History of the APH

The Association of Personal Historians Inc. (APH) is an international organization whose mission is to help people preserve life stories and memories. The association advances this mission through networking, training, and support of personal historians and by encouraging and fostering personal history activities and projects throughout the world.

APH was founded by journalist Kitty Axelson-Berry in 1995 after she decided to leave the newspaper business and write her mother’s life story. Like many Baby Boomers, Axelson-Berry feared that her mother might die, and Axelson-Berry would lose all the wisdom and experiences of her mother’s generation, now known as The Greatest Generation. This exercise served as a prototype for a start-up business in memoirs and family histories that Axelson-Berry dubbed Modern Memoirs. Soon the talented journalist found others engaged in similar pursuits and formed a group, which adopted its moniker and held its first conference in 1995. This groundbreaking meeting featured workshops by professionals in fields related to personal history, namely business, psychology, and law. It drew fifteen professional personal historians from the United States and Canada.

Since its fledgling meeting in an eighteenth century New England inn, the organization’s membership has grown to more than 600 people worldwide. It includes entrepreneur story-savers in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Each fall, the group holds its annual meeting and networking conference at a different city within North America to make it easier for its geographically diverse membership to attend. Conference speakers represent the fields of business, academia, psychology, healthcare, and media.

The Association of Personal Historians Inc. became a not-for-profit Delaware corporation in 2001, and it is governed by a board of directors that supervises, controls, and sets the group’s direction. Since its inception, the association has had five presidents: Kitty Axelson-Berry of Massachusetts, 1995–98; Robert Joyce of California, 1999–2001; Lettice Stuart of Texas and New York, 2002–2005; and Jeanne Archer of Texas, 2006–2007. Paula Stahel of Florida is the current president.

The APH website—www.personalhistorians.org—lists members by regions and areas of expertise, while it provides a wealth of information about the organization and personal history resources. The association maintains a Listserv and a Forum that allow members to communicate on a daily basis, and it publishes three newsletters per year.

APH members have had successful careers as journalists, broadcasters, social workers, attorneys, physicians, hospice volunteers, geriatric specialists, court reporters, medical transcribers, psychologists, teachers, graphic artists, engineers, and managers. Many view the field of personal history as an extension of their past work experience. All are connected by the profound belief in the importance of discovering, preserving, and sharing stories.

Personal histories can be created in a range of media, including books, CD-ROMs, DVDs, scrapbooks, quilts, and websites. The field of personal history also includes teaching others how to record life stories. Some personal historians have expanded their services to include the histories of corporations, organizations, educational institutions, and communities. Because personal history is a labor-intensive field—involving hours of interviewing, transcribing, editing, revising, and preparing for publication or broadcast, the fees for services can range from several hundred dollars to thousands, depending on the length and complexity of a project.

Personal history has come to the media’s attention in recent years, with major stories on APH members and their activities appearing in the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Enquirer, Toronto Star, Good Housekeeping, AARP: The Magazine, Worth and Money magazines, as well as on “NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw” and “The Jane Pauley Show.” These features highlight the benefits of telling one’s story, which were underscored by the devastating events of September 11, 2001. In the past seven years APH membership has grown, and its message has reached individuals who once only considered preserving their life stories. Many have begun to tell their tales. With the help of APH members, the field of personal history will continue to flourish in the twenty-first century.

By Libby J. Atwater, Choose Your Words, Ventura, California