100 Life Story and Oral History Interview Questions (Free Printable)

These 100 life story and oral history interview questions help you capture anyone’s memories, organized into ten themes from early childhood to final reflections. They work for families recording a relative, students on a history project, activity directors at senior communities, and hospice or community volunteers. Ask open questions, listen more than you talk, and record the conversation. A free printable version is linked below.

Most question lists are built for one situation. This one is built to work for all of them, because the art of a good life-story interview is the same whether you’re a granddaughter at the kitchen table, a student with an assignment, an activity director running a session, or a hospice volunteer sitting with someone near the end.

Use what fits, skip what doesn’t, and follow the person wherever their memory leads. That’s where the real stories live.

Download the free printable PDF of all 100 questions here.

How to use these questions

• Ask one at a time, then wait. The best answers come after the silence.
• Follow the tangents. A detour is usually the better story.
• Record it. A phone voice memo captures details and the person’s actual voice.
• Don’t rush. You don’t need all 100. A handful of real answers beats a checklist.

For more on technique, see our guide to interviewing an elderly relative without it feeling like an interview.

1. Early childhood

1. Where and when were you born?
2. What’s your earliest memory?
3. What was your childhood home like?
4. Who was in your household growing up?
5. What did your family do for fun?
6. What were you like as a small child?
7. What’s a smell or sound that takes you straight back?
8. What did a typical day look like when you were little?
9. What chores or responsibilities did you have?
10. What did you want to be when you grew up?

2. Family and roots

11. What were your parents like?
12. What do you remember about your grandparents?
13. Where did your family come from?
14. What family stories were passed down to you?
15. What traditions did your family keep?
16. Who were you closest to in your family?
17. What was your family known for?
18. Was there a black sheep or a character everyone talked about?
19. What values did your family try to teach you?
20. What’s a family recipe or ritual you still remember?

3. School and growing up

21. What was school like for you?
22. Who was your favorite teacher, and why?
23. What subjects did you love or hate?
24. Who were your childhood friends?
25. What did you do after school and in summers?
26. What were you like as a teenager?
27. What was popular then, in music, movies, or fashion?
28. What trouble did you get into?
29. When did you start to feel grown up?
30. What did you dream about back then?

4. Young adulthood

31. What did you do after finishing school?
32. What was your first job, and what did it pay?
33. Did you move away from home? What was that like?
34. What was the world like when you came of age?
35. What freedoms or struggles defined your twenties?
36. Who influenced the direction you took?
37. What’s the most daring thing you did when you were young?
38. What did you believe strongly then that changed later?
39. What was your first real taste of independence?
40. What are your best memories from that time?

5. Love and relationships

41. How did you meet your spouse or partner?
42. What attracted you to them?
43. What was your first date like?
44. When did you know it was serious?
45. What was your wedding like?
46. What’s the secret to a lasting relationship?
47. What was the hardest thing you came through together?
48. If you never married, who were the great loves or friendships of your life?
49. What did you learn about love over the years?
50. What would you tell someone just starting out?

6. Work and purpose

51. What work did you spend your life doing?
52. How did you get into it?
53. What did you love, and what did you dread?
54. Who taught you the most?
55. What are you proudest of in your working life?
56. What was the hardest job you ever had?
57. Did you ever take a big risk at work?
58. What did work teach you about people?
59. What would you have done differently?
60. When and how did you stop working?

7. Home, place, and history

61. Where have you lived over your life?
62. Which place felt most like home?
63. How has the world changed the most in your lifetime?
64. What historical events do you remember living through?
65. Where were you during a major moment in history?
66. What technology amazed you when it arrived?
67. What’s gone now that you miss?
68. What did people get wrong about “the good old days”?
69. How did your community change over the years?
70. What place do you most wish you could visit again?

8. Challenges and resilience

71. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever faced?
72. How did you get through it?
73. Who did you lose that shaped you?
74. When were you most afraid?
75. What did you worry about that turned out fine?
76. What’s a mistake that taught you something?
77. Where did you find strength in hard times?
78. What are you most proud of surviving?
79. What kept you going?
80. What would you tell someone facing something similar?

9. Beliefs and reflections

81. What do you believe in most deeply?
82. How did your faith or philosophy develop?
83. What’s the best advice you ever got?
84. What’s the best advice you’d give?
85. What matters more to you now than it used to?
86. What matters less?
87. What do you know now that you wish you’d known young?
88. What does a good life mean to you?
89. What are you most grateful for?
90. What’s brought you the most joy?

10. Legacy and looking ahead

91. When were you happiest?
92. What are you proudest of, all told?
93. What do you hope people remember about you?
94. What do you want your children and grandchildren to know?
95. Is there anything you’ve never told anyone that you’d want recorded?
96. What traditions or values do you hope carry on?
97. What are you still hoping to do?
98. What would you want said about you?
99. What do you hope we do with your stories?
100. If you could leave one message for the future, what would it be?

Frequently asked questions

What are good oral history interview questions? Good ones are open-ended and grouped by life stage: childhood, family, school, young adulthood, love, work, place and history, challenges, beliefs, and legacy. Ask one at a time, follow the person’s tangents, and record the conversation. The 100 questions above cover all of these themes.

How many questions should an oral history interview include? You don’t need many. A focused interview might use ten to twenty questions well, with room to follow wherever the answers lead. It’s better to ask a few open questions and listen deeply than to rush through a long checklist.

Who can use these life story questions? Anyone preserving someone’s memories: families recording a relative, students doing history projects, activity directors running reminiscence sessions, and hospice or community volunteers. The themes are universal, so you can adapt the list to any setting.

Is there a printable version of these questions? Yes. A free printable PDF of all 100 questions, organized by theme, is linked at the top of this post. Print it to bring to an interview, a family gathering, or a group session.

I’m Claire, a writer and personal historian on Florida’s Space Coast. Whether you use these questions yourself or would like me to do the asking and turn the answers into a keepsake, I’m here to help. Reach out, explore our Tell Me Your Story card kits, or learn about storytelling workshops for senior communities.