Association of Personal Historians

The Association of Personal Historians (APH) is an international non-profit trade association dedicated to developing, supporting and marketing the work of self-employed writers and small businesses who are engaged in preparing print, video, and audio memoirs recording the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Formed in the United States in 1995, it had a global membership of over 650 at its peak, before dissolving in May 2017, reportedly due to "financial constraints and membership trends".

The APH's mission statement is to "support... its members in recording, preserving and sharing life stories of people, families, communities and organizations around the world." According to the organization, its members "help other people create personal histories, including memoirs, video tributes, autobiographies, biographies, family histories, heritage cookbooks, community histories, corporate and organizational histories, legacy letters, and ethical wills."

Kitty Axelson-Berry founded the organization in 1995. According to her, "personal historians will not only write, edit, and design your book to your specifications, they'll make it clear from the get-go that the books they produce are meant to be heirlooms rather than potential bestsellers." Increasingly, many personal historians now make use of video and digital formats. Journalist Chris Wright stated: "The majority of... clients are unabashedly ordinary, and they tell unabashedly mundane tales."

Personal historians record and present clients' memories and biographies as books, in audio or video formats, and/or as personal websites. Prices are reported to vary widely, depending on the services offered in each case. The services of personal historians are also used in preparing histories of businesses and other organizations, and by wealth management companies to help improve bonds with their potential clients. Personal historians also provide input to publicly funded oral history projects.

Personal historians have been described as comprising "journalists, psychotherapists, social workers, nurses, videographers, gerontologists, and people from other helping or writing professions", as "retired teachers, journalists, genealogists, and therapists..." and as "social workers, journalists and others involved in communications... retirees who want to embark on a second career." In each case they form " [g]enerally a one-person conglomerate of ghostwriter, editor, and publishing house...".

...
Wikipedia