There is a common stereotype about family histories and the stories that evoke the family setup. Sitting with a loved one – a mother, father, grandparent, aunt – maybe before bedtime or lounging in the afternoon, as they recall their childhood, their years of growing up, fables they heard, games they played, their ancestral homes, the memories of their summer vacations. These quiet moments of storytelling—precious, irreplaceable—carry legacies that bridge generations and continue oral histories. Words and stories have power, and family stories are the heartbeats of our shares histories. And this is why family archives are so important.
But when was the last time you heard these stories? And the last time you recorded them? In the blur of our fast-changing urban lives, we are losing touch with our personal histories. The further away from those roots we move, the more we risk losing our sense of personal identity.
Reconnecting with family histories and building family archives help in so many ways. Here’s a rather long essay on why you should consider it.
Why Should You Build Family Archives?
There are hundreds of reasons why you should translate your oral histories into solid documentation in the form of photo narratives, full-length books, websites, databases, interviews, documentaries, and more. But let’s highlight some of the big ones:
Emotional Connection with a Personalised Approach
Many of us have heard our elders share their cherished memories from their past. My paternal grandmother, for instance, would fondly talk about how she would fight with her elders for a special sweet reserved for one of her elder brothers, or my maternal grandfather would recount his cross-cultural experiences, a young Bengali lad all the way to Rajasthan alone. These simple anecdotes and stories contain family histories.
When you capture these stories, you don’t just relive those past experiences; you also create intergenerational bridges for the next generation to better understand their roots.
When we work on a family history project, we aim to capture not just the person and their life (and the times they lived in) but the many emotions and lessons accumulated along the way. The simplest of lives have innumerable stories to share.
Our process includes:
- Research in any of the Indian languages a family member is comfortable with, including transcription and translation of the interviews
- Framing these into one cohesive narrative arc
- Top-notch candid and posed photography to capture contemporary moments
- Preservation and digitisation of archival documents and photographs to prevent cultural erasure
- Creating easy to consume forms of this story: books, websites, short films.
Cultural and Historical Importance
While urbanisation has its perks, it often leads to the dilution of the diverse cultural and historical heritages we bring. Family stories are an essential part of that heritage, and by documenting them by chronicling the traditions, customs, and significant events, you can create a broader understanding of the cultural contexts of your family’s legacy.
For instance, you can record stories of your traditional festivals or catalogue crucial historical moments. Our document translation services further improve this through better accessibility to maintain the true essence of your stories and family histories for future generations. These stories can also contribute to a larger socio-historical discourse to improve our understanding of the past. We work to ensure your stories are accessible to a wider audience and preserve their cultural nuances.
Legacy and Inheritance of our Family Histories and Archives
While material wealth and objects can represent your legacy, written and narrated family archives surpass them by far. They carry values, lessons, and experiences that can shape future generations and give them a rootedness that surpasses any other.
A beautifully bound book or a story narrated on video—these versions of your family’s history passed down through generations and consumed by others are as valuable as material heirlooms. While they connect you to the past, they also symbolize identity and community.
While older generations can share their experiences through these chronicles, younger generations can understand and connect with their roots.
Preserving Languages and Dialects
A language or dialect is an integral part of a cultural identity, yet many risk fading away with time. Our network of translators, multilingual speakers, and readers works together to help preserve the linguistic diversity and cultural richness of your stories, creating multifaceted worlds. Hence, future generations can connect with their cultural roots through the stories of their ancestors, regardless of where they are.
Read how this essay about the Baduga language, home to the Nilgiri Mountains of South India, emphasises the importance of preserving language (and, through it, culture) and why it’s important to share our experiences with the world.
A family story in a regional dialect can be translated into multiple languages to increase accessibility and reach. While it preserves your family’s linguistic diversity, it aids in creating a more meaningful and valuable legacy that’s both relevant and timeless.
Partner with us to preserve your family history, story, and culture.
Inspirational and Educational Value
Stories in family archives can also be powerful sources of education and inspiration. They often contain important lessons and morals with insights into human experience that can inspire newer generations. Over time, they can also be used for educational purposes to understand history, ethics, and cultural awareness. Many of us have grown up hearing stories of perseverance, resilience, and hard work from our parents or relatives.
Recording these stories creates a rich resource for future generations to guide them in their own lives and help them understand the people our ancestors were. The story of your family members who fought through obstacles to achieve their dreams deserves to be written down.
Community and Social Impact
Your family archives have the potential to leave an incredible impact on communities. Shared stories aid in strengthening community bonds and create a collective sense of identity. Individual family stories are important to nurturing a collective community memory and making local history and heritage projects richer. Such preserved stories are essential to community heritage initiatives for celebrating our rich societal cultures.
In a country as diverse as India, there are thousands and millions of unheard family and community stories. We can help add to your community’s collective memory and improve the bonds between its members to nurture a sense of shared identity.
Why Purple Pencil Project is the best chronicler for your family history
With a long-standing passion for highlighting the best of Indian stories, the Purple Pencil Project is the ideal medium to create your family archives. Here’s why:
Professional Journalistic and Writing Expertise
Uncompromising writing and journalistic integrity form the bedrock of our professional ethos. Turning raw memories into written records requires working closely with families and understanding their perspectives and voices, as well as all their contexts and minute details. Our experienced, empathetic, sensitive team of translators and writers ensures your story is recorded in the best way possible, preserving its essence and maintaining cultural and linguistic precision.
Our team, led by founder Prakruti Maniar, has a decade of experience in multimedia storytelling. We work day in and day out with novelists, translators, screenwriters, filmmakers, producers, designers, and game developers, giving us the creative freedom and sensibility to understand the merits and limitations of each medium. Our educational backgrounds in digital humanities, culture studies, gender and social theories, political science, literature, archiving, and more only heighten this capability.
Modern Approaches to Storytelling
Purple Pencil Project has strong digital roots. We began our journey through our web platform and social media channels, both of which remain active to date. We know the incredible value of the internet in bridging gaps, increasing accessibility, and reaching an audience previously unimaginable. Digital tools and modern technology are essential to our services, and they ensure your stories are preserved forever.
We are constantly learning and adapting, and with us, you get the latest and best of both worlds: old-school, exhaustive research and writing skills married to modern and immersive digital innovations. We aim to digitise family stories to help spread them worldwide and break geographical restrictions.
How to get started?
Reach out to us at query@purplepencilproject.com with the subject line “Family Histories and Archiving,” and we can set up a 30-minute consultation call for free to better understand you and your vision!
PS: We also digitise private and rare book collections.
