Is there a story from an elder or family member you do not want lost?
EldersA free guided conversation
Some stories belong to the people who lived them. Preserve the one you choose to tell.
Your family, your elders, your places, your language, your traditions, your humor, your everyday life. You choose the story, and we help you keep it in your own words.
Start with one story — freeFree. Usually 5 to 15 minutes. Take time to think. Finish when you have shared your story. No writing. Just talk.
Your words lead. This page sets where the conversation begins. After that, the interviewer follows what you actually say.
What you keep. When you finish, you get a written story and your recording on a private link.
Native family stories • community roots
Start with the story you want remembered.
One page cannot speak for every Nation, Tribe, family, or community. So this one simply makes room for yours, told your way.
Is there a place, home, land, road, river, church, school, or gathering that carries memory?
PlaceIs there a word, saying, joke, song, meal, object, or habit with a story behind it?
TraditionWhat did someone teach you by the way they lived?
WisdomIs there a story about service, work, community, hardship, humor, or everyday life that future generations should know?
MemoryWhat should your children or grandchildren understand because someone took time to tell it?
FutureWhy preserve it
Every family carries its own story.
Native families, Nations, Tribes, communities, churches, and households each hold their own history, beliefs, and ways of remembering. The interviewer listens to what you choose to share and follows you from there.
Choose one thread.Start with a person, moment, place, belief, tradition, or memory.
Talk naturally.No script and no perfect answer required.
We follow.The interviewer asks one question at a time.
Keep the story.Turn the conversation into something your family can return to.
Your story. Your boundaries.
Preserve what matters without giving up control.
Private by default
Nothing is made public automatically.
Nothing assumed
The interviewer is guided to follow only what you share, not to guess at your Tribe, beliefs, ceremonies, language, or history, and not to steer you toward hard memories.
Skip anything
You can change direction, leave something out, or stop. A meaningful story does not require the most painful or private one.
Your family’s story doesn’t have to speak for everyone. It only has to be yours.
Start with one story — freeFree. Usually 5 to 15 minutes. Take time to think. Finish when you have shared your story. No writing. Just talk.
Hold Us Together is an independent family-story service. We are not connected with, endorsed by, or speaking for any Tribal Nation, government, cultural authority, or Native organization.