons in composing their memoirs or biographies. By using video, or audio, recordings; a collection of oral histories; and personal documents, the Personal Historian would take on the task of writing the biography of the patron. With a completed manuscript, the option is then avaialble to carry this through to the publication of a book, or simply present the finished project to the patron.

The job requirements make this career sound challenging to say the least. The skills required for this job would include: the abilities to conduct, and carry through to completion, oral history projects; the knowledge of history and the ability to place individuals into the great historic context; extensive writing and editing skills; and the research abilties to track family information through generations.

As I said, the challenges suggest that this would be a fascinating career path. The collection of oral histories and the publiction of the memoirs open up new possiblities for the future.

I am only fifty years old, but I think I have found a new career!