What is your story? Do you have any insights to share about your past experiences in the design profession? Do you know another designer who would share a life story with you?
If you do, we'd like to hear them and share them with other designers to fuel our creative processes. The Living History Questionnaire has been prepared by the IDSA's Design History Section in collaboration with IDSA's SAGE Section as a guideline for personal histories. It is intended to be used in a variety of ways, and the result can be archived in Syracuse University Library, which has agreed to add IDSA member history to its industrial design collections.
Students can learn about Design History by personally interviewing distinguished, well-known designers. Their work can earn academic credit in Design History classes (as a "Living History Assignment"). Senior or retired designers can use as a guide to write a brief autobiography. Chapters can use it to interview distinguished senior designers as programs focused on individual career histories. See Living History Interviews under Resources to see an example. You can download and print the questionnaire below as a guide.
Download the Living History Questionnaire (Acrobat PDF - 230Kb)
Download the Release Form (Acrobat PDF - 24Kb)
Any interviews taped by audio or video should include a signed copy of a release form to legally protect IDSA.
Don't have Acrobat? Download the free reader at: www.acrobat.com
Send completed questionnaire to:
Syracuse University Library
Kathleen Manwaring, Curator of manuscripts & archives
Special Collections Research Center
Syracuse University Library
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
Phone: 315-443-2697 or 9758
Syracuse University Library cannot accept e-mail or attached electronic documents, so it is advised that you print out a hard copy of the completed form to send directly to them, and notify the Design History Section (see Contact Us) of what you sent, so we can record your submission on this web site.