From 1936 to 1940, members of the Federal Writers’ Project interviewed Americans for a WPA project,  which is now available at the Library of Congress.

The  collection includes 2,900 documents, ranging in length from 2,000 to 15,000 words.  During the interviewed, subjects discussed topics like political views, experience, life observations and education.  Some interviewees were old enough to have lived through important events of the 19th Century; others relate stories handed down through their family.

The narratives offer glimpses into the everyday life of farmers, doctors, slaves, soldiers, pioneers and gold seekers.   The site is searchable by keyword or by state.  You can narrow or broaden results by specifying “match all the words”, “match some of the words” or “match exact phrase.”

Get great information for your family book at American Life Histories

Among the museum’s displays was a sod house, or soddie, which had been moved onto the museum’s property from a nearby farm.

I found the soddie fascinating, in part because some of my ancestors probably lived in one.

I meant to learn more about the process of building a dirt house, but forgot about it until a week ago when my aunt sent me a newspaper article called “Home, Sweet Sod Home”.  The article detailed how and why pioneer families built these homes.  They “why” was easy to understand—there’s not much else building material in the middle of a prairie.

The “how” of building a soddie started with an acre of sod for a one-room house.  After mowing the grass, it was cut into pieces of sod or “bricks” with a special horse-drawn plow.  Two layers of bricks were laid lengthwise with a third layer crosswise.  The crosswise pattern made the house stable.  Windows were often covered with paper greased with animal fat, and a blanket was hung in the doorway.

Do you know what kind of home your ancestors lived in, and why?  Wouldn’t that be an interesting research project for your family history?

Phyllis walked me through the will and I got better and better at deciphering the handwriting as we went along.  Maybe all it takes is more practice. Since then, I’ve tackled more documents, with greater success.

Here’s what’s worked for me: I’m used to working at a very quick pace—however discovered that in reading these documents I need to just slow down.  Allowing myself more time to “translate” and not get frustrated because I’m not doing it fast enough has made a huge difference.

I also use a magnifying glass to avoid eye strain.  And finally, I’ve taken the advice of another genealogy friend and started putting together an alphabet chart to help me to compare letters.