I've worked quite a bit on the presentation of personal memories
    in exhibitions.  The format I have followed is:

    I tape record the interviews and then transcribe them.  I edit
    them, arrange the interview by topic as it is often disjointed,
    and then review the edited draft with the interviewee and make
    clarifications and adjustments with them.  The reason for this
    editing is that during the interview people rarely finish all of
    their sentences, etc.--they will also think of an important fact
    after the subject has changed and bring it up later in the
    inrterview, or repeat themselves, etc.  I find that interviewees
    are always grateful to have the opportunity of reviewing their
    written interview brfore it is presented in the exhibition and
    have never had someone object to the editing and "cleaning up"
    part.  In most caes, the majority of the edited interview is then
    published in an exhibit publication that people can take
    with them.  Portions of the interview are included on exhibit
    panels and labels in the exhibit itself.

    As part of the presentation, I borrow photographs and even objects
    from the interviewee for inclusion in the exhibition.  For
    example, someone may refer to playing baseball when they were
    young--and they happen to also have a photograph of them with a
    baseball bat at age ten, etc. I make a copy of this origional and
    use the copy in the exhibition.  I may even go out and buy an old
    baseball bat like the one described, etc.  What ever it takes to
    supply stimulating visuals.

    I keep the length of the panel text to a minimum.  Few if any will
    stand for long periods of time reading pages of text. I use large
    fonts for some of the quotes (using them as headers), and then
    reduce the font size (aprox: 14 to 16 pt) for lengthy
    portions--all in all, limiting any text portion to a couple of
    paragraphs at most.

    I have also had great success in making a loop tape from short
    portions of several interviews and having this playing at a low
    volume in areas of the exhibition--although the individul speaker
    is not always identified on the tape, I find that people will
    stand for up to ten minutes listening to these excerpted (how do
    you spell that?) portions of interviews.

    I hope this has been helpful.  I'm sure others have also had
    experiences that are worth referring to.  Contact me if I can help
    at all.  You will find this project very rewarding and fun!!!

    John Handley
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