The 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic has taken over news pages lately as the centennial date looms only days away. So why should this space be any different?

The April 1912 disaster was labelled "the story of the century" within months. There are "stories of the century" all the time, of course, but this one lives the part, still prompting headlines, comments, analyses, books and movies, and all kinds of media wallowing, after all this time. The two world wars, the Great Depression, the Cold War, the atomic age, the space age and even 9-11 that have all happened since the sinking don't generate the ink and talk the Titanic does. 

The British version of the genealogy website, ancestry.co.uk, has just released 200,000 documents relating to the ship in time for the centenary, one for every rusted rivet left in the Atlantic seabed hulk. But it's the April 2012 National Geographic magazine that notes the forgotten personal angle in the too-familiar saga - the stories, not of the survivors, but of those who went down with the ship. What were the stories of the captain, the band members who kept playing or zillionaire John Jacob Astor who put his pregnant wife in a lifeboat and then walked away?

Writer Hampton Sides: "What happened to the people still on board as she sank? Hundreds of people may have still been alive inside, most of them immigrant families in steerage class, looking forward to a new life in America. How did they, during their last moments, experience these colossal wrenchings and shudderings of metal? What would they have heard and felt? It was, even a hundred years ago, too awful to contemplate." Those are the personal stories we will never know.

Full disclosure here. The author of the book being promoted in this space happens to be my wife. That said, the historical novel A Garden in the Wilderness by Edeana Malcolm is a must-read by anyone interested in pioneer history. The scene is set in 1790s Canada, Nova Scotia, in fact, but the struggles and challenges of carving out an existence under primeval conditions apply anywhere immigrants went seeking new lives.  

This is the "riches to rags" tale of the well-born daughter of an English gentleman who fell in love and eloped with the head gardener of her father's estate, felt the sting of being disowned for her scandalous behaviour, finally ending up in a log cabin in the New World with eight children and the man for whom she gave up her life of ease. It's a lot more than a love story - it's also the story of how ill-equipped settlers faced the challenge of survival in hostile new lands.

The story has a personal connection. The main characters are Edeana's great-great-great-great grandparents - seven generations back. For anyone of immigrant background whose ancestors struggled with new lands, this could be their story, too. 

A Garden In the Wilderness is published by Borealis Press in Ottawa, Canada. It is available online at: www.borealispress.com

To read Edeana's blog, My Writing Eden: www.edeana.com

We've been making a bit of a case for memoirs on paper - books - as opposed to electronic versions. This is not to say we don't like videos or audio memoirs, we emphatically do. But maybe there should be a paper back up.

The question is about longevity, how long the record will last or be accessible. Here are some additional comments from a correspondent, a genealogist who is interested in record preservation. 

"Technology is wonderful until we can't use it or our relatives don't have the same operating systems as we do and therefore can't read or use the information we are attempting to share. Remember to keep a paper record for yourself in case of systems crashes, back up your data and transfer to new mediums when they occur.

Saved information is no good if you can't access it." Good comments, well said.   

This space is about why people should tell their personal stories. We've harped on the many reasons, and we will again. But when the story's done, how should it be best kept for posterity?

Many people like audio and video presentations because there is a voice and a face behind the story. And that's fine. But as mentioned before there is a storage issue. Tapes and digital records may not stand the test of time. We have old reel-to-reel tapes from a past career but no technology to play them. The tape also gets brittle and deteriorates over time. Without converting them to a newer technology they are useless - and we don't know that newer technology will last either.

So here again is a case for good old-fashioned books:

• Books will last. Printed on good paper and properly stored, they will be around longer than any current digital media. The best estimate for DVDs etc is five to 100 years, depending on how they are manufactured and stored - but no one really knows.
• Books don't require hardware to read them. Digital hardware and formats continue to change and need, as noted, to be converted. You can still pick up a book printed 100 years ago and read it. 
• Books capture detail. They get the colour, depth and intricacies of a story. Videos take a broader and more emotional approach.
• Books have presence. You can hold a book in your hand and it requires you to pay attention.
• Books are convenient. You don't need to plug them in or recharge batteries or worry about dropping them. You can pick up a book and immediately start reading, they don't to be started up.

We like e-readers and their portability for easy reading. But we're not convinced any single device is in for the long haul.  

The above title is the cry of old fashioned newsboys and others who used to sell newspapers on the street. Many people remember newspapers - widely read reports of the day's events and other items of interest printed on heavy paper. They're still around, of course, but increasingly in electronic form. Critics of the new trend, who prefer the printed page, say you can't line the birdcage with digital.

