Rachel Seidman - Our Story

Practical advice from a leading oral historian & museum curator, on gathering and sharing your family history

Help us welcome author Rachel Seidman to the store, to celebrate the new book, Our Story, a Guide to Recording and Sharing Your Family History.

Rachel will be joined in conversation by oral historian, writer and poet, Kelly Elaine Navies

To be held at Solid State Books on H St. NE

Create a meaningful legacy for future generations with this step-by-step guide to gathering and sharing your family history, packed with inspirational, creative, and practical advice from a leading oral historian and museum curator.

A parent celebrates a birthday. A best friend moves away. A grandchild is born. There are new events, new people, new locations—whole new chapters—in our lives, and every family has a story to tell. Perhaps you have a sense that preserving your family’s history is important, but you’re not sure where to start.

That’s where this book comes in. Our Story is an actionable and inspirational guide to help you capture and preserve your loved ones’ unique history. An oral historian with decades of experience in the field, Rachel Seidman takes you through the process of compiling and sharing your story one easy-to-understand step at a time. Her book offers support at every turn, as you gather your materials, prepare for interviews, and consider any number of ways to present your findings. Perhaps most importantly, it will help get you talking to your loved ones now, creating new and lasting connections across generations.

Rachel F. Seidman is an award-winning curator and a professional oral historian. She is currently a curator at the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Museum. Previously, Seidman directed the Southern Oral History Program at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where she also taught history, American studies, and women and gender studies. She has also taught at Duke University and at Carleton College. In 2019 Seidman was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Turku, Finland. She holds a PhD in history from Yale University, and a BA from Oberlin College. She is the author of Our Story and Speaking of Feminism.

Oral historian, writer and poet, Kelly Elaine Navies coordinates the oral history initiative at the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC). Navies received her undergraduate degree in African American Studies from the University of California, Berkeley and an MLIS degree from the Catholic University of America. She also studied and worked at the Southern Oral History Program (SOHP) as a graduate student in History at UNC Chapel Hill. Navies’ oral history projects and interviews are located at the SOHP, The Reginald F. Lewis Maryland Museum of African American History and Culture, the Washington DC Public Library Peoples’ Archive, and at the Smithsonian NMAAHC. Her writing may be found in several publications including, Musical Crossroads: Stories Behind the Objects of African American Music ed. by Dwandalyn Reece (2023) Affrilachia: Testimonies with photographer, Chris Aluka Berry (2024), This Unruly Witness: June Jordan’s Legacy ed. by Muller, Thomson, Callier, and Hill ( 2025) and, Story Work for A Just Future: Exploring the Plurality of Knowledge and Method within the Digital Storytelling Community with Philippa Rapport (2026). Finally, Navies is the former President of the Oral History Association (