There is only so much you can learn from textbooks, so getting first-hand insight into someone’s life experiences was so amazing. The interview was done at the house of Jan Ebert. You could sense the warmth and love as soon as you walked in the front door. Her demeanor is very friendly, warm, and outgoing. She was willing to answer any questions we had. The interview process went very quickly, but what we learned will last a lifetime. After listening to Jan’s stories and recollections, everyone could reflect on their own life. We assumed that because of her age she would be conservative and not want to talk about politics. However, she quickly made her political views known, and she was definitely not conservative. This reemphasizes the old saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover.”
Some of the other major things that we learned were how people lived in the mid-twentieth century. Jan was born in 1927, a time when things were quite different than they are now. People worked harder, for less money, and had bigger families. We might say that they lived simply, concerned about providing for their family and making it day by day. Learning this taught us that they worked hard, very hard, but in different ways than we do now. Technology has definitely come a long way, which may make our life seem simple to her. Growing up in her era definitely isn’t what it is today.
This project required a great deal of patience and understanding of information technology. Everyone in our group worked hard, and this collaborative group effort made things run smoothly. Together we learned from each other and from Jan the importance of preserving oral history.
