Our family treasures a record of Grandpa Lonnie Polk, made before his death in the late 1940s. A lover of poetry, it records in his distinctive "crackly" voice, a favorite poem he had memorized in those long ago days when memorization was a fact of school life.

The record is a vivid reminder of a fondly remembered grandfather. It also illustrates how Lonnie used his mind throughout his life - and the value he put in preserving some part of family history.

Such oral histories are windows into the past. They also remind us - especially us older people - of how valuable it is to keep a record of our lives and the lives of those relatives who preceded us.

Historians define oral history as testimony about the past transmitted from person to person with the purpose of preserving it. It also illustrates the importance of the spoken word in passing our traditions, our history, from one generation to this next.

All oral histories require is someone with stories to tell and someone to listen. They take being attentive to what has been going on in your lives. They also require imagination on our part to make connections between what happened long ago and how it might have meaning for our lives today. Another way of preserving family history is through keeping a journal. Like oral histories, journals also tell the stories about families that are passed down from generation to generation.

Another relative, Columba Volz, for example, was the child of Italian immigrants. Her father, a tailor worked long hours so that she could go to teachers' college in Philadelphia - a rare event in the 1930s for a woman. Once graduated, though, she couldn't find a job in her field because of the discrimination at the time practiced against Italians and Catholics.

So Columba switched tactics and took a job as a social worker - an area where there was no discrimination because so few were willing to go in the Philadelphia slums.

We know about her story because she told us about that experience. We taped them as oral history but, in addition and at our urging, she wrote about it and other incidents from her life in a notebook, which we had bound for future generations.

It might seem intimidating to think about recording the events of your life. Here are some suggestions on how to gather material for memory book.

1. Collect all the records you have - marriage licenses, school records, work records and photos, baby mementos, pictures from vacations. Use them to jog your memory about the past.

2. Locate any genealogical information available. Question older relatives about what they remember about those who preceded them.

3. Create a family tree out of the genealogical information. Many communities offer classes in how to create a family tree; check with your senior citizen center, local historical society or take a course at the community colleges to see what's available. Libraries and bookstores carry books that offer suggestions on how to go about it.

4. Gather your families' special songs, favorite proverbs and sayings that have special meaning.

Don't worry if you think you have nothing worthwhile to write about. It's OK to start with "I don't know what to say." Then jot down anything that comes to your mind about your life, your feelings, what you value.

Remember that you don't need to have unusual feats of daring or publicly recognized accomplishments to write about. Just use the grist of your ordinary life. Your descendants will pour over details of your upbringing and how you were educated - so different from what they will be experiencing.

They'll enjoy stories of how you met your spouse and got married. This can cast a long-gone relative in a new light. Reading the letters of a grandfather, for example, told his descendants how he eloped with their grandmother - using a ladder - because her family disapproved of him.

The story is charming because the kids remember their grandmother as a severe woman who always wore an apron and lectured them on how to behave.

Finally, once you are finished with your memory store everything in a safe place: a safety deposit box, with a trusted relative - any place they will be accessible whenever you or those who follow you want them.

E-mail Joe Volz at volzjoe2003@yahoo.com, or write to 2528 Five Shillings Road, Frederick, MD 21701.

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