ABSTRACT
This chapter covers priority considerations at the start of a family history project. Several people interviewed for this book with family history and/or process experience give input on leadership and team roles and on a possible process. A visual of encapsulating elements of a family oral history process (interviews, research into historical context, and genealogy searches) is followed by a discussion with examples of early steps: Setting scope and objectives, establishing a consent form, finding or creating a family tree. The discussion also addresses working with a family contact point to establish a starting topic or question list, a list of people to interview, and a growing and changing outline for what will become the final product. The discussion on consent forms describes the elements of the form, including additional elements for a family history. The appendix includes an example of a family tree with arrows to the first persons interviewed and a list of pointers by a family history contact point, referred to in that project as an anchor.
