For many of the students in the author's American history class, early twentieth-century American history seems far removed from their daily lives. Being first and second-generation American citizens, many of the students do not have the luxury of hearing grandparents and great-grandparents telling stories about FDR and Henry Ford. More specifically, many of these students do not have family members with firsthand knowledge of what life was like in the United States prior to the 1960s and 1970s. Since the focus of the American History II course is 1910-1945, this lack of firsthand knowledge puts some students at a disadvantage. The author decided to bridge this gap by inviting older adults to come to their classroom and share their stories. As part of a unit on the Great Depression and World War II years, the author assigned her students an oral history project. The goal of this project was to familiarize the students with the time period, by introducing them to firsthand accounts via interviews. (Contains 3 notes.)