There's a technology debate in the personal history business, too. What medium to use in recording memories, video, or audio or books? All are fine. And while this space does not take a stand, do consider this. If you want words to last, put them on paper. There's no guarantee digital records will last - estimates are 20 to 100 years, no one really knows, but electrons do break down. So does paper, of course, but it can be preserved for a very long time.

Canadian futurist Derrick de Kerckhove, who lectures on current and future technology, agrees that wireless technology will proliferate but he doesn't see the end of paper: "It's the only fixed archive we can trust. Nothing electrical survives."

Consider that when you're leaving your memoirs behind, you might want to back them up on good old-style paper.

This is an overworked, familiar theme but - everyone has an interesting story to tell. Here are two examples, completely unrelated.

A client grew up in Denmark as the only boy among 10 sisters. His mother died when he was five, the family was hit by economic hardship during the 1930s and then the country was invaded and subjugated by the Nazis. He survived a succession of difficult subsistance jobs, Second World War resistance to the Germans, migrated to Canada, and did dangerous work in bush and logging camps before marrying and building a family life. The very compelling memoirs of an ordinary man, who witnessed history and overcame obstacles to achieve something in life.

Then there are the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, the U.S. Civil War general and later President. Here, too, was an ordinary man in his early life, who overcame numerous obstacles, in some ways got lucky and rose to fame and power.  His memoirs, while full of military detail which won't appeal to all, also contain insights into his times, as does my Danish-born client. Grant wrote his memoirs, with the urging and assistance of Mark Twain, because he needed money and to set straight some historical controversies.

My client's memoirs are a legacy to his family. There may be controversies there, too, but like Grant he's leaving a story for those who follow - the story of his life and by extension, their lives.    

A local conference recently had a session entitled Life As Narrative. The title fit well with what this space is all about.

We've been promoting the narrative of life - personal stories of one's life - for a long time. And the theme is being picked up all around. Columnists are looking for personal stories to pass on, conferences are organized on the subject, books are being written and, of course, television programs (such as Who Do You Think You Are) are being produced.

Everyone's life is different, obviously, and each different life has its own distinct story. We beat that drum here all the time. All it takes to get your story told is a small amount of organization and time to write it down.

If you don't have the time or the organization skills, personal historians will do it for you. Time to get started.

Personal histories are now officially cool. And don't take our word for it, just ask ancestry.com.

A January newsletter offered by the mammoth online genealogy site touts what it calls "story preservation," and goes on to list numerous reasons why people should record their own personal story. 

"As family historians, we are constantly striving to link the present to the past as we thumb through page after page of old documents," writes Mary Penner in the ancestry.com newsletter. "Sometimes we forget we've got living, breathing links sitting across the dinner table ... save some modern-day family history for future generations."   

Penner, a genealogist and writer, goes on to describe a process for preserving family stories. We couldn't say it any better. Genealogies preserve the records; personal histories preserve the stories.   

The annual Christmas holiday season is approaching quickly in my part of the world and it's interesting to see how the traditions of the season have changed little in form over time.

The British television show A Victorian Christmas, produced by the BBC, shows how people in 19th century Britain handled Christmas. The show is part of a series in which several people try to recreate life on a Victorian-era farm, with the clothing, techniques and technology of the time. They did not have an easy time adjusting their modern lifestyle to that of 150 years ago.

The Christmas episode does show, however, that while domestic conveniences and equipment have made life much easier the feeling and spirit of the holiday remains - meals, presents, decorations and the emphasis on family has remained.

Personal historians suggest that Christmas is a great time to present your family with your story, part of their story after all. It's too late for this year, but give it some thought for next time. Think of the conversations over that traditional dinner! And all the best for this holiday season.   

Why write your story? That's the theme of this space, and the arguments for picking up pen, tape recorder or turning on keyboard just continue.

From Association of Personal Historians colleague Jennifer Campbell, quoted by The Toronto Star:

"People want to leave thier mark. They want something tangible that they know is going to live on after they are gone. They've set the record straight, they've told things that they might not be able to speak out loud.

In the old days, the elders would tell their stories around the dinner table or around the fire and the family lore was kept alive from generation to generation. But we're divorcing now. We're spreading out. We're way more mobile. The baby boomers are starting to realize that if they don't capture these stories - if they're not the link between the generations - these stories are going to be lost." (January 2010)

Well said. And true